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More Luzerne County assessments reduced

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Monick epitomizes the volunteer spirit of the Keystone State Games

<p>NASHVILLE, Tenn. &#8212; Plymouth-native Jimmy Harnen already has an impressive resume, with a chart-topping 1980s hit.</p><p>But he now has something else to add biography: He has been named president and CEO of Nashville-based record label Big Machine Label Group.</p><p>Harnen, 56, has been working with the label for 10 years, but was recently promoted to the top position after the much-publicized acquisition of the label by Scooter Braun&#8217;s Ithaca Holdings earlier this month.</p><p>In his position, Harnen will continue to oversee well-known country artists Florida Georgia Line and Lady Antebellum.</p><p>In Northeastern Pennsylvania, however, he&#8217;s perhaps best known as the artist behind the power ballad &#8220;Where Are You Now,&#8221; recorded with his band Synch. The song peaked at No. 10 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in June 1989.</p><p>According to Harnen, who spoke with a Times Leader reporter in a phone conversation on Thursday, it was the people of the Wyoming Valley who truly helped kick start his career.</p><p>&#8220;The people were so nice; they were welcoming,&#8221; Harnen said.</p><p>Harnen described riding the bus from Plymouth to Wilkes-Barre with his mother to buy records. According to him, his mother let him sing openly on the bus. And to the credit of the people of the Wyoming Valley, the bus riders weren&#8217;t annoyed &#8212; they told Harnen&#8217;s mother to take him for singing lessons.</p><p>Eventually, success started to come after &#8220;Where Are You Now&#8221; was handed over to &#8220;Jumpin&#8217;&#8221; Jeff Walker of 98.5 KRZ-FM. Harnen at the time was a student at Wilkes College. When Walker asked if they could play the single on the radio, Harnen said he enthusiastically answered: &#8220;Are you kidding?! Of course, you can play it!&#8221;</p><p>Harnen described this as unheard of at the time, saying that most of the local radio stations shied away from playing local music at the time. Soon, the single was a massive success locally, selling thousands of copies out of Joe Nardone&#8217;s Gallery of Sound before eventually making its way onto national stations. The single first peaked at number 77 in 1986, but later exploded in popularity again in 1989.</p><p>And the rest, as they say, was history.</p><p>It was Harnen&#8217;s only successful single, but he doesn&#8217;t seem too bothered by this. He said he was always more taken by the &#8220;industry&#8221; side of the music industry.</p><p>Harnen described the moment he fell in love with music, saying he was fascinated when his sister put on The Beatles&#8217; album &#8220;Let It Be.&#8221;</p><p>&#8220;I just remember hearing it, hearing the voices. &#8230; I was asking my sister how they make it into the pieces of vinyl,&#8221; Harnen said.</p><p>It started a lifelong love affair with music, where Harnen described pouring over liner notes on records the way other kids might follow NFL stats. And it went beyond knowing the name of the artists on the record: he knew the producers, the engineers, anyone involved in the process.</p><p>&#8220;There was a time in my life where I could recite almost all of the people that worked in the major labels,&#8221; he said.</p><p>Later, during his brief time on the &#8220;artist&#8221; side of the industry, Harnen described often having to be dragged into the studio while he was enraptured by having conversations with label employees.</p><p>&#8220;I think I was more of an executive than I was an artist,&#8221; he laughed.</p><p>Harnen described a period in his life of bouncing around between labels in Nashville, before eventually landing at the Big Machine Label Group, due to a friendship with founder Scott Borchetta.</p><p>During his time at BMLG, Harnen said the label has had 31 No. 1 singles and has released 23 records that have gotten millions in sales and billions of streams. Two of the top five most downloaded country songs ever &#8212; Florida Georgia Line&#8217;s &#8220;Cruise&#8221; and The Band Perry&#8217;s &#8220;If I Die Young&#8221; &#8212; belong to the label.</p><p>But, despite his success in Nashville, Harnen said part of his heart will always be in Northeastern Pennsylvania.</p><p>&#8220;It&#8217;s always gonna be home,&#8221; he said.</p><p>And Harnen said he&#8217;ll be back soon, when Florida Georgia Line plays at the Pavilion at Montage Mountain on Aug. 16.</p><style>
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<div class="neCaption">Harnen </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/web1_Harnen-resized.jpg</photo0><caption0>Harnen </caption0><photoCredit0>Photo courtesy: Melinda Norris-Munro </photoCredit0></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By Patrick Kernan</p><p>pkernan@www.timesleader.com</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Reach Patrick Kernan at 570-991-6386 or on Twitter @PatKernan</p></shirttailMeta></div>

Plymouth native Jimmy Harnen celebrates promotion to president of Nashville record label