Blake Chancey is an American record producer and music business executive, known primarily for his work in country music. Formerly an executive vice president and chief creative officer for Sony Music, he later formed a partnership with artist manager Scott Siman

Scott Siman

Scott Foster Siman is a leading American country music entertainment executive based in Nashville, Tennessee. He is president of RPM Management and co-owns RPM Music Group, a Nashville music publishing company...

. He is currently the chief creative officer and partner of RPM Music Group in Nashville, Tennessee

Nashville, Tennessee

Nashville is the capital of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the county seat of Davidson County. It is located on the Cumberland River in Davidson County, in the north-central part of the state. The city is a center for the health care, publishing, banking and transportation industries, and is home...

 and one of Nashville's leading record producers.

Career

Chancey is the son of record producer and label executive Ron Chancey

Ron Chancey

Ron Chancey is a record producer who works primarily in the country music field. He has produced albums and songs by Garth Brooks, Bob Seger, The Oak Ridge Boys and Billy "Crash" Craddock. His son, Blake, is a record producer as well.- External links :*...

, who signed George Strait

George Strait

George Harvey Strait is an American country music singer, actor, and music producer. Strait is referred to as the "King of Country," and critics call Strait a living legend. He is known for his unique style of western swing music, bar-room ballads, honky-tonk style, and fresh yet traditional...

 and Jimmy Buffett

Jimmy Buffett

James William "Jimmy" Buffett is a singer-songwriter, author, entrepreneur, and film producer. He is best known for his music, which often portrays an "island escapism" lifestyle. Together with his Coral Reefer Band, Buffett's musical hits include "Margaritaville" , and "Come Monday"...

, and produced the Oak Ridge Boys and Billy Crash Craddock among others.

Beginning his career as a sound engineer, he first worked with Ricky Nelson

Ricky Nelson

Eric Hilliard Nelson , better known as Ricky Nelson or Rick Nelson, was an American singer-songwriter, instrumentalist, and actor...

, The Allman Brothers Band and Joe Walsh

Joe Walsh

Joseph Fidler "Joe" Walsh is an American musician, songwriter, record producer, and actor. He has been a member of three commercially successful bands, the James Gang, Barnstorm, and the Eagles, and has experienced notable success as a solo artist and prolific session musician, especially with B.B...

. He later enrolled in the Music Business Program at Middle Tennessee State University

Middle Tennessee State University

Middle Tennessee State University, commonly abbreviated as MTSU, is a public university located in Murfreesboro, Tennessee, United States....

 where he received a BA in Music Business. Working with Bob Beckham

Bob Beckham

Bob Beckham was an American country singer from Stratford, Oklahoma. Beckham scored two hit singles in the U.S., both released on Decca Records...

 at Combine Music, he worked with writers such as Dennis Linde

Dennis Linde

Dennis Linde was an American singer and songwriter whose work was primarily in country musicHe is best known for writing the 1972 Elvis Presley hit, "Burning Love"...

, Kris Kristofferson

Kris Kristofferson

Kristoffer "Kris" Kristofferson is an American musician, actor, and writer. He is known for hits such as "Me and Bobby McGee", "For the Good Times", "Sunday Mornin' Comin' Down", and "Help Me Make It Through the Night"...

, Tony Joe White

Tony Joe White

Tony Joe White is an American singer-songwriter and guitarist, best known for his 1969 hit "Polk Salad Annie"; "Rainy Night in Georgia", which he wrote but was first made popular by Brook Benton in 1970; and "Steamy Windows", a hit for Tina Turner in 1989...

, Larry Gatlin

Larry Gatlin

Larry Wayne Gatlin is an American country music singer/songwriter. He is perhaps best known for teaming up with his brothers Steve and Rudy in the late 1970s, becoming one of country music's most successful acts of the 1970s and 1980s. Gatlin has had a total of 33 Top 40 singles...

 and Guy Clark

Guy Clark

Guy Clark is an American Texas Country artist. In his career, he has released more than twenty albums, primarily on major labels. He has also written singles for other artists, including Ricky Skaggs, Steve Wariner and Rodney Crowell....

. One of his first successes as a producer was the platinum debut album of David Ball

David Ball

David James Ball is an English producer and electronic musician, who has played in bands such as Soft Cell and The Grid, and collaborated with other producers including Ingo Vauk and Chris Braide...

.

In the early 1990s, Siman and Paul Worley

Paul Worley

Paul Worley is an American record producer and session guitarist, known primarily for his work in country music. Formerly a vice president at Sony BMG, he later joined the staff of Warner Bros. Records' Nashville division as chief creative officer...

, who were running Sony Nashville, reached out to Chancey to serve as A&R executive and producer at Sony Records. While at Sony Chancey worked with and developed The Dixie Chicks

Dixie Chicks

The Dixie Chicks are an American country band which has also successfully crossed over into other genres. The band is composed of founding members Martie Erwin Maguire and Emily Erwin Robison, and lead singer Natalie Maines...

, Ricochet

Ricochet

A ricochet is a rebound, bounce or skip off a surface, particularly in the case of a projectile. The possibility of ricochet is one of the reasons for the common firearms safety rule "Never shoot at a flat, hard surface."-Variables:...

, Montgomery Gentry

Montgomery Gentry

Montgomery Gentry is an American country music duo composed of vocalists Eddie Montgomery and Troy Gentry. The two began performing in the 1990s as part of a band which also included Eddie Montgomery's brother John Michael Montgomery, and founded the existing duo in 1999.Signed to Columbia Records,...

, as well as overseeing the A&R of many other artists on the roster. He went on to produce Waylon Jennings

Waylon Jennings

Waylon Arnold Jennings was an American country music singer, songwriter, and musician. Jennings began playing at eight. He began performing at twelve, on KVOW radio. Jennings formed a band The Texas Longhorns. Jennings worked as a D.J on KVOW, KDAV and KLLL...

, Billy Ray Cyrus

Billy Ray Cyrus

William "Billy" Ray Cyrus is an American country music singer, songwriter, actor and philanthropist, who helped make country music a worldwide phenomenon...

, Little Big Town

Little Big Town

Little Big Town is an American country music vocal group. Founded in 1998, the group has comprised the same four members since its inception: Karen Fairchild, Kimberly Schlapman, Jimi Westbrook, and Phillip Sweet. The quartet's musical style relies heavily on four-part vocal harmonies, with all...

 and Mary Chapin Carpenter

Mary Chapin Carpenter

Mary Chapin Carpenter is an American folk and country music artist. Carpenter spent several years singing in Washington, D.C. clubs before signing in the late 1980s with Columbia Records, who marketed her as a country singer...

 and many other Sony artists.

The Dixie Chicks

Dixie Chicks

The Dixie Chicks are an American country band which has also successfully crossed over into other genres. The band is composed of founding members Martie Erwin Maguire and Emily Erwin Robison, and lead singer Natalie Maines...

' 1998 album Wide Open Spaces

Wide Open Spaces

Wide Open Spaces is the major label debut of American country music band the Dixie Chicks, and the fourth studio album overall, released in 1998 . It was their first record with new lead vocalist Natalie Maines, and became their breakthrough commercial success...

and their 1999 Fly album won Chancey a Grammy Award

Grammy Award

A Grammy Award — or Grammy — is an accolade by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences of the United States to recognize outstanding achievement in the music industry...

 for Best Country Album. They also earned him two CMA Awards and two ACM Awards, and numerous other nominations.

Since leaving Sony Records, Chancey has worked as an independent producer and publisher, producing records on Montgomery Gentry

Montgomery Gentry

Montgomery Gentry is an American country music duo composed of vocalists Eddie Montgomery and Troy Gentry. The two began performing in the 1990s as part of a band which also included Eddie Montgomery's brother John Michael Montgomery, and founded the existing duo in 1999.Signed to Columbia Records,...

, Gretchen Wilson

Gretchen Wilson

Gretchen Frances Wilson is an American country music artist. She made her debut in 2004 with the Grammy Award-winning single "Redneck Woman," a number-one hit on the Billboard country charts. The song served as the lead-off single of her debut album, Here for the Party...

, The Lost Trailers

The Lost Trailers

The Lost Trailers is an American country music band. Established in 2000, the band originally comprised Ryder Lee , Manny Medina , Andrew Nielson , Stokes Nielson , and Jeff Potter...

, Kellie Pickler

Kellie Pickler

Kellie Dawn Pickler is an American country music artist and television personality. She gained fame as a contestant on the fifth season of the Fox reality show American Idol, eventually finishing in sixth place. In 2006, she signed to 19 Recordings and BNA Records as a recording artist, releasing...

, Jeff Bates

Jeff Bates

Jeffery Wayne "Jeff" Bates is an American country music artist. Signed to RCA Records in 2003, Bates released his debut album Rainbow Man that year. A second album, Leave the Light On, was released in 2005 on RCA. He left RCA in 2006. This album was followed by Jeff Bates in 2008 on the...

 and others.

He is currently producing projects on Heidi Newfield

Heidi Newfield

Heidi Newfield is an American country music artist. She was lead singer, rhythm guitarist and harmonica player for the group Trick Pony, alongside Keith Burns and Ira Dean from 1996 until 2006, when she left in pursuit of a solo career...

 and Jordyn Shellhart, and rising country artist Aubrey Collins.