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Phil Gernhard was not only the most successful record producer to come out of Florida, he introduced many of the state s homegrown artists to the world stage – including Jim Stafford ( Spiders & Snakes ), Lobo ( Me and You and a Dog Named Boo ) the Bellamy Brothers ( Let Your Love Flow ) and the Royal Guardsmen ( Snoopy vs. the Red Baron, which he also co-authored). Gernhard started young. He was just 19 when he produced Stay, a worldwide No. 1 by South Carolina s doo-wop group Maurice Williams & the Zodiacs. After a decade of making hits back in Florida – including Dion s original version of Abraham, Martin and John, one of the most-recorded songs in history – he worked his magic first in Los Angeles and then in Nashville, where as head of Artists & Repertoire for Curb Records, he engineered the careers of Tim McGraw, Rodney Atkins and others. Yet for all his success, Gernhard was a deeply troubled man whose personal life was ravaged by alcoholism and drug abuse, four failed marriages and a simmering hatred towards his abusive father. Told with comments from his family, friends, business associates and nearly every singer and songwriter he produced, Record Man is the story of a man for whom music was a life raft. Enigma, wunderkind, control freak, visionary, raconteur, artist advocate, shameless hustler and, in the end, kind heart, Gernhard spent four-and-a-half decades chasing recording art and blatant novelty with the same dogged determination. Success and failure being the hallmarks of the go-for-broke A&R man, Gernhard s achievements in the music business rival those of Rick Hall, Mike Curb, Phil Walden and perhaps even Sam Phillips.Rodney Crowell, Singer songwriter DeYoung hooks Phil Gernhard s genius, discipline and love of music — right up to the side of his self-indulgent, carny, smarmy business practices. I had no idea what a huge swath of great work he d cut, starting right in his own back yard. Much like every music executive, just when you start to love Phil, you want to beat him with a rake.Stan Lynch, Founding member of Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers