Mark David Bright (born December 22, 1959) is an American country music producer, songwriter, and publishing company executive based in Nashville.
[2] Bright's most noted success in producing records has been with the country acts BlackHawk, Rascal Flatts, and Carrie Underwood, but he has produced recordings for many artists including Reba McEntire, Sara Evans, Scotty McCreery, Lonestar, Peter Cetera, Brad Paisley, Luke Bryan, and Keith Urban[3] Bright's entry job in the music industry was in 1993 working as tape-splicer for Screen Gems/EMI Publishing in Nashville.
The new company, named "Teracel", prospered in its first year due in large measure to Bright's signing of songwriter Brett James, who created many commercially successful songs for various country artists.
In 1999, Bright heard three musicians who were performing in a bar in Nashville's Printer's Alley and thought their vocal harmonies had promise.
The group, nameless at the time, was signed to a production and management deal and a recording contract by Bright, who developed them into the enormously successful trio "Rascal Flatts".
[6] Bright was tapped by Arista Nashville in 2005 to produce the debut album of that year's American Idol winner, Carrie Underwood.
From 2008 to 2010, Bright served as president and CEO of Word Entertainment, a Warner/Curb company representing Christian music artists.
Briggs gave him a job as "third engineer" meaning that he did custodial work and was not allowed to touch the equipment at first, but was able to observe recording sessions.
They recorded several songs, but DuBois was not happy with their sound and he asked Bright to spend time with them to come up with something with more commercial appeal.
Bright collaborated with the band on intensive rehearsal sessions in a basement studio over several months, coming up with a bluegrass-type sound but with rock guitars, blending a mandolin and close vocal harmonies.
[15][16] After founding Teracel, Bright met with singer/songwriter Brett James, who had been terminated from his own publishing deal and was at a low point.
By eight months into the Teracel endeavor, Bright had 44 songs recorded by major artists, largely through the songwriting of James.
[19] It was a risky proposition at first, because all of the band's salaries, expenses, equipment, and pre-existing tour obligations had to be paid by Bright and his new company.
[20] When the band learned that the Fiddle and Steel Guitar Bar would be closing to make room for a new hotel, they returned to the honky tonk for a final concert in November 2014.
At the time, Underwood was on the road with the American Idol Tour, so Bright had to go to wherever she was, taking her microphone and special equipment to local studios in San Francisco and Seattle to finish her vocal tracks.
Davis insisted that production of the album be split to where Dann Huff produced the pop songs, and Bright did the country.
The first was "Waiting all day for Sunday night" which was replaced in 2016 using a new tune based on Underwood's country song "Somethin' Bad", but with new lyrics and other changes to fit the show.
[25] According to industry analyst David Ross, the 2005 sale price was the highest multiple ever paid for a joint venture at that time.
[4] The Teracel catalog included the number one songs "When the Sun Goes Down" by Kenny Chesney, "These Days" by Rascal Flatts, "Blessed" by Martina McBride, and "Who I Am" by Jessica Andrews.
[3] From 2008 to 2010, Bright served as president and CEO of Word Entertainment, a Warner/Curb company who represents Christian music artists.
[39] Bright has also worked with Sting, Randy Travis, Keith Urban, Peter Cetera, Jo Dee Messina, Lonestar, Brad Paisley, Vince Gill, and Steven Tyler.