Overview
From a very early age Darren Skanson had a burning passion for music. His
passion grew deeper when realized how much excitement a crowd has when
watching a musical performer. In 1989, Darren graduated from Moorhead State
University with a BA in music.
Darren's career first began by being a lead guitarist in a heavy metal band.
The band, Mata Hari, split up in 1993. Darren then joined Malcolm Watson, who
was a classical violinist, at Watson and Company. Darren and Malcolm
produced the third CD for Watson and Company. Shortly after the success of
producing this CD the duo traveled nationwide performing. Within a year the
sales had increased from $100,000 to $250,000. Malcolm wanted to move a little
more slowly than Darren in expanding their business to greater heights. Since
Darren was ready to move on, he left Watson and Company to form his own
company.
Darren had a vision to record, produce and sell his own music, as well as the
music of other artists. Jennifer, a long time friend of Darren's was the booking
agent for his tour. Jennifer did not share the same vision with Darren so they
parted ways and moved on.
Trying to perform, handle CEO duties and handling the promotional marketing
aspect of his business was getting to be too much for Darren. Business was
getting to be complicated. He decided to hire a guy named Andy Harling, who
was a classical guitarist to help with the office duties of the company and to