Management
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When tickets for Bad Bunny’s El Último Tour del Mundo arena tour went on presale in April 2021, his manager, Noah Assad, was cautiously optimistic.
“I thought we would do well, because it was post-pandemic and everyone wanted to go out, but we went on sale without really knowing — and we did it a year out for that very reason,” says Assad.
For Assad, “doing well” has become synonymous with breaking some sort of record. But even he wasn’t expecting Bad Bunny to have one of the most historic, record-setting runs for an artist in the history of the Billboard charts. El Último Tour del Mundo’s presale date became the top sales day for any tour on Ticketmaster since Beyoncé and Jay-Z’s On the Run II tour went on sale in 2018, and the run sold out 480,000 tickets in less than a week.
Four months after El Último Tour del Mundo wrapped in April 2022, Bad Bunny embarked on his World’s Hottest Tour stadium run, becoming the first artist to ever mount separate $100 million-plus tours in the same calendar year. Ultimately, his 81 concerts in 2022 grossed $434.9 million, the highest calendar-year total for an artist since Billboard Boxscore launched in the late 1980s. The tour broke local revenue records in 13 North American markets en route to becoming the biggest Latin tour ever.
Bad Bunny’s chart dominance made him Billboard’s top artist of the year, by the numbers, the first Latin act and the first artist who records in a language other than English to earn the distinction. His album Un Verano Sin Ti, released in May on Assad’s independent label, Rimas Entertainment, and distributed by The Orchard, became the first non-English set to ever top the year-end Billboard 200 Albums ranking and the first all-Spanish release nominated for album of the year at the Grammy Awards, one of Bad Bunny’s three nods.
“I was very proud about that one, especially because it was 100% a Spanish-language album,” says Assad. “It doesn’t have even a verse in English.”
On top of that, in April, Bad Bunny will become the first Latin act to headline Coachella. And, Assad, 32, is realizing some milestones of his own, including being named Billboard’s youngest-ever Executive of the Year and the first Latino to secure the honor.
His achievement underscores not only the growing worldwide popularity and profitability of Latin music, but also shines a light on what an upstart independent can do — regardless of genre or the backing of a legacy company — when armed with guts, hustle, deep musical knowledge, loyalty and the confidence to break rules and create new ones.
Bad Bunny is signed to Assad’s label, Rimas Entertainment, which originated in 2014 as a digital marketing and distribution company. It has evolved to become a 100-plus-person operation with distribution from The Orchard, with a roster ranging from veterans (Arcángel, Jowell & Randy) to promising newcomers (Mora, Eladio Carrión), many of whom are signed to 360 deals. Rimas ended 2022 at No. 7 on Billboard’s year-end Top Labels chart and at No. 1 on the year-end Top Latin Labels chart, with 23 charting albums by seven artists besides Bad Bunny.
Assad also launched RSM Publishing, which is administered by Universal Music Publishing Group and was No. 1 on Billboard’s year-end Hot Latin Songs Publishers list. And while Bad Bunny is his most visible management client, Assad also started managing Karol G 18 months ago with his new management firm, Habibi, with stellar results. Her 2022 $trip Love tour, promoted by AEG Presents, grossed $69.9 million with 410,000 tickets sold across 33 arena shows in North America — the highest-earning U.S tour ever by a female Latin act, according to Billboard Boxscore.
“Noah has an unmatched understanding of his artists,” says Jody Gerson, chairman/CEO of UMPG. “His instincts about how to market and promote them, as he has done so well with Bad Bunny and Karol G, are among the best I’ve ever seen in the business. As an executive, Noah is loyal, honest, innovative and smart, and these are just some of the many traits that make him a fantastic partner.”
Though only 32, Assad considers himself a “semi-vet. I may be ‘new’ to a lot of people, but I’ve been at this for 12 years,” he says with a laugh. A self-professed reggaetón nerd with long blonde hair that matches his laid-back surfer vibe, Assad — born to a Lebanese father and a mother from St. Croix — grew up in Puerto Rico, and since seventh grade has been “consumed with reggaetón culture.” By 16, he was promoting house parties, booking the likes of Farruko before he became a big name and cultivating relationships with already established acts like Plan B’s Chencho Corleone. “Chencho was the first established artist to simply say yes to me,” says Assad, a favor that has paid dividends for Corleone; “Me Porto Bonito,” his smash collaboration on Bad Bunny’s Un Verano Sin Ti, became the first all-Spanish song to top Billboard’s Streaming Songs chart. That full-circle moment highlights Assad’s reputation for cultivating relationships with contacts to whom he stays loyal. “We work with everybody; we are always coexisting,” he told Billboard last year. Witness his deals with opposing teams at The Orchard and Universal, while his top touring acts — Bad Bunny and Karol G — work with Live Nation and AEG, respectively.
“Noah is similar to Bad Bunny in that he’s also a unicorn,” says Henry Cárdenas, the veteran promoter and founder of CMN, which produced and promoted Bad Bunny’s last two tours, including the stadium tour in partnership with Live Nation. “The guy’s going to create an empire, and he’s a man of his word. I compare him to the old managers, where we closed business with a handshake, and he’s appreciative. Where I’m concerned, he has continued to take me into account, and it harks back to the fact that I worked with him from the very beginning.”
While Assad’s success feels very of the moment — in keeping with his young acts, the relatively recent mainstream success of reggaetón and Bad Bunny’s fondness for releasing music with little or no notice — he’s actually a planner; like his famous client, he takes a long view on success. It wasn’t always this way. As a young promoter, Assad recalls struggling mightily to make a buck (and often getting “hustled”) in what he half-jokingly refers to as “the reggaetón depression era” of 2009-2016, when the music was largely consumed for free and money came almost solely from live shows.
“YouTube was the outlet that turned it into a commercial business,” says Assad, who says he struck an early deal with the platform to monetize the millions of views the music generated for many independent artists and eventually for his own — including a 22-year-old who called himself Bad Bunny. “I didn’t have the privilege to work with an artist who was already established, but I was very fortunate to have Bunny trust me and work with me. Bunny makes me look good,” he says. Alongside his artist, Assad began thinking long term, and even when his actions seem improvised, they are anything but. Take the one-two punch of back-to-back tours with a hit album in between, conceived after ticket prices to Bad Bunny’s arena tour started soaring just after they went on sale in 2021.
“We started getting the heat, but we didn’t think of stadiums until the summer,” says Assad, pointing out that Bad Bunny already had plans to release a new album when the arena tour wrapped. By October, a plan had been made: arenas in February, an album in May and a stadium tour in June to be announced in January with a series of humorous videos featuring Bad Bunny’s girlfriend, Gabriela Berlingari, and Spanish actor Mario Casas. “There’s a lot of pivoting along the way, but we still follow the plan,” says Assad. “And everything we do has to make sense. If it doesn’t make sense, even if it’s beautiful, we pass.”
“Noah is singular in his sense of the moment, commitment to a vision and fearlessness,” says UTA agent Jbeau Lewis, who books Bad Bunny and Karol G. “Noah understands his artists, he always plays the long game, and he’s unafraid to say no.”
Bad Bunny has said repeatedly that he plans to take a break after Coachella, from both recording and touring. But for Assad, the work of growing his business never slows. Last year, in partnership with The Orchard, he launched Sonar, a label for developing acts that already has deals with over 50 artists from around the world, including non-Latin acts. Assad also began a strategic alliance with Live Nation to develop new businesses outside of touring, including Gekko, the restaurant Bad Bunny opened in Miami in August with hospitality entrepreneur David Grutman. Most recently, he announced the launch of Rimas Sports, a stand-alone management company (name notwithstanding, it is not a division of Rimas Entertainment) whose client list already includes the Toronto Blue Jays’ Santiago Espinal and Diego Cartaya, a top prospect for the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Assad says his biggest goal for 2023 has nothing to do with business, however. “I want to fly less, enjoy more and spend as much time as I can in Puerto Rico,” he says. “That’s my goal. People look at me and think that because of the hair I’m from Mississippi or something. But I’m just a kid from Carolina, Puerto Rico, who loves reggaetón.”
This story will appear in the Feb. 4, 2023, issue of Billboard.
Rosalía and her highly-regarded manager, Rebeca León, have amicably parted ways, Billboard has learned. The split comes after an almost six-year stint that saw Rosalía rise from unknown flamenco artist to global superstar. Prior to working closely with Rosalía, León helmed the careers of fellow superstars J Balvin and Juanes.
The split, which sources say was agreed upon under good terms, leaving both parties with “gratitude and pride for everything they have accomplished together,” allows both León and Rosalía to explore new paths. Rosalía has yet to announce new management.
León will focus her energy on her production company, Lionfish Studios, with which she closed a content deal with Sony Music last year. Projects in development include Alice with Gunpowder & Sky; Redemption Song with Fifth Season and director Jessica Kavanaugh; Mona Carmona with José Ignacio Valenzuela, Paul Pérez Pictures, Malule Entertainment and Lucas Akoskin; and Biscayne Baby with Sebastian Ortega and Enrique Murciano, in addition to a project León is developing with Steven Levinson for HBO.
Last year, León was also a co-producer of the Father of the Bride remake starring Andy García. León will also continue working in music projects, including management of st. pedro and a partnership with BRESH via her music company, Lionfish Entertainment.
Rosalía, fresh from performing at the Louis Vuitton men’s show in Paris in January, is in the midst of prepping a series of festival dates, including headlining Lollapalooza in Argentina and Chile and playing the main stage at Coachella in April. She is also close to announcing a deal with Coca-Cola, according to sources.
The León-Rosalía manager-client partnership was widely regarded as one of the most successful in the music industry. In a narrative that closely mimics the movie-like storyline of how a brilliant manger takes a hugely talented unknown artist and makes her a star, León signed Rosalía after watching her perform in Madrid in 2017, at the urging of her then-client Juanes.
At the time, Rosalía was a highly respected and unorthodox flamenco artist, little known outside Spain. Rosalía told Billboard in 2019, “I had never met any manager nor had I had a manager.”
Rosalía told León she was looking for someone to internationalize her and her music and help her grow.
León was hugely impressed.
“I’m never looking for another artist,” she told Billboard in the same interview. “But she was captivating. She was inspiring.” The following day, she watched Rosalía’s videos and saw yet another realm of possibilities.
“She sang flamenco and then she sang hip-hop. Her movement, her attitude, I thought, that’s going to change everything. She had reinvented something.”
Rosalía was in the process of signing with Sony Music Spain, and under León, moved to Columbia in a joint deal with the label.
In the five years that followed, she became perhaps the most elite Latin artist in recent history, recording with the likes of Billie Eilish and The Weeknd, and becoming the first artist that sings in Spanish to ever be nominated for best new artist at the Grammys. She went on to best Latin rock, urban or alternative album for El Mal Querer, which also won album of the year at the Latin Grammys.
Last year, her Motomami also won album of the year at the Latin Grammys and is once again nominated for the since-renamed best Latin rock or alternative album award at the Grammys.
All told, Rosalía has placed six songs on the Billboard Hot 100 and 17 on Hot Latin Songs, including six top 10s.
Music public relations veteran Jake Basden has been named president at the Jason Owen-led Sandbox Entertainment Group. The news was first reported by Variety.
In his new role, Basden will champion a roster of artists that includes Kacey Musgraves, Kelsea Ballerini, Little Big Town, Midland, Faith Hill, Dan+Shay and actress-singer Kate Hudson. He will also work with Sandbox’s various media and entertainment entities, including the Broadway musical Shucked, which premieres this spring.
“Jake is the sort of star executive who recognizes this is not a business of boxes and lanes,” said Owen, Sandbox founder and CEO, via a statement. “He is beloved by all and brings elevation to everything he touches. From conceptualizing events to executing campaigns, there’s no one [else] whose vision can see a project from conception through to not just success, but the highest awards recognition for whatever arena they’re in. Sandbox’s incredible team was formed as an entertainment firm whether it meant movies, television, touring or career direction. Jake excels in all of those spaces.”
“There is so much more to a successful launch, whether it’s an artist’s project, a Broadway show or long-term development,” Basden added via a statement. “Perception can define reality, but you have to back it up with solid strategy and execution. The opportunity Jason has provided allows me to both stretch and take topflight people, TV and motion picture platforms to new places. That thrills me because I believe that marketing done as a well-thought-out strategy yields exponential returns. The Sandbox team is comprised of the highest caliber executives whom I have long admired, and I am grateful for the opportunity to join them.”
Basden previously spent 12 years spearheading publicity efforts at Big Machine Label Group, championing artists including Thomas Rhett, Tim McGraw, Lady A, Glen Campbell and former Big Machine artist Taylor Swift. Basden was named senior vp of global communication for BMLG in 2017. He announced his departure from the label group earlier this month.
Basden, a University of Oklahoma graduate, joined Big Machine from the New York offices of public relations firm Edelman, where he served as a director in their sports and entertainment division. Basden’s career accolades to date include being named Country Music Association (CMA) publicist of the year. He was also named PRWeek‘s Young PR Professional of the Year, and was honored as one of the magazine’s “40 Under 40” in 2019.
Vector Management founders Ken Levitan and Jack Rovner have named Jason Murray president of the artist management company, where he will oversee operations and new business.
Murray is the owner and co-founder of the Canadian indie label and artist management company Black Box Music, which will merge with Vector.
Joining the Vector roster is singer-songwriter-guitarist Charley Crockett, who released his latest album, The Man From Waco, in 2022.
In 2023, Vector is set to release a Rick Rubin-produced album from Kesha as well as new music from Manchester Orchestra. Meanwhile, Country Music Hall of Fame member Hank Williams Jr. will hit the road with current Grammy nominee Molly Tuttle (nominated in the all-genre best new artist category). In addition to its headquarters in Nashville, Vector has offices in New York, Los Angeles and Toronto.
During his career, Murray has worked with rock artists including The Glorious Sons, JJ Wilde and Blanco Brown.
“I believe today, more so than ever before, artists need a management partner that fully understands all aspects of the music business,” Murray said in a statement. “Vector has been that company for decades, and we will continue to build on that ethos as we look forward.”
“We’re thrilled to bring Jason into the Vector team,” Levitan added. “His years of expertise and deep knowledge of this industry are excellent, and we can’t wait for the road ahead together.”
“We look forward to welcoming Jason to our great team here at Vector,” Rovner said. “His knowledge and leadership serve to further strengthen our management team and we couldn’t be happier to have him as part of the next chapter of Vector.”
Triple 8 Management has added Aaron Sawyer as an artist manager. He brings with him longtime colleague and associate manager Hannah Boren.
Prior to joining Triple 8, Sawyer spent seven years at Red Light Management. With his hire, he expands the Triple 8 Management roster to include Madison Cunningham, I’m With Her, Julian Lage, and Melt, as well as Sean and Sara Watkins and Watkins Family Hour.
“We’re really proud that Triple 8 is known for being a collaborative and creative environment where everyone in the company is willing to raise a hand and help across teams and departments,” said Triple 8 Management founding partner George Couri in a statement. “Aaron and Hannah embody those qualities and compliment the team perfectly. We are thrilled to welcome them to our organization. We are lucky to have them.”
“Aaron Sawyer has been a trusted friend for at least 15 years, and Hannah and I have known each other since her time at Noisetrade in 2014,” added Triple 8 partner Paul Steele. “I can not say enough kind things about these people and am honored they have decided Triple 8 is the right place for them to be. I have never been more excited about our future than I am today, and Aaron and Hannah are a big part of that.”
Sawyer added, “I’ve long admired the company George and Paul have built over the years, as well as their all-hands approach to management and ability to look at every minute detail to foster enduring artist growth and development. Paul and I nearly joined forces in 2015, so when the opportunity to join him arose again, it felt kismet.”
Cunningham currently boasts two Grammy nominations leading into next month’s ceremony, with nods for best folk album (for Revealer) and best American roots performance (for her song “Life According to Raechel”). Lage sold out concerts across Europe and North America last year following the release of View With a Room, his second album for Blue Note Records. Meanwhile, Sean and Sara Watkins continued their longstanding Watkins Family Hour project, releasing their record Vol. II and celebrating their 20th year in residence at Los Angeles club Largo. They are also gearing up for a big year with their group Nickel Creek, with the band slated to tour in Europe for the first time in nearly two decades.
Brazilian powerhouse singer-songwriter Ludmilla has inked a new management deal with WK Entertainment and Central Sonora. The alliance arrives after she won a 2022 Latin Grammy for her album Numanice #2, and after making history as the first Afro-Latina artist to reach one billion streams on Spotify.
“[This deal] is a very important step in my career,” Ludmilla tells Billboard Español. “WK Entertainment/Central Sonora, together with my company Sem Querer Produções, will add structure and they will assist in enhancing my musical work, which is my focus. I am very happy and excited about this partnership and I am sure it will yield many results.”
Together, the teams will work to further amplify Ludmilla’s global artistic development. Central to this growth is Central Sonora’s CEO Cesar Figueiredo, who is leading this new stage in the artist’s career. He will oversee all management functions of the project. Walter Kolm, who is the founder and CEO of WK Entertainment and WK Records, will also provide support while helping develop key relations for Ludmilla’s continued growth.
“Ludmilla reflects the true sonority that exists in Brazil today. She is ready to conquer the world by exploring our Brazilian culture,” Figueiredo said in a statement shared with Billboard Español. “Our alliance began a few years ago as a friendship and has since blossomed, giving us the opportunity to finally work together professionally. It is truly an honor for me as a manager to represent a highly regarded and iconic artist such as Ludmilla.”
“This is a phase in my career that is very diverse and different from anything I’ve ever done, a phase that accompanies my current state and the work I propose, which has 100 per cent my truth and [aligned with] my artistic vein,” the artist adds.
With her propulsive pop and funk formula, Ludmilla has become a force to be reckoned with in her native Brazil and beyond. And her ever-expanding fan base further testifies her rise to prominence — she currently has 28.8 million followers on Instagram and 10.5 million on Twitter. The singer-songwriter navigates stylistic configurations with ease, whether she’s soulfully singing an R&B ballad (“Quem é Você”), spitting some funky carioca bars (“Tic Tac”) or charming listeners with sweet samba songs (“Maldivas”). Her gritty trap features equally intrigue, like on “Tanto Faz.”
“I think of funk as an agent of change, especially in the lives of so many peripheral people who don’t have opportunities,” she says. “Funk embraces and elevates, it makes is claim our place in the world.”
Ludmilla is poised to drop her next singles “Sou Má,” featuring funk MCs Tasha and Tracie, as well as “Nasci Pra Vencer” on Feb. 2. “The lyrics [to the latter trap song] tell my story, which is similar to the story of those who come from a place without [economic] gains, but with talent and hard work, we can reach places we never thought possible. It’s about me, but it’s also about others who I hope feel represented,” she says.
Last week, Billboard Español exclusively announced WK Record’s Brazilian operational expansion, which began quietly running last year. It will function to develop the careers of local talent with global appeal, while creating international opportunities for them.
“I am delighted to welcome Ludmilla to our family of artists and join her in this exciting new journey, in partnership with Central Sonora,” Kolm stated. “Our companies look forward to amplifying Ludmilla’s career around the world and to consolidate [her] position as one of Brazil’s top artists.”
Ludmilla is currently working on an eclectic album which, she mentions, will span genres like pop, R&B, funk, trap and more.
BRISBANE, Australia – Look Out Kid, the independent Australian artist management business, is joining forces with Monster Artist Management to form one of the market’s power centers, with a footprint on both sides of the Pacific.
The enlarged business operates as Look Out Kid, Billboard can exclusively reveal, and guides a 13-strong roster, uniting some of the top exports from Australia and New Zealand with a string of hot acts.
Through the new arrangement, Monster’s Jacob Snell and Alexandra “Apple” Bagios will join the company, and they’re bringing their roster of international clients, which includes Methyl Ethel and Hatchie (Australia); The Beths (New Zealand); plus U.S. acts Cloud Nothings, Sweeping Promises, and Palehound.
At Look Out Kid, they’ll join a stable that includes Courtney Barnett, Middle Kids, Sarah Blasko, U.S. artist Faye Webster and Canadian Beverly Glenn-Copeland.
By joining forces, the team has the opportunity to be in multiple markets at once. The move is “designed so that we can better support” the roster in their “artistic and career goals,” Nick O’Byrne, Look Out Kid’s owner/director and artist manager, tells Billboard.
“We’re trying to pull the smart management minds out of the nitty gritty, everyday stuff that takes so much time, that the artist doesn’t see, and give them more time talking to artists about music, strategy and achieving their goals, whether its financial, career, artistry.”
Snell, who serves as director of strategy and artist manager, and Bagios, as artist manager, are based in Los Angeles, and the Look Out Kid team continues to operate out of its Melbourne headquarters. Owner/director Katie Besgrove is shifting from day-to-day artist management to the general manager position.
Meanwhile, a new hire will oversee the roster’s live and touring activities for the first time, lifting the company’s headcount to seven.
Concerts specialist Emma Hawkes joins the team as touring and operations manager, a new role. Hawkes was recently production manager of Courtney Barnett‘s U.S.-based touring festival Here And There, which debuted in 2022 and returns this year.
“We love their roster, we share similar tastes and we care about the same things when it comes to the business of music,” Look Out Kid says of Monster in a statement. “It’s important to take notice when you find a kindred spirit in this crazy business so this feels like a natural step for us.”
The conversation to come together was a natural one. “We talked about it for about six months. Just trying to work out when it would work,” O’Byrne notes. “We finally got there towards the end of last year.”
Monster was established in Perth, Western Australia, in 2010. O’Byrne formed Look Out Kid in 2011 as a vehicle to manage Barnett. Using the know-how he’d accumulated as general manager of trade association Australian Independent Record Labels Association (AIR), and as executive programmer of the Bigsound conference and showcase event, O’Byrne’s business quietly flourished, and Barnett emerged as one of Australia’s most successful artists of her generation.
The singer-songwriter’s debut Sometimes I Sit and Think, and Sometimes I Just Sit peaked at No. 4 in Australia, No. 16 in the U.K. and No. 20 in the U.S., and won the Australian Music Prize, a trio of ARIAs and a nomination for best international female at the BRIT Awards. Her solo followup cracked the top 10 in the U.K, led several Billboard charts, and peaked at No. 22 on the Billboard 200. A third solo set, Things Take Time, Take Time, dropped in 2021.
Veteran manager/label executive Greg Ham has launched artist development company one:eight entertainment, with Christian music icon Steven Curtis Chapman as his first signing.
Ham was previously a partner in the MWS Group, and the clients he shepherded there — Michael W. Smith, reigning Gospel Music Association artist of the year CeCe Winans, Gotee Records newcomer Joseph O’Brien and Olympic gold medalist Scott Hamilton — will move to one:eight entertainment. Producer Robert Deaton, who was previously managed by Ham outside the MWS Group, will also be under the one:eight umbrella, as will worship leader Charity Gayle.
The idea for the new company began percolating when MWS partner Chaz Corzine exited early last year to become the founding executive director of the Fisher Center for the Performing Arts at Nashville’s Belmont University. Corzine co-founded the MWS Group in 2009 and had served as Smith’s manager for 38 years.
“Chaz left a year ago now and it was Michael and me,” says Ham, a veteran executive whose extensive resume includes serving as former president/CEO of ForeFront Records. “As we were going through the year, we were saying, ‘I think there’s an opportunity to grow this thing more, but we’ve got to retool it a little bit.’”
The result is one:eight entertainment and the new business association with Chapman. “I’ve been a friend and a huge fan of Greg Ham for many years,” says Chapman, whose current single, “Don’t Lose Heart,” is currently No. 9 on Billboard’s Christian Airplay chart. “There’s nobody smarter or more full of integrity and I’m very blessed and honored to be a part of this exciting new season for Greg and the awesome team at one:eight entertainment.”
Chapman was previously managed by the Stable Collective, a company he launched in 2017 with artist manager Mark Mattingly. Mattingly joined radio station K-LOVE and Air1 Media Networks last October as executive director of live events and sponsorships.
Ham says the name one:eight entertainment was inspired by the Jan. 8 birthday he shares with Elvis Presley and David Bowie and also his favorite scriptures. “Three of my favorite verses that are foundational to me are 1:8 verses,” he shares. “That’s Daniel 1:8, which is ‘Daniel purposed in his heart’ and it’s a cool story. I consider that foundation[al]. And then Joshua 1:8, which is ‘Be strong and courageous,’ and Acts 1:8, which is ‘You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you’ — so to me power from above to bring hope to the world. We are an artist/creative development company with global perspective and those three verses are at the very core.”
Though Chapman and Smith are two of the Christian industry’s all-time most successful male artists, Ham doesn’t see representing both as a conflict. “Maybe 20 years ago yes, but today it makes sense because to me it’s more complementary than competitive,” he says. “Steven and Michael being under the same umbrella says something very special to me to the younger generation that this is something to aspire to where two competitors can be served under one entity and the unifying nature that it shows.”
After managing the late Jeff Beck for more than five years (not to mention decades spent promoting him), Harvey Goldsmith will be the first to tell you the revered guitarist was “always difficult.” But that’s also what Goldsmith feels made Beck so special.
“He was different from the rest,” the veteran British music impresario tells Billboard about Beck, who passed away Tuesday (Jan. 9) at the age of 78, shortly after contracting bacterial meningitis. “He wanted to do things differently. He was never quite satisfied with what he was doing. He was always looking to better himself. He never though he was at his best; he always thought he could do better whilst everybody else was sitting there with their mouths open, blown away [by Beck’s playing].”
Goldsmith managed Beck’s career from late 2008 until 2013, but he began working with him during the late 1960s, promoting shows by the original Jeff Beck Group fronted by Rod Stewart. He brought Beck into projects such as the Secret Policeman’s Other Ball for Amnesty International during 1981 and the ARMS Charity Concerts to combat multiple sclerosis two years later. Goldsmith also worked with Mick Jagger on his late ‘80s solo tour, with Beck — who’d played guitar on both of Jagger’s albums up to that point — initially being part of the band.
“Mick one evening phoned up Jeff and started to go through the set,” Goldsmith says. “Jeff said, ‘I’m not gonna play Keith Richards’ parts on Stones numbers. I don’t care what we play, but I’m not doing that.’ Mick was a bit taken aback by it, and Jeff just pulled out. That was the nature of the beast; he was a perfectionist. He wanted to do it his way.”
It was during late 2008 that Beck approached Goldsmith about managing him, through a mutual friend. “Jeff said, ‘I feel that I’m kind of underrated and not really recognized the way I feel I should be,’” Goldsmith recalls. The promoter knew part of the solution right away. “I said, ‘Listen, I’m happy to help you, but you’re not exactly over-prolific in [touring]. If you’re prepared to get out there, I can help you…not only play but in this day and age but do some promotion as well, talk about it.’ He said, ‘yeah, I’m ready for it,’ and that’s how it started.”
One of Goldsmith’s first orders of business was Live at Ronnie Scott’s, an album and DVD recorded during November at the famed London club. Neither he nor Beck were happy with the sound on the project so Goldsmith put a hold on its release until Beck could remix it to his satisfaction.
“He spent the whole of Christmas into the new year and completely remixed it,” Goldsmith says. “When it was done, I said, ‘Are you happy now?’ He said, ‘yes’ and we put it out and [people] were completely blown away that he was gonna do promotion, ’cause he just didn’t talk to anybody — certainly not the press.
“But that was Jeff. He was a lone wolf in what he wanted and often they didn’t listen to him, and he got very upset about it. So we started this pathway of him working, doing shows, doing promotions, doing radio, starting to build him up again.”
Not surprisingly, Goldsmith amassed memories during his tenure managing Beck, among them the all-star tribute concert for Les Paul during June 2010 at the Iridium Jazz Club in New York, which was preserved as the Rock ‘n’ Roll Party live album the following year. “David (Bowie) and I were friends, and he came to the show and sat down with myself and my wife and said to me, ‘I’ve always wanted to write with Jeff,’” Goldsmith recalls. “I said, ‘Well, now’s the time.’ They corresponded a bit but then Bowie went on to something else and then got sick, so it never happened.”
During 2010 Goldsmith also proposed that Beck play some tour dates with Eric Clapton, his predecessor in The Yardbirds and a friendly rival among the guitar-playing elite. “I said, ‘You’d have to open ’cause Eric’s got a much bigger stature, but you’ve got the room to deliver what you want to deliver,’” Goldsmith says. “We didn’t do many [shows] but they really were a highlight. They were fantastic. Every night Eric would stand on the side of the stage and just say, ‘I can’t beat this. I can’t beat this. I can’t beat this.’ It was really funny. That’s who [Beck] was. He was the guitarist’s guitarist. Every guitarist on the planet loved him.”
Prince was among them, apparently. At the 2011 MusiCares Person of the Year gala honoring Barbra Streisand, where Beck performed with LeAnn Rimes, Goldsmith found himself brokering a conversation — of sorts — between Beck and Prince, who was seated at the same table along with Lea Michele and Misty Copeland. “[Beck and Prince] were looking at each other and nodded,” Goldsmith says. “I went over and introduced myself to [Prince] and said, ‘I did some show for you in London. Say hello to Jeff.’ He said, ‘hello’ and they sat opposite each other at the table, not saying a single word.
“Jeff said, ‘What do I do,’ and I said, ‘Someone’s got to break the ice here. Maybe you should sit next to him and see where you get to. Jeff sat down and Prince said, ‘I love your music and I’d like to do some tracks with you.’ Jeff said, ‘That’d be great.’ Then [Prince] said, ‘I’d love to do some tracks with you,’ and Jeff said, ‘OK, great.’ Then [Prince] said, ‘I’d love to do some tracks with you,’ a third time.’ Very bizarre. And that was the whole conversation. I tried really hard to get the chat going, and all I got out of him was he’d like to do some tracks with him. It was hysterical.”
Toward the end of his managing tenure, Goldsmith was negotiating for Beck and Stewart to reunite for another album after a friendly meeting before a Beck performance at the El Dorado Night Club in Los Angeles. “Rod’s people were closing a deal with Universal to do a series of solo albums. I said to Rod, ‘You’ve done enough of this with orchestras — to get together and do something really down and dirty with Jeff would be fantastic.’ [Stewart] agreed with me,” Goldsmith says. “We spent a good six months planning to do an album together in 2013 and Rod was really up for it, his voice was really strong. The next thing I know I got a call from Universal: ‘We’d rather not do this album.’ I was personally gutted by that, and Jeff was extremely pissed off, as you can imagine.”
Despite Beck’s famed truculence, Goldsmith says there was also a tremendous warmth and empathy that’s been seldom revealed. “He was an amazingly good-natured soul who was a magnet for people in trouble,” Goldsmith says. “He was a good listener and was always helping people. For some reason, people he knew, when they got themselves in a mess — they didn’t know what to do with their music or their career or things in their lives — they would go see Jeff and he’d chat with them. They came away like they’d just been to see the guru.”
And Goldsmith was privy to Beck’s almost equal passion for vintage cars, which he calls the guitarist’s “real love.” “Nothing intrigued him more than tinkering about with oil on all of his fingers and a spanner, trying to put together another classic car,” Goldsmith says. “He literally could take a car and break it down into nuts and bolts and screws and pieces of metal, laid out on the floor, and build a car from scratch. That’s special.”
Goldsmith and Beck had their own falling shortly after that, over a variety of business, creative and philosophical differences. He nevertheless says his time managing the guitarist was “an amazing experience,” and when the two last saw each other during early 2020, “we chatted, hugged, so on and so forth.” He learned about Beck’s death shortly after it happened but was asked not to say anything until after the family made the announcement.
“He was a lovely, lovely guy — just a special character who had the most unbelievable talent,” Goldsmith says. “He really will be…well, he is sorely missed by everybody, already.”
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Rap superstar Nicki Minaj is shopping for new management. The hit-maker left Irving Azoff’s Full Stop Management in 2019 and joined SalXCo, which handles the Weeknd, Doja Cat, French Montana, Ty Dolla $ign and others.
However, she is currently looking for new representation ahead of her highly-anticipated fifth studio album, according to Variety. It has been rumored that Minaj is planning to sign with Range Media Partners. The company manages Jack Harlow, Cordae, Wale, and others–including Mariah Carey.
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Range partner Melissa Ruderman, who handles Carey, told Variety in a statement: “I have not partnered with Nicki Minaj.” Her label rep noted: “Nicki is currently in discussions with management companies and has not yet partnered with anyone.”
Early in her career, Minaj was repped by Gee Roberson and Cortez Bryant via Blueprint/Maverick Management. The management shakeup comes at a precarious time for the self-proclaimed Queen of Hip-Hop. She recently railed on social media about the Grammy’s putting her single “Super Freaky Girl” in the rap category for the 2023 Awards. Minaj has racked up 10 nominations but has never taken home the statuette.
Still, 2023 is expected to be a big year for the Queen Radio star. She is fresh off being honored by the MTV Video Music Awards and will reportedly release a six-part docuseries, Nicki, this year. She announced the production last summer.
Produced by the Canadian company Bron Studios, Minaj said when she released the trailer that the series was still looking for a “home,” according to Variety.
In sharing the documentary trailer on Instagram, Minaj wrote, “Coming out SOONER THANK YOU THINK. I took some time to perfect this very intimate, delicate, electrifying, inspiring body of work. As I decide on a home for this project, I can’t help but reflect on what I’m including in this doc. Some things are so personal, it’s scary. It’s like NOTHING you’ve seen before & I need it to be handled with care. Love you so much. Thank you for the continued support.”