Born in Newark, New Jersey to parents Edward Wohanka and
Carmela Pagano And Raised in Homdel, NJ, a small race horse breeding town
near Asbury Park where he attended a small, private two room grammar
school called "Centerville" with a total of 23 students
through the eight years he attended. Began studying music at age five
and continued to study privately through the eighth grade.
He began performing live at the age of 13 with his first band
called "The
Harbor Lights" By the time he was 21 years of age, he had
performed and
worked with the biggest names in Rock & Roll "Jerry Lee
Lewis", "The
Rascals", "Bruce Springsteen", "Vito &
The Salutations", "Randy & The
Rainbows", "The Duprees", "Chubby Checker",
"Bobby Rydell", "Danny & The
Juniors", "Ray Charles", and "The Fifth
Dimension", just to name a few.
But always through it all Doc was constantly recording, producing and performing music.
He worked at the famed Sun Studios in Memphis, TN, Sigma Sound Studios
in
Philadelphia, Virtue Recording Studios in Philadelphia, Alpha Audio In
Virginia, Acoustic Loop Studios In Alabama, Fame Studios In Alabama
and the Record Plant in New York City. During this time he worked on
many national
projects recorded at these studios, Just a few of the artist that
recorded there at the time were artists such as Jimi Hendrix, The
Rascals, Mountain, Jerry Lee Lewis, Ohio Express, The 1910 Fruit Gum
Company, Eddie Holman, The Stylistics, Loretta Lynn. He has
personally produced many artists such as Cissie Lynn, Big Al Downing,
Herman's Hermits, Mike Penders Searchers, Jon Washington of the
Fortunes, Chauncey Black Of "Blackstreet", Bernard Jackson Of
"Surface" and Doug "The Ragin' Cajun" Kershaw
to
name a few.
He was also head of A&R for major label ABC Paramount in New York
City. He
was one of the founding members of a group from New Jersey called
"The Soul
Set" later known as the "Soul Survivors" and after
it was found out that the name "The Soul Survivors" was being used by another band, they then
became known as "The Doc
Holiday Band", He was also a member along with players like Garry Tallent , Steve Van Zant (both now members of Bruce Springsteen's
E-Street Band), Gary "A", Mickey Holiday, Billy Ryan, Billy "Cherrybomb"
Lucia, Johnny Shaw (Just to name a few.) of the legendary Jersey Shore Band "The JayWalkers"
for 5 years, which would go down in musical history as the creators of S.O.A.P. (THE SOUND OF ASBURY PARK) , which was later adopted by, Bruce
Springsteen,
Clarence Clemmons, Southside Johnny, and members of Bon Jovi .
According to Doc "Of all the people
that take credit for the band "The JayWalkers" including myself, there
is only one that really deserves the credit for that legendary band,
and that's John Shaw. He was the creator, he was there through over 50
changes in members and John Shaw, besides being a great songwriter,
leader, singer and musician, was an excellent record producer, that,
although he didn't know it at the time, taught me how to make a record
sound like a record. John Shaw is truly the unsung hero and a major
part in the development of all the great recording artists,
songwriters and producers that came out of the Jersey shore and went
on to be Super Stars".
Doc Holiday has
produced over 600 lifetime chart records, with well over 100 of them
hitting the
#1 spot on many different charts worldwide. As an entertainer, he has accomplished three complete world
tours and is the only record producer in the history of the record business to
grace the cover of Cashbox Magazine. He has also graced the covers of
Billboard, and Record World publications. He and his band have toured,
appeared or perfromed with The McCoys, The Beach Boys, Chubby Checker, The Kingston Trio, Yes, Donovan,
Lynyrd Skynyrd, Bobby Goldsboro, Ray Charles, Bobby Rydell, Fabian, The
Doobie Brothers, The Allman Brothers, Wet Willie, Jan & Dean, Sha Na
Na, Jose Feliciano, Big Al Downing, Waylon Jennings, Mickey Gilley, B.
J. Thomas, Billy Crash Craddock, Mark Farner Of Grand Funk Railroad and numerous other national acts.
Doc retired from touring in 1983 and opened the first Power Plant
Recording
Studio in Miami, FL. In 1985, he opened the second Power Plant Studio
on
Caribou Island, an island where he purchased land for the construction off the coast of Nova Scotia,
Canada.
In 1988, he would open the third Power Plant Studio in
Hampton, Virginia. He now resides in Hampton, Va. and Gatlinburg TN.
Doc was elected to the "Who's Who In
Entertainment," along with
Madonna and Prince, in 1995. He is also the CEO of three international
music
publishing companies, a major stock holder in Mega International Records and Tug Boat
International
Records. Mr. Holiday has also been a disc jockey for five major radio
stations in the USA, and has had his radio show, "Where Are They Now?" syndicated in
the USA. Doc has also won numerous entertainment awards including 17
first round Grammy entries, and a total of 12 "Telly Awards for
music videos, as of
2004.
Doc Holiday has appeared on network television many times as an actor, with
appearances on "THE F.B.I. FILES",
"DARING CAPERS" for
the Discovery Television Network, A part in the movie of the week for
TLC called "a Family Torn" plus many guest appearances on
national talk shows. Doc's television show called "The
Doc Holiday Show" along with Radio Personality "Henry "The Bull", a
music video show which, ran for 5 years on The Fox Network affiliate in Hampton
Roads, Virginia, and was discontinued after the unexpected death of
his co-host "Henry "The Bull". The television has now
been put back on the air on Saturday nights on WSKY-4 TV with Nick
Holiday as Doc's co-host. To this day Doc still airs footage of Doc &
Henry as a regular segment in the show as a tribute to Henry "The
Bull"
The year 2000 has marked the expansion of his Hampton, VA studios to
12,000
sq. ft. making it the largest recording studio in the state of
Virginia. As
the CEO of two internationally distributed record companies, Mega
International Records, formed in 1987, and Tug Boat International Records,
formed in 1984. Doc's
artists and companies have been nominated for a record 22 awards from the
"OLC" Country Music Awards in Nevada in the year 2000. He also
has nine
albums he has produced entered in the first round of nominations for
Grammy Awards for the 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004 and 2005 Grammys. In 2001 at the Golden Music
Awards, held in Nashville TN. he won the "Producer Of The Year" award,
along with "Label Of The Year" for Mega International Records, and in 2002
and 2003 his television show "The Doc Holiday Show" won "The Telly
Award" for Late Night Music Video Varity Show.
Doc is also expanded into music videos as well as motion pictures,
being
signed to produce and direct "The Polish Border Incident", a
true story about
international spy's in the early 80's. Doc has just completed a television pilot for
Dark Side
Enterprises called: "Heinz Altmann, Bullet Catcher" a true
story of a high
level, high profile body guard which was also aired on Fox Television. Another movie project in the works
at the Power Plant Studios in Virginia is "Broken Badge", the
true story of the federal agent that exposed Washington D.C. mayor,
Marion Barry, to the world as being involved with corruption and drugs
within the nation's capital.
In July of 2000 Doc enjoyed a rebirth of his career as a recording
artist,
when he released his first new self penned album since 1983, titled
"Pay
back's A Bitch" The album reached the #1 spot on the World
Independent Charts of The Tracker Magazine on July 15, 2000 and stayed
at #1 for 4 consecutive weeks receiving air play in 15 countries
around the world, The music video from the title song "Pay Back's
A Bitch" was aired on national television in rotation on IMNTV
for 5 weeks. A second music video from that album "How Can You Live"
received the 2003 "Telly Award" for Independent Music Video.
Doc is currently enjoying his new rebirth in performing, producing,
managing,
and writing .... And his beat goes on! Doc intends to go into semi
retirement in January of 2004 and just concentrate on major artists
recording projects and Television projects only with hopes of only
working on projects 2 to 3 months a year while spending most of his off
time as he does now at his house in Gatlinburg Tennessee. Enjoy yourself
Doc, You've earned it!!! To visit the Doc Holiday Web Site
(CLICK HERE)
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