Musician shares peace via inspirational harmonies

You could say Greg Hansen has music in his genes. He is, after all, the great-grandson of pioneer musician Ebeneezer Beesley.

You could say Hansen happened to be in the right place at the right time. He was a student at Brigham Young University just as the new studio-composition major (now called media music) was introduced, and he, along with Kurt Bestor and Sam Cardon, was among the first to go through the program. "We all went in different directions, but we were the first to come out and all make a living in music and composition."

Or, you could say that Hansen is one of those people, who, through opportunity, certainly, but also skill and choices, has created his own successful path.

However you look at it, you will soon see that Hansen has definitely made a mark on the local music scene as a composer, arranger and record producer for more than 20 years. "I started as a copyist (for the Osmonds), and then wrote for movies for about 10 years and became a record producer after that."

Like many local musicians, he had his brush with the glitzy side of the business. "I hooked up with record producer David Foster in L.A. and worked for him off and on for about a year."

During that time, Hansen worked with such artists as Barbra Streisand, Bette Midler and Gladys Knight. "I considered moving to L.A. but I got dissatisfied with the cut-throat nature of the business there. In the end, it came down to chasing just another love song. I wanted something with more meaning, something that would do some good, would maybe improve things. I decided not to go. And for me, I know I did the right thing."

Hansen hooked up with Sounds of Zion and began producing inspirational music. "I feel like I'm doing more good, even on a smaller scale, than I would with Top 40 pop."

For Hansen, and the other folks at Sounds of Zion, "it has always been message over messenger. The message is the music. It's positive, it's uplifting, it fills places that need to be filled."

Nor has he suffered from a lack of talent. "We have the greatest artists here; some are as good as you get. They make incredible music, and it's very satisfying to work with them."

He's also been in a position to mentor a lot of new artists. "It's always fun to break in new folks, to see the talent that's coming up."