Vallance began his professional career as the original drummer and main songwriter for Canadian rock band Prism under the pseudonym "Rodney Higgs.
"[1] In addition to Adams, Vallance has written songs for many famous international artists such as Bonnie Raitt, Aerosmith, Carly Simon, Rod Stewart, Roger Daltrey, Tina Turner, Alice Cooper, Ozzy Osbourne, Ted Nugent, Europe, Kiss, Scorpions, Anne Murray, and Joe Cocker.
He also co-wrote "Tears Are Not Enough" for Northern Lights for Africa, an ensemble of Canadian recording artists in support of the 1985 African famine relief.
He has won the Canadian music industry Juno award for Composer of the Year four times (a record later shared by The Weeknd).
[4] He grew up in a series of small towns on the west coast of Canada, including Vanderhoof (1964-1967) and Terrace (1967-1970) where he collected fond memories that would later show up in lyrics to some of his songs, like 'Summer of '69'.
At 18, he enrolled in the music program at the University of British Columbia where he studied piano under Frances Marr Adaskin,[4] flute with Conrad Crocker and cello with Hans Seigrist.
Using various musicians from Sunshyne and another Vancouver band, Seeds of Time, Fairbairn recorded and produced a nine-song album, seven of which were written by Vallance.
The band was renamed Prism and Vallance decided to use the pseudonym "Rodney Higgs" rather than his real name in the album credits.
But Vallance decided to leave the Prism lineup before the next album as he didn't enjoy the constant travel necessary for touring.
Upon leaving the Prism lineup, Vallance worked as a session musician in and around Vancouver to earn a living while his ultimate objective was to be a full-time songwriter.
Meanwhile, a talented, brash young artist named Bryan Adams had just established himself on the Vancouver music scene with the local band Sweeney Todd.
In search of assistance, an informal meeting was arranged between Vallance and Adams at a Long and McQuade musical instrument shop in Vancouver.
Vallance then landed a contract to write and arrange BTO's next album Rock n' Roll Nights through his association with talent manager Bruce Allen.
Since the departure of Vallance (Rodney Higgs), the current lineup was unable to fill the songwriting void adequately.
In between, Vallance worked as a session and club musician, and took a job as the drummer for Tom Jones' TV show produced out of Vancouver.
In 1982, Vallance and Adams received a call from producer Michael James Jackson inquiring about contributing songs for the next Kiss album.
Although Vallance and Adams were not heavy metal fans, it was a golden opportunity for exposure for their songs by a world-class rock act.
With outside collaboration from Gene Simmons, "War Machine" and a re-written "Rock 'n Roll Hell" were recorded for Kiss' Creatures of the Night release that year.
[4] Vallance was involved in the Northern Lights for Africa famine relief cause in 1985 as co-writer and executive producer of the song "Tears Are Not Enough".
David Foster had been contacted by Quincy Jones, producer of the USA for Africa ensemble, asking him if he could the same by Canadian artists.
The title was taken from an unrelated, unrecorded song by Bob Rock and Paul Hyde of the Canadian band The Payola$ which Foster was producing at the time.
Vallance was credited as executive producer for recording Bruce Cockburn's part in a studio in Hamburg, Germany.
Instead they delivered Into the Fire, which was poorly received by critics, and although it sold several million copies, coming off the success of Reckless, it was a commercial disappointment.
Initially hired to help with arrangements, the band eventually asked Vallance to produce their debut album.
Vallance co-wrote such hits as "Someday" and "Don't Forget Me (When I'm Gone)", which won the Canadian music industry Juno award for 1986 Single of the Year.
They have one child, Jimmy, who was a house DJ during his high school years and is currently an electronic musician for house/alternative band Bob Moses.