Music Preacher

Name: Allan Reid

• Born and raised in Kelowna, B.C., on June 9, 1966
• His father, Robert Dow Reid, is an accomplished artist and his mother ran their gallery
• Attended Mission Primary (1972–74), Dorothea Walker Elementary School (1975–79) and Okanagan Mission Secondary School (1980–84)
• Worked as a gardener at a local radio station; by high school graduation he was the music director
• Planned to attend the University of British Columbia to become a high school teacher but instead became involved in music
• Signed artists such as Jann Arden and Hedley as senior VP of A&R (Artists and Repertoire) at Universal Music Canada from 1999 to 2007
• Worked with artists such as Joel Plaskett and Kathleen Edwards as general manager of indie label, Maple Music, from 2007–10
• Became the director of MusiCounts, The Canadian Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences’ (CARAS) music education charity in 2010
• Also in 2010, established his own management agency with artists such as Royal Wood and Hawksley Workman
• Named president & CEO of The JUNO Awards, MusiCounts and CARAS in 2014
• Lives in Toronto with his wife, singer-songwriter Kim Stockwood, and their two sons
• The JUNO Awards will air on March 15 (CTV)

Describe your elementary school self.

Tall, outgoing and curious.

Describe yourself in high school.

The tallest, outgoing and entrepreneurial.

Lessons learned in kindergarten?

Be kind. It’s easier than being mean.

Best advice from your school years?

Stay true to your friends, ’cause they’ll save you in the end — a great lyric from a Sam Roberts song called Hard Road. I learned that lesson early; some of those schoolboy friendships are still going strong today.

Who are your non-fiction heroes?

There is one true hero that inspires me to this day and that’s Terry Fox.

What do you wish you had been taught in school but weren’t?

Business. I wish they had a course that prepared students for the real world of business, and how to do your income tax.

Favourite era to attend school in?

I wouldn’t change a thing about when I went — it was the best time of my life.

Quality you appreciated in a teacher?

Compassion and dedication. Teachers are a special breed of people.

Most memorable teacher?

I had three in high school who made a significant impact. Doug Gray (physical education), Mickey Patryluk (French and peer counselling) and Jim Jacques (math). They taught me to believe in myself and encouraged me to strive to be the best I could be. Thirty years later, I still keep in touch with them.

Do your organizations contribute to Ontario-based education programs?

Music education is very important to The JUNO Awards, MusiCounts and CARAS — it truly is the foundation of our industry. Since MusiCounts’ inception 17 years ago, we have awarded more than $3 million to support music education in Ontario. This has impacted more than 275 schools and communities, as well as 100 scholarship recipients. We’ve also honoured four Ontario teachers with the MusiCounts Teacher of the Year Award.

How would you like to see school music programs evolve?

I’d like to see more school board funding of music programs. We get hundreds of applications from schools every year that are running programs with instruments that are 20 to 40 years old and in a state of disrepair. Music education should not be a charitable endeavour, but as long as it’s being underserved MusiCounts will continue to put instruments in the hands of the students who need them most.

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