Bill LaBounty’s musical direction was clear by the age of 19, when he was signed with his rock band to RCA Records. The Pacific Northwest native then took his act solo, recording an album for Twentieth Century Fox Records, followed by 3 albums for Warner Bros. Records, which spawned the pop hits Never Gonna Look Back (with James Taylor), Livin’ It Up and This Night Won’t Last Forever. Bill’s album The Right Direction, co-produced with Robbie Dupree, enjoyed success in Europe and Japan with featured singles The Right Direction and Mr. O.
He also established himself as a songwriter for other artists, with successes that span almost two decades. Over the years his resume includes cuts by an array of Pop and Country artists including Patti LaBelle, Jimmy Buffett, The Judds, Steve Wariner, The Temptations, Brooks & Dunn, Steve Goodman and Phoebe Snow, Peter Cetera and Tim McGraw, among others.
An accomplished keyboardist and synthesist, LaBounty has worked in the studio with such artists as James Taylor, Jennifer Warnes, Patti LaBelle and Peter Cetera.
In 1983, while working in Nashville, LaBounty met his wife, songwriter Beckie Foster, which led to a joint career in Nashville and L.A. and resulted in Steve Wariner’s #1 record The Weekend and Peter Cetera’s No Explanation, the end theme for the movie Pretty Woman.
His hits include Robbie Dupree’s Hot Rod Hearts, Michael Johnson’s This Night Won’t Last Forever, Steve Wariner’s #1 records Lynda and I Got Dreams, Somewhere In The Vicinity Of The Heart (a Grammy-winning record by Alison Kraus and Shenandoah), Tanya Tucker and Delbert McClinton’s Tell Me About It, Tequila Talkin’ by Lonestar, the #1 Shenandoah single I Want To Be Loved Like That and Brooks & Dunn’s Rock My World (Little Country Girl).
To date, he has had over 100 songs recorded by other artists, resulting in 25 BMI Awards, including 10 Million Performance awards.
In 2011, Rhino France Records released (on amazon.fr) a 4-CD boxed set featuring 70 remastered tracks tracing Bill’s solo career, covering virtually the entirety of his solo albums. Also included are 18 unreleased demos, 5 songs from Bill’s debut album “Promised Love” never released on CD (and remastered in 2011) plus a 16-page booklet with annotations of each title by Bill himself.
The set features the likes of James Taylor, Larry Carlton, Jeff Porcaro, Willie Weeks, Steve Lukather, Lenny Castro, Robbie Dupree, Patti Austin, Jennifer Warnes, Steve Gadd and many others.
In 2014, Bill delivered his latest album Into Something Blue. Recorded in a rawer, bluesier, more R&B vein than usual, it includes not only Bill’s new compositions but some of his very favorite songs by Ray Charles, The Drifters, and even Bob Dylan.
Bill’s friend Larry Carlton contributed lavishly to this project, providing some of the most soulful guitar ever heard, along with Mark Douthit, Tom Hemby and many more of Bill’s favorite sought-after players and musicians.