Sunshyne as a drummer in the early 70s. There he met band member Bruce Fairbairn who would later become an influential Canadian record producer. In 1975, Fairbairn approached Vallance about recording a demo of some of the band's music in hopes of landing a recording contract. Initially, the music was not Vallance's but after several rehearsals, Fairbairn asked Vallance to contribute some of his songs. One of them, "Open Soul Surgery" caught the ear of a record company executive at GRT who offered Fairbairn's group a recording contract. Using various musicians from Sunshyne and another Vancouver band, Seeds of Time, Fairbairn recorded and produced a nine-song album, seven of which were written by Vallance. The band was renamed Prism and Vallance decided to use the pseudonym "Rodney Higgs" rather than his real name in the album credits. The debut Prism album was a success as it hit platinum status in Canada (sales in excess of 100,000.) But Vallance decided to leave the Prism lineup before the next album as he didn't enjoy the constant travel necessary for touring. What he did enjoy was songwriting and arranging and preferred to work out of his makeshift home studio. Although Vallance left the band's lineup, he did help his former bandmates by contributing one song for each of the subsequent two albums, then one more for the 2008 album Big Black Sky. Adams-Vallance songwriting partnership Early years Upon leaving the Prism lineup, Vallance worked as a session musician in and around Vancouver to earn a living while his ultimate objective was to be a full-time songwriter. He was in need of a performing artist as a vehicle to promote his songs. Meanwhile, a talented, brash young artist named Bryan Adams had just established himself on the Vancouver music scene with the local band Sweeney Todd. Adams decided to leave the band for a solo career but at 18, he was still inexperienced in the music business. In search of assistance, an informal meeting was arranged between Vallance and Adams at a Long and McQuade musical instrument shop in Vancouver. Vallance and Adams had known about each other through the Vancouver music scene, although they had never been introduced. At the meeting, both admitted they liked the idea of a songwriting partnership and agreed to forge one. The arrangement was twofold. In the long term, the songs would be primarily used as the material