James Riordan’s career began in the music industry where as a songwriter, manager, producer and concert promoter he worked with several well known artists. Riordan’s song, One Morning Down (written with Mike Leppert) was actually on the short list of songs Elvis Presley was considering record­­­ing when he passed away. His collaborations with Leppert and Rich Denhart led to the forming of the band Hope which also included D.C. Rapier, Gary Rey­nolds and Mick Kilgos. Hope recorded an album at Woodland Sound Studios and released a single, Cellophane Man, on Mecca Records in Nash­ville. Riordan had 46 songs published by seven leading publishers in Nashville.