Country music fans are no stranger to Carly Pearce or Lee Brice; both singers having been wildly successful in country music, with hits like Pearce’s “Every Little Thing,” and Brice’s “Hard to Love.”
These two recently teamed up and released a single together that is currently #1 on the charts. “I Hope You’re Happy Now” is a break-up song that tugs at the heartstrings of millions.
It has a tragic backstory that Carly Pearce now feels ready to share.
While Carly Pearce and Lee Brice provided the vocals, the production was handled by Grammy nominated producer, busbee (yes, Michael James Ryan Busbee preferred the lower case “b” for his stage name).
Busbee was a 43-year old producer and songwriter who had a hand in many popular songs, such as “Try” by P!NK and “The Fighter” by Keith Urban and Carrie Underwood.
Unfortunately, in the midst of working on “I Hope You’re Happy Now,” busbee had a seizure, which led to the discovery of his brain cancer. He passed away a few months later and is survived by his wife and three children.
As a result, Carly Pearce’s and Lee Brice’s song was actually the last one he ever worked on. His cancer advanced so quickly that he had to hand off his responsibilities in the midst of production.
“So a lot of people don’t know this, but I always said if it went No. #1, I would tell this story,” Carley says, “Dan Huff actually came in and ghost produced the rest of Lee’s vocal, because busbee was sick.”
Dan Huff is an award-winning music producer, a veteran of the industry. Starting out in rock n’ roll, he then began working with such country stars as Faith Hill, Shania Twain, Hunter Hayes, and many more.
“Dan never wanted credit for it. But this song is just extra special for me in all of those ways, because it’s the one thing that busbee didn’t get to finish, but he knew that it was special. And now I feel like that needs to be heard, because it’s pretty special that Dan did that, and I am grateful to him.” Pearce explained.
This story is a wonderful testament to the music community, and how people come together in times of tragedy. Losing busbee was a blow to Pearce and the rest of country music as a whole, and it is heartwarming that Dan Huff quietly completed the final project for busbee, so he could have one last song to his name. A song that then went to #1—a timely testimony to a talent who left us all too soon.
