NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Unifying global superstar Dennis Quaid released “Friends,” via Audio Up Records, on Black Friday. The single is a song meant to unify and celebrate individuality, ethnicity, and heritage as this tumultuous year comes to an end. To hear the newly released single, click here.
“I wrote ‘Friends’ in early June 2020. It was one of those songs that just came flowing out of my heart, and although I tinkered with it over the next month, I basically wrote it in 20 minutes. The song comes from the heartbreak the division our country is going through,” Quaid shared with True Hollywood Talk.
Earlier this week, Quaid performed “Amazing Grace” during The Great American Foodathon which premiered on Fox at 7:00. The show raised money for two very important organizations, No Kid Hungry and City Harvest NYC, that helps feed families and children struggling with hunger during this COVID-19 pandemic. The special, hosted by Geoffrey Zakarian, included over 60 celebrities, including Quaid, as well as John Legend, Josh Groban, Andrea Bocelli, JoJo, and more.
“Quaid” Over the Years
Where do we even begin? Quaid began to gain attention in the late 1970s for roles in such films as “Breaking Away” before gaining public and critical acclaim for his role in the 1983 release “The Right Stuff.” Other notable credits include “The Rookie,” “The Day After Tomorrow,” “Traffic,” “Vantage Point,” “Frequency,” “The Parent Trap,” and “Soul Surfer.”
Quaid recently wrapped up production on the Netflix holiday-themed multi-camera comedy series “Merry Happy Whatever” for which he also serves as a producer. Additionally, he starred in the third season of Amazon’s “Goliath” opposite Billy Bob Thornton which premiered in 2019. Quaids’ recent big-screen credits include starring roles in Sony’s thriller “The Intruder,” Universal’s “A Dog’s Journey” and “A Dog’s Purpose” as well as Roadside Attraction’s faith-based film “I Can Only Imagine,” which was released to wide critical acclaim.
But Quaid is a renaissance man who is one of the busiest people in show business.
Most recently he has become a podcast pioneer by co-founding a podcast content studio, network, and production company, Audio Up, while launching his own podcast, The Dennissance. Audio Up is a podcast content production studio, housing a world of infinite, audio-based properties. Led by founder and CEO Jared Gutstadt (formerly of the Jingle Punks), Audio Up is building an ecosystem of premium entertainment content within the music and audio space.
From fictional scripted podcasts, which include a Marvel-like universe of musicals, where the records themselves become the story foundation, to Quaid’s unfiltered interview series, The Dennissance, Audio Up’s goal is to create a new and innovative form of IP. They are bringing audio blockbusters to life and taking this media from black and white, into technicolor. Their slate of projects include Uncle Drank: The Totally Hammered Podcast, Make It Up As We Go with Scarlett Burke, Halloween In Hell, Finding Pierre, Ego System, S’ad Land and Hero The Band.
Besides being an acclaimed actor, musician, songwriter, and writer; he is also a jet pilot, amateur astronomer, fly-fisherman, philosopher, low handicap golfer, medical safety advocate, and armchair historian.
He has powered a NASCAR around an oval track, given speeches and appeared before Congress on patient safety, played golf with 2 U.S. presidents, piloted a dogsled in the arctic, meditated on the shore of the Ganges River in India, team-roped on a quarter horse, pitched on the mound in Texas stadium, been a middle-weight boxer, and can change a diaper in 20 seconds.
For his role in Todd Haynes’ “Far from Heaven” he won the New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Supporting Actor, the Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actor, the Online Film Critics Society Award for Best Supporting Actor, and the Independent Spirit Award for Best Supporting Male. In 2010 he was nominated for numerous awards including a SAG Award®, an Emmy©, and a Golden Globe© for his portrayal of Bill Clinton in the TV Movie, “A Special Relationship.”
On the small screen, he starred in Crackle’s auctioneering drama “The Art of More” on which he also served as an executive producer as well as in the BAFTA award-nominated series “Fortitude.” Along with being an accomplished actor, Quaid is also a singer-songwriter with hundreds of thousands of miles under his belt as a touring musician who’s been playing music since his grandfather bought him his first guitar at a Texas Kmart. He continues to receive stellar reviews displaying equal ease with both originals and country standards, and after years of playing clubs with his band, Quaid released his debut album, Out of the Box, in November 2018. Among his musical heroes are Buddy Holly, Hank Williams, Willie & Waylon, Johnny Cash, the Beatles, the Doors, and James Brown.
In 2020, Quaid co-founded Audio Up, alongside CEO Jared Gutstadt. In addition to The Dennissance, he has his hands in several other Audio Up podcasts right now including: co-hosting The Pet Show with Jimmy Jellinek, which premiered on July 14; Uncle Drank: The Totally Hammered Podcast, in which he stars alongside Gary Busy and Make It Up As We Go in which he is executive producing and available now on all podcast platforms.
Feature photo credit: Greg Allen
