HONEYTUNES WAS STARTED BY JOHNNY SINCLAIR AND LESLIE STANWYCK WHO MET WHILE PLAYING IN THE LEGENDARY POP ROCK BAND, THE PURSUIT OF HAPPINESS. THEY RECORDED 1988’S PLATINUM ALBUM “LOVE JUNK” AND 1990’S ALBUM “ONE SIDED STORY” WITH TODD RUNDGREN IN WOODSTOCK, NY. THE BAND TRAVELLED ACROSS EUROPE OPENING FOR THE EURYTHMICS. THEY ALSO OPENED FOR DURAN DURAN ON A US TOUR.
Johnny and Leslie left TPOH in 1990 and formed Universal Honey. Their debut album Magic Basement received rave reviews and the singles, “Just Before Mary Goes” and “Upfront with You” broke out on to the air waves, getting college, alternative and rock radio support in Canada and the US. Universal Honey also won a CASBY award for Best New Group. During this time Johnny and Leslie started making headway as credible song writers by having songs from their first album winning spots in television shows and movies.
In 1996, after touring the success of “Magic Basement”, Johnny and Leslie took time to go back to the studio to record their second album, Earth Moon Transit. This album produced another set of solid tracks that received glowing reviews and again received airplay in both the US and Canada. The single, “Any Road Back” gained them even more recognition at radio stations across the US. Videos were also featured on MTV’s 120 Minutes and on MuchMusic. The single, “Make My Mind” was added to MTV’s M2 and MuchMusic. Johnny and Leslie began touring again — which included US radio festivals — and then a very lengthy and effective tour across the US with the Goo Goo Dolls, where in one year they performed over 200 shows, 100 of those opening for the Goo Goo Dolls.
In 1999 Johnny and Leslie recorded their third album, the self-titled Universal Honey, and tested their producing abilities. The single “Hit the Ground Running” was added to MuchMoreMusic and used in the series, Grosse Pointe. More and more TV spots began to materialize.
They next experimented with moods on their album Fearless, and they acquired the production talents of Dale Penner (Nickelback, Holly MacNarland). The single “Think you Know” received air play in pockets across North America and was on the CHUM-FM (Toronto) Top 100 songs for 2002.
During this time, Johnny Sinclair and Leslie Stanwyck began assembling their own recording studio, and in 2002, with what they had learned over the years, recorded and released their fifth album, Invincible. Several of their songs during this time were used in the Rosanna Arquette documentary, Searching for Debra Winger (Salma Hayek, Melanie Griffith, Jane Fonda, Sharon Stone, Gwyneth Paltrow), which premiered at the 2002 Cannes Film Festival and is in regular rotation on cable channels worldwide.
In 2003 Johnny and Leslie recorded and released a Christmas album with 12 original tunes. The album, Can’t Stop Thinking About Christmas, is still receiving rave reviews worldwide. The album is upbeat, fun and calls upon many fellow musicians, with guest appearances from Ron Sexsmith, Jim Cuddy (Blue Rodeo), Tyler Stewart (Barenaked Ladies) and more. Four songs from this album charted on the BDS airplay chart in Canada. The CD has grabbed attention and garnered radio airplay in the US,Canada and Europe. In 2010, Ronnie Spector of Rock n Roll Hall of Fame covered the title track, “Best Christmas Ever”.
In 2004, Johnny and Leslie, adding Darrin Pfeiffer of Goldfinger fame on Drums to the mix, recorded and released Vicious Circles. An excellent review from USA Today music editor and reviewer Ken Barnes is just one of many. The comparisons to super groups such as Fleetwood Mac and The Pretenders show the mass appeal of this duo. Television shows and movies continue finding spots for their music.
Throughout their career as song writers they have always managed to get their songs played on radio. In 2006 when their son was born they took a step back from touring and decided to stay closer to home. That same year Leslie was chosen to contribute a track to Women & Song: Volume 10. In 2007, Leslie lent her voice to the movie-score of The Stone Angel. The score won a Genie Award for Best Original Score.
For fun, in 2011, they released a funky electronica project called The BOD with Dan Marfisi (Poe), which continues to top N1M’s charts. The duo then decided to take the huge step toward a quieter life and moved to Saskatoon, SK.
To keep their chops up, Johnny Sinclair and Leslie Stanwyck started playing in local clubs as an acoustic duo. Then in 2011, Johnny put together the cover band Undercover Pirates with his long-time friend, Brent Carlin. There is a sense of family in the band and the group plays together several times a month. A few years later, Tucker Lane was born out of this union and in 2015 they released Tucker Lane’s debut album, West of Minnesota, North of North Dakota. Produced by the band, the album is chock full of upbeat Americana songs like “Same Place”, “Wishing You Were Here”, “Sentimental Fool”, and “You Still Love Me”, with some edgier material such as Stones-style rockers, “Think You Know (Someone Like Me)” and “What It’s About?”.
In 2018, Tucker Lane was nominated as Best Group at the Saskatchewan Country Music Awards (SCMA). They are currently working on a rockin’ new album for release in May 2020.
In 2019, Johnny produced and recorded Gillian Snider & Leslie Stanwyck’s debut album Parallels. This led Johnny and Leslie to consider working with more artists and help to set them on their way. It became apparent that since they had the machinery, why not record and release more artists who they respect and appreciate.
In 2020, Johnny and Leslie launched their indie label and production house Honeytunes. They had a co-write with Alex Runions and Lane Shields for Lane’s single “I’ll Cheers To That”. Johnny and Leslie as Honeytunes recorded and produced the track with Tucker Lane as the backing band. They have also produced and recorded several songs for singer Katelyn Lehner. Honeytunes was commissioned to produce a song for the closing of Saskatoon’s Virtual Canada Day in the Park. The track features seven Saskatchewan artists singing remotely to our backing track including audio and video. In addition to the closing, Leslie was asked to sing “Oh Canada” at the beginning of the broadcast. Scheduled speakers were Saskatoon Mayor Charlie Clark, Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
Honeytunes acquired the rights to release all seven Universal Honey albums to streaming and digital download platforms as most of the recordings were never released to this format. Honeytunes now has a catalog of 11 full length albums.
Honeytunes philosophy is that a good recording begins with a good song. The duo has the song-writing experience to help artists achieve the best result with their songs and know how to capture them in the studio.
HONEYTUNES MISSION STATEMENT
Honeytunes is a world class independent record label and provides artist focused consulting for both underground and main-stream music, regardless of genre. Honeytunes is located in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, and our releases will introduce the best up-and-coming singer/songwriters Canada has to offer. At Honeytunes, we believe there is a sustainable audience not only in Canada, but worldwide, that shares our extreme passion for the art of song writing.
Honeytunes will capitalize on the growing entertainment market across the world through the production, distribution and promotion of high-quality recordings made available world-wide. We strive to cultivate the highest possible quality of recordings through passionate, inspirational and innovative contributions to every project we take part in.
Honeytunes is also actively involved in music publishing and helps to maximize income through proper collection efforts and placement of songs in all forms of media and advertising. Our success has taken us to film, soundtrack, TV and commercials.
Honeytunes also provides outstanding professional consulting services from knowledgeable industry veterans, exceedingly well versed in artist development, production, promotion and marketing. We are able to consult our artists in a wide range of music industry disciplines, including, but not limited to; artist development, marketing, promotion, advertising, song writing, composing, arranging, intellectual property, publishing, touring, distribution, producing and merchandising, along with advanced career guidance and direction.
Honeytunes will evolve and grow so that we are able to carefully prepare our artists to successfully meet the challenges and opportunities they encounter in the ever-evolving music industry.
Honeytunes ultimate mission as a record label is to build a business that will help our Artists achieve their highest dreams