For a young artist, simply signing their first record deal with any company, no matter how mom and pop, would be enough for them to dream they’re on their way to the big time, that with a little more work that rock & roll fantasy would become reality. But signing with a major label, with a fancy producer and a lot of money behind you…..well, that would make it difficult to think this wouldn’t last forever, that stardom wasn’t yours for the taking, especially if you saw a little success initially.

Right? Welllll…..

Judson Spence was born in Mississippi in 1965. That’s about the only hard information available about his early life. At some point he must have performed and been discovered somewhere (Nashville, maybe? — he definitely lived there later), and he must have knocked the socks off of someone important because he signed a deal with Atlantic Records, the most major of labels. Spence’s debut album was co-produced by one of Prince’s favorite sound engineers, and executive produced by Jimmy Iovine (producer of Bruce Springsteen and Tom Petty, and soon to start up Interscope Records). Pretty solid team for an unknown artist.

Released as the lead single in October of 1988, “Yeah Yeah Yeah” actually climbed into the US Top 40, peaking at #32. Not bad! The Atlantic promotion team missed a trick, however, because this song should have been used in a Levi’s commercial, or over the end credits of a rom-com or feel-good movie. Unfortunately, the subsequent four singles released from the album failed to chart. But rather than give him another chance, Atlantic dropped Spence from their roster and no other label picked him up.

In the following decades, he released a few unheralded albums on indie labels, but did find small successes working with country artists Trisha Yearwood and Wynonna Judd in the late 90’s/early 00’s. And he left behind him a great slice of gospel-tinged, Southern pop.

Savor those moments at the top — that brass ring can turn green before you know it.