BIO
Donnie Barren began his musical journey as a lead guitarist in the vibrant LA rock scene, headlining legendary venues like the Troubadour, Starwood, and Whisky a Go Go with bands like RATT and incarnations of Quiet Riot opening for him. Donnie ultimately ventured out on his own and released the single "I Love My Cat’s Meow”/"Falling In Love" in 1983, and watched it quickly climb to number one on KROQ’s “Rodney on the Roq” for nine consecutive weeks.
Throughout the 1980s, Donnie continued to record and release original tracks while gaining a deeper appreciation for the business side of music. He eventually stepped away to earn his MBA from Harvard, ultimately applying his strategic skills at powerhouse companies like Procter & Gamble and Microsoft.
Years later, Donnie returned to his passion, re-releasing parts of his '80s catalog, producing a fresh collection of rock instrumentals (under his full name, Donnie Barren Holtzinger), and writing/producing songs for sync. His music now fuels TV shows, films, sports arenas, video games, and ad campaigns — with placements on HBO, Hulu, Netflix, The CW, the WNBA and brands like Sony, Amazon and Toyota.
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BIO (long)
Donnie Barren played lead guitar for the Los Angeles rock band "City Lights" in the late 70's and early 80's, writing and singing songs for the group's single ("Action/Back Off Babe") and EP ("Blackout"). Some of the more fun gigs were at the Whiskey a Go-Go, Starwood, Gazzarri's, and the Troubadour, where City Lights headlined or shared the stage with bands like Dokken, RATT, Poison, Snow, X, Oingo Boingo (Danny Elfman's band), Joshua, and Dubrow (formerly Quiet Riot).
Donnie ventured out on his own in 1982, releasing the single "I Love My Cat's Meow/Falling In Love" in March 1983 (acting as musician, singer/songwriter, producer and promo-man). The tune was well received, being played on over 15 Southern California radio stations during its 1st month and garnering college radio coverage across the USA and in Germany.
"Cat's Meow" hit # 1 on LA's KXLU, entered KROQ's "Rodney on the Roq's" Top 10 in April (at # 7), and moved to # 1 for all of May and June. At the time, KROQ (FM 106.7 in Pasadena, CA) was the # 1 Album Oriented Rock (AOR) station in LA and was regarded as the new music trend-setter across the US. For perspective, Nena's "99 Balloons" (CBS Records) held the #1 position on "Rodney on the Roq's" Top 10 the following month, July of 1983. This was long before other AOR stations added the German song to their play lists, ultimately making "99 Balloons" a national Top 40 Hit.
Unfortunately, just as Cat's Meow was climbing the charts, Donnie's distribution partner (Faulty Products, a division of IRS/A&M Records) ran out of money and stopped promoting its stable of artists (groups like the Bangles, Dead Kennedys & DOA). Looking back, it's ironic that Donnie signed up with a label called "Faulty Products", but they were considered one of the best "new music" distributors at the time. If they had put some promotion support behind the single, the song could have had a strong national showing.
Undeterred, Donnie continued to record and release original tracks throughout the 80s while gaining a deeper appreciation for the business side of music. He ultimately took a break to finish school (earning an MBA from Harvard) and then dove into the business world (albeit not the music biz), working at Procter and Gamble and Microsoft.
Years later, Donnie returned to his passion, re-releasing parts of his '80s catalog, producing a fresh collection of rock instrumentals (under his full name, Donnie Barren Holtzinger), and writing/producing songs for sync. His music now fuels TV shows, films, sports arenas, video games, and ad campaigns — with placements on HBO, Hulu, Netflix, The CW, the WNBA, Sony’s MLB The Show, and brands like Amazon and Toyota.
Some people have asked: "Donnie who?" When Donnie was younger, he thought his last name was too long for a musician, so he opted to use his middle name. Now, many years the wiser, Donnie goes by either Donnie Barren or Don Holtzinger (or Donnie Barren Holtzinger). So, for those people that knew Donnie Barren (or "dB" for short), we'd like to introduce you to Don Holtzinger.
Drop Donnie a line on Facebook (@donholtzinger) or Instagram (@donniebarren). I know he'd like to hear from you.
Thanks.
"dB" Productions
