If you were to meet septuagenarian Mike Greenly — whose demeanor matches the former corporate executive he is — you’d be surprised to learn that he’s a successful pop music lyricist who’s had 10 of his songs charted as Billboard Dance Club hits, four of them becoming #1s. Two of those chart toppers came from songs he helped create for American R&B star Jason Walker. He’s also shared successes with such recognized artists as Haitian-American vocalist Natalie Jean; choral composer Jim Papoulis and Americana artist Grant Maloy Smith.
The lyricist’s notched another significant musical accomplishment through his work with powerhouse vocalist Kimberly Davis, lead singer for CHIC, the band founded by music legend Nile Rodgers — a 2017 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductee — who is known for such hits as “Dance, Dance, Dance (Yowsah, Yowsah, Yowsah)”, “Le Freak” and “Good Times.” “My Fire,” Greenly’s collaboration with Davis, scored them another #1 Billboard Dance Club hit and features Rodgers’ distinctive guitar licks.
Another big hit with Davis was “Life is a Dancefloor,” written by Greenly with Ryan Shaw, Audrey Martells and noted DJ/remixer/producer Tony Moran; it was crafted by English house producers The Shapeshifters. As Greenly explained, “The song began with a title idea from Tony, wanting us to write another hit for Kimberly. After some phenomenal demo work and writing from Audrey and Ryan — both talented vocalists and songwriters, themselves — I did my polishing thing with the words and everything came together. Our song became a sexy invitation to confidently come out onto the ‘Dancefloor of Life’ and proudly shake it.” Next up for release with Davis on Feb. 21st, 2020, is “Second Chance”, also produced by The Shapeshifters and written with Martells.
Despite the music world’s glamorous trappings, Greenly wears Nike sandals and a casual green shirt no matter the weather or scene, unless he’s meeting with a client or attending a black tie event. Given his free-spirited ways, you wouldn’t guess that this mustachioed fellow had been named the youngest VP in the history of Avon Products back in the ‘80s, when it was the world’s #1 beauty company. Even before Avon, he was praised in previous work — in educational book publishing and then in consumer packaged goods — for his people skills and the ability to manage staff under his charge. As he acknowledged, “I learned a lot from corporate life, including the fact that I’d live longer outside of it. I now enjoy helping today’s execs as they pursue their careers.”
Greenly had begun writing lyrics for Avon’s national sales meetings which typically had “theme songs” to drive home the messages to their sales force. When he was put in charge of those meetings, he learned that he was at least as adept at writing lyrics for a corporate song as the agency professionals the company had hired to run the events.
After leaving Avon, Greenly launched his own business as a freelance speechwriter, presentation coach and motivational speaker. Now he was creating speeches, video scripts and PowerPoint presentations for some of the same agencies he had once hired as an Avon exec. One day, after driving back from a very effective sales pitch with composer Paul Guzzone, Greenly had an “aha” moment. “We’d been writing songs for all these companies and seemed pretty good at it. So I said, ‘Why don’t we try making songs for the public, too?’” Guzzone instantly agreed. That was in 2004 and the duo soon created their first non-corporate song, “Make Me Think You Love Me.” No one has recorded that one yet, but Greenly certainly discovered his passion for lyrics.
Since then, he’s authored Virginia’s state anthem. “Our Great Virginia” was signed into law in 2015 as the Official Traditional Song of the Commonwealth. In addition to his Billboard Dance Club hits, his choral songs are performed by choirs around the world. Greenly had learned that words are his friends – written, spoken or sung.
One choral piece he’s especially proud of is “We Can Plant a Forest.” Written with composer Papoulis, it received a special Eco-Arts award for its contribution to the planet’s ecology. Partnering with the award-winning non-profit agency, Trees for the Future, the song has caused over 50,000 trees to be planted in under-developed nations where forests have been stripped away by industry but not replenished. Greenly is glad to have made even a small positive difference to the planet’s oxygen and climate.
But there’s still more to his story. Greenly became known as a pioneering interactive journalist, earning awards for his online reporting. With Sherwin Levinson and Diane Worthington, he was the first to cover the Democratic and Republican conventions — often live via computer. He went on to be the first in history to cover Hollywood’s Academy Awards interactively as well.
Soon, energetic creator began finding new ways to use what he calls “my friends — The Words.” At the request of his physician, he conducted a series of interviews about a strange and terrible new disease which didn’t yet have a name. The result, initially available only online, was eventually published as “Chronicle: The Human Side of AIDS” (Irvington Publishers). Roche purchased 5,000 copies of the hardcover which it donated to oncologists and infectious disease specialists to help educate them about treating suffering patients.
While deeply insinuated into corporate life, Greenly had also realized that he is gay — after struggling with his identity and being closeted for years. Eventually, once he had finally embraced his true self and came out, he felt liberated. Accepting his own reality was empowering. It freed his mind and creativity, helping him both in the mainstream world of his clients and the creative world of the artists for whom he now writes songs.
In many ways, the genteel Southerner has reveled in the freedom to be one’s self and encourages others to do the same. From lessons learned in NYC while considering a career as a full-time psychotherapist, Greenly became an outspoken advocate of authenticity, self-reflection and an active respect for others. Such sentiments are expressed in songs of his like “Everything Happens for a Reason” and “Common Ground.”
With Greenly so comfortable in his own skin now, it’s hard to realize that he was once a bullied Jewish kid, intimidated into being a wallflower and needing decades of psychotherapy to become the expressive speaker he is today. As he recalled, “I got into therapy at Duke because my anxiety and suicidal fantasies were getting in the way of the Dean’s List grades required to keep my scholarship. I was put on probation and urged to get into therapy as a final chance to stay in school. Thanks to that support, I graduated Phi Beta Kappa. The experience changed my life and future.”
When Greenly speaks, one hardly hears a trace of an accent even though he grew up in the quintessentially Southern small town of Beaufort, SC. After all, he was hardly typical — not just for belonging to the tiny Jewish community there, but also because he had skipped the second grade and spent the rest of his local schooling a year younger and “different” than all his classmates, both religiously and chronologically. As he mulled over a painful past, Greenly elucidated. “I used to hide behind the bushes in elementary school because nobody wanted to play with ‘The Dirty Jew Boy’. There were swastikas carved into my locker and people sometimes asked me to show them the ‘Devil’s Tail’ they were sure I’d been born with. It gives me pain even as I remember it. That said, I’m grateful to have the friendship to this day of some wonderful former classmates … great people, many still in Beaufort, who have bigger hearts and minds than the bigots who taunted me so terribly.”
Having drawn value from those memories, he’s now stepping out in new directions that reflect his maturity and experience. While he continues to work with corporate executives on their speeches and presentations — even writing their TED talks — he has come into his own as an in-demand speaker. Among the topics that inspire him and his varied audiences are notions such as “Living Your Purpose” and “The Power of Diversity & Inclusion.” Reflecting his awareness of what it’s like to bear the brunt of bias, a number of his songs are directed toward helping others feel free to be themselves. His song about women’s equality, “Love Your Own Power” — co-written with Jean — has received awards and recognition on both sides of the Atlantic.
Love your own Power (excerpt)
Love your own Power
This is your time
Be who you are
Each day of your life
Love your own Power
Prove that you can
You can do anything
Just like a man!
Another song of Greenly’s — “I See You” — addresses an even more pressing and often overlooked concern — ageism. As witness the current meme, “Ok Boomer,” seniors are being marginalized in society while millennials operate as though they have no need for history and experience. Written with Grant Maloy Smith, Greenly described the song’s creation. “I was discussing a possible collaboration with Grant and he mentioned a comment he’d heard from a woman — perhaps in her 80s — who said she felt completely discounted by younger people as if she were ‘invisible.’ That gave him the idea for the title of what became our song.
“I’ve experienced ageism, myself. The head of production at a meetings and events agency – someone I’d worked with for many years – once said behind my back that he considered me among the best in the business. But he wanted to hire someone in their 30’s to make a better impression on the clients the agency was pitching to. That really hurt. Especially because clients often express appreciation that I’ve lived life on their side of the desk in the way that no 30-year-old would have had a chance to do. It seems I’m the only freelancer in the business who was once a Fortune 500 marketing and communications VP. I know what it’s like to be responsible for achieving hundreds of millions of dollars in sales and profits. The execs I help today show that they respect and value my credibility in a way the agency didn’t realize. I’d love it if ‘I See You’ helps foster greater respect for our elders and the value of their experience.”
I See You (excerpt)
Time runs like rivers to the sea
Time pulls you in like gravity
You feel fragile – but you’re strong
Think you’re invisible – but you’re wrong
I’ve been inspired by your courage all along
I see your whole life shining through
I see you
Motivated by enthusiastic feedback to their song, Greenly and Maloy Smith formed a relationship with Masterpiece Living, a multi-specialty organization with leading experts in aging. It partners with communities across the country, offering guidance, structure, resources and aging expertise. They encourage older adults to age with continuing purpose, passion and growth. The group recently adopted “I See You” as the name of their new anti-ageism campaign and asked Greenly to join their speakers bureau. The song and its mission have also received support from Leading Edge, one of the largest organizations in the country for aging services.
There’s one thing Greenly stressed in understanding the urgency of his personal and professional evolution, “I have no mechanical skills; I can barely change a light bulb and can hurt myself just trying to hang a picture. So I’m glad I discovered that my purpose in life is using my gift for words. Whether I’m helping younger execs and audiences benefit from what I learned over the years, encouraging older adults to still to believe in themselves and their value, or writing songs that people love to hear, I’m happy to have figured out what I’m meant to do in this world.”