He wrote several songs for The Oak Ridge Boys, including "I Guess It Never Hurts to Hurt Sometimes," which reached No. 1 on the Hot Country Songs chart. The song appeared on his 1981 album Beat of Love, which also included the "Suzi Found a Weapon", which hit No. 55 on the Billboard Hot 100.
Career
Randall VanWarmer was born in Indian Hills, Colorado, the son of Roger VanWarmer (1919–1967)[6][7] and Betsy (née Harry; 1919–2006).[8] At 15, three years after the death of his father in an automobile accident, he moved with his mother to Cornwall, England.
In a 1989 interview with Release,[9] a now-defunct independent paper from Stanford, California, Van Warmer said that Albert Grossman, the head of Bearsville Records, would not let him do television or tour the United States, a strategy that did not prove successful.
His second album, Terraform, was dark and more alternative than his previous work. According to Release,[9]Terraform sold moderately in Japan and Australia. VanWarmer would later publicly rue his decision to turn away from ballads. He made two more records at Bearsville: Beat of Love and The Things That You Dream. Beat of Love included the single "Suzi Found a Weapon", a tribute to a Bearsville public relations rep whom VanWarmer would later marry, and which went to No. 1 in Alaska and gained a certain amount of posthumous acclaim (for example, a review by James A. Gardner in AllMusic).[10] Grossman died soon after this.
According to Release,[9] in the mid-1980s, Suzi VanWarmer mailed a song called "I Guess It Never Hurts to Hurt Sometimes" from Beat of Love to a friend at MCA Inc., who sent it to Ron Chancey, producer for the Oak Ridge Boys who put it on their next album. Charley Pride recorded a song of VanWarmer's, as did Michael Johnson. VanWarmer moved to Nashville, Tennessee, and the recording of his song, "I'm in a Hurry (And Don't Know Why)" by the band Alabama hit No. 1 on the country chart.
His final album was a tribute to Stephen Foster, released posthumously only in Japan. According to the CD's liner notes, VanWarmer played all the instruments on the album. The notes also indicate that he completed work on the record a few days after learning he had leukemia; he died at 48, one day before the anniversary of Foster's death.
VanWarmer died on January 12, 2004, at the age of 48 in Seattle. He had been suffering from leukemia for the previous year.[12] He is survived by his widow Suzi and his brothers Dave, Mark, and Ron.[13]
