Cleve Francis Retrospective

STAR MAKING-

Cleve Francis' first music video, Love Light. Winner of the Country Music Video award best new artist. Made it to No. 9 Video!

Here is an excerpt of the Saint Petersburg Times article:

Francis hired young filmmaker David Jean Schweitzer to do a video for one of the songs, Love Light. "I paid $25,000 of my own money, but this guy wanted to break into the country music market, so he pulled out all the stops and gave me a video worth $75,000," says Francis.

Francis personally delivered the video to Country Music Television. The fledgling cable channel was immersed with videos from country's flock of new stars, but would occasionally accept videos from non-label acts.

In those days, fans' votes determined which songs made the Top 10, and Francis watched from Virginia as his video climbed. It soon was in rotation with The Dance, a video that helped launch Garth Brooks into orbit, settling at No. 9 beside hits from Reba McEntire and Brooks & Dunn.

One of country music's hottest producers was watching, too. Jimmy Bowen had Garth Brooks, Tanya Tucker, and other big-name acts on his Liberty label. When he walked by the big-screen TV in his house and saw Francis' video, he called his studio and told an assistant to find the singer immediately.