Interview with Local Musician Glen Pretty

Friday, 14 April 2023 11:26

Local musician Glen Pretty lost $55,000 to Canadian pop star Danny Fernandes and he stopped by the Heart FM studio this morning to talk about the traumatizing experience.

INGERSOLL - A local musician from Ingersoll is sharing his story after he lost thousands of dollars to a Canadian pop star.

Glen Pretty found a Facebook ad back in June 2020, offering an opportunity to record with Danny Fernandes.

"Obviously listening to him as a younger kid I knew it was a huge deal. So I decided to reach out, I was contacted right away by his manager and the next thing I know it's 10:00 p.m. and I'm on FaceTime with Danny Fernandes himself."

He paid $2,500 to record the single in Fernandes home studio. Once that was done and over with, Pretty says Fernandes then started to ask for more money with promises, which later turned out to be lies.

"He was like 'I'm having a hard time putting food on the table for my kids and I'm behind on my mortgage' and I found out he didn't even have a mortgage because he was renting."

Pretty believed Fernandes stories, after hearing about some of his past struggles.

"He got really deep with me and told me about his past with drug addiction and the road he went down with that. So I put two and two together and figured maybe he was trying to bounce back from that even though he told me that he was clean and went to rehab."

Pretty wound up sending Fernandes $55,000 over a six-month span, using funds he had saved up to put a down payment on a house.

After discovering he wasn't the only musician tricked by Fernandes, Pretty decided to go public with his story and the CBC conducted a months long investigation into the matter. You can read the full article online here.

Pretty last contacted Fernandes back in February of 2021, to inform him that he was getting lawyers involved. Pretty says he won the court case and Fernandes now owes him $55,000 but he has not received a cent at this time.

He says this whole experience has lit a fire underneath him and he's looking forward to releasing more music in the near future. You can find his music on Apple Music, Spotify, Amazon Music and other streaming services. Heart FM will also be playing his song Always Be There at 8:00 a.m. and 2:00 p.m. on Saturday April 15th and at 4:00 p.m. and 10:00 p.m. on Sunday April 16th.

Pretty stopped by the Heart FM studio to chat with Dan and Marcie on Friday April 14th and you can listen to the full interview below: