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LONDON — Pet Shop Boys and Paloma Faith were among the major honorees at the 2024 Artist & Manager Awards, which also saw the creative teams behind Yungblud and British dance duo Chase & Status pick up prizes in recognition of their clients’ commercial success.
Held at London’s Bloomsbury Big Top on Thursday (Nov. 21), the annual awards show organized by U.K. trade bodies the Featured Artists Coalition (FAC) and Music Managers Forum (MMF) is one of the few industry events that exclusively celebrates the achievements of both artists and their managers.

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One of the night’s biggest prizes was the artist and manager partnership award, collected by the Pet Shop Boys and their long-time manager Angela Becker, who has represented the dance pop duo since 2009.

“At a time when we needed it, [Angela] brought into our lives good advice, organization, honesty and strategy to help us carry out some of our strange, spontaneous and willful ideas, and make them into a reality,” singer Neil Tennant told the audience of industry executives, artist managers, entrepreneurs, and invited guests. “She has helped us flourish in those 16 years and we love her for that.” Tennant was joined onstage by his musical partner Chris Lowe and Becker.

“Learning the language of your client’s hopes and fears will open doors to profound impact, ensuring that their work echoes in the hearts of audiences long after,” Becker responded, adding: “I am continually elevated and inspired by the pursuit of new ways to communicate Pet Shop Boys’ vision.”

This year’s icon award was presented to Faith, whose sixth studio album, The Glorification of Sadness, reached No. 2 on the Official U.K. Album Chart in February and who organizers praised for being “political, strong, a true individual, and a brilliant songwriter and artist.”

“Being named an icon is truly an honor and one I certainly don’t feel when I’m at school drop-off and pick-up with yesterday night’s gig makeup halfway down my face and wearing a dirty grey tracksuit,” joked Faith, collecting the award from her long-time manager and “partner-in-crime” Innis Ferguson at Lateral Management.

“Innis is the person who allowed me to become more than a singer. She and the company [Lateral Management] are the reason why I’m winning the award because they don’t just view me as a music artist.  They view me as whatever I want to be, whenever I want to be it,” said Faith, who recently published a best-selling book and has previously featured in an acclaimed, fly-on-the-wall BBC documentary. Faith went on to urge other artists to speak out about social and political issues. 

“It’s a waste of a platform not to be politically engaged and not use your voice for good,” she told the audience. “Throughout history, musicians have always spoken out about social issues. It should be part of all our work to continue to do that job. It’s our duty. Please do not squander your influence on superficial things alone when you can make the world better.”

Other prizes given out at the ceremony included the fan champion award, which went to Yungblud, Tommas Arnby, Adam Wood and the management team at Special Projects Music, in recognition of their “innovative and hands-on approach to building and nurturing Yungblud’s fanbase.”

“I will do everything for my community, everything is for them. We work every day to try and make them feel safe, to try and make them feel heard and to try and make them feel seen,” said Yungblud, real name Dominic Harrison, in a video acceptance speech filmed in California. Accepting the award in London on his behalf were two of his biggest fans, Corey and Kenya.

British dance duo Chase & Status and their manager Sophie Kennard (Frame Artists) triumphed in the artist and manager team of the year category.

“Management is really a thankless job,” said the band’s Will Kennard. “All artists are a total nightmare and managers have to deal with them day-in and day-out on so many different levels. What they do is really quite heroic, and they don’t really get the recognition they deserve,” he said paying tribute to his “incredible, irreplaceable” manager.  

Riverman Management founders Alex Weston and Dave McLean were awarded the prestigious title of managers’ manager in tribute to their successful three-decade long career, which began in the early 1990s when they promoted some of the first U.K. shows by Nirvana, Green Day, Pearl Jam and Soundgarden. The company’s artist management roster now includes Friedberg, Dea Matrona, Tom Fleming and Placebo, who the firm has represented since 1995.

“Over the years, with the introduction of technology and with the continuously increasing and expanding workloads, [artist] management has become a job that I sometimes question why any sane person would enter or continue to [do],” said Weston, accepting the managers’ manager award from FAC board director and former member of The Fall, Brix Smith.

“What other job on this planet requires us to have so much wide-ranging knowledge, so many skills and so much responsibility and time invested?” she went on to say. “But we do it because we are 100% committed and passionate about each of the artists we take on and truly believe, against all the odds, we can break them and their music. They are the future of our industry and put their faith and trust in us to help them achieve those ambitions,” said Weston before offering a note of caution to major labels: “Sometimes it’s worth remembering that managers need support too.”

Other winners on the night included British funk group Cymande, who took home the originator award, and Grammy-nominated Scottish musician Sophie, who died in 2021 at age 34. With the blessing of her family, who were present at the awards ceremony, Sophie was posthumously given the pioneer award.

Later in the evening, electronic music producer Barry Can’t Swim (real name Joshua Mainnie) received the breakthrough artist award, while Victoria de Juniac was named breakthrough manager in recognition of her work with Irish singer-songwriter Cian Ducrot.

The ceremony was hosted by BBC Radio 1Xtra DJ Remi Burgz and featured live performances from Moonchild Sanelly, BEKA and Hana Lili.

Here’s the full list of winners at the 2024 Artist & Manager Awards:

Artist & Manager Partnership: Pet Shop Boys & Angela Becker (Becker Brown)

Artist & Manager Team of the Year: Chase & Status & Sophie Kennard (Frame Artists)

Icon: Paloma Faith

Managers’ Manager: Riverman Management

Pioneer:  SOPHIE (posthumous award)

Originator: Cymande

Fan Champion: Yungblud & Special Projects Music

Breakthrough Artist: Barry Can’t Swim

Breakthrough Manager: Victoria de Juniac (VictoriaBDJ Management)

Secret Weapon: Hope James (Atlas Artists)

Writer / Producer Manager: Ant Hippsley (Milk & Honey)

Team Achievement: Finesse Foreva

Music industry veteran Rebeca León, who has helped guide Latin music and culture into the mainstream and up the charts, is the recipient of the Latin Power Players’ Choice Award, which is an accolade chosen by Billboard Pro subscribers.
As founder and CEO of artist management company Lionfish Entertainment and film/TV studio Lionfish Studios, León helms a roster that includes Brazilian superstar Anitta, Venezuelan singer-songwriter Danny Ocean, rising Spanish act st. Pedro and Venezuelan reggaetón LGBTQ+ artist La Cruz. The Miami-based León also oversaw the rise of global stars like Colombia’s J Balvin and Juanes, as well as Spain’s Rosalía, whom León developed from an unknown flamenco artist.

León says working with artists she believes in is an honor and a privilege that “gives me hope for the future of music.” To that end, León and Pharrell Williams have partnered on the creation of a bicultural U.S. Latin boy band that’s set to debut this fall. Meanwhile, Lionfish Studios focuses on work that draws on León’s Cuban heritage with projects including the 2022 Father of the Bride remake starring Gloria Estefan and Andy Garcia, which was produced alongside Jeremy Kleiner of Plan B. Projects in development include one with Keshet Studios and Apple.

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Lionfish’s success follows León’s 25-plus-year career, which has included over a decade in the touring business as senior vp for Goldenvoice and positions at labels including Sony Music and EMI.

While León, who lives in Miami Beach with her three dogs, calls herself “naturally shy and reserved,” in the case of this year’s Latin Power Players’ Choice Award, she feels a responsibility to step into the spotlight. “This moment is bigger than me,” she says. “We’re in a time where women’s rights are being challenged, and there are those who want to take us backward. That is simply not acceptable.” She expresses gratitude for the recognition and for a platform “to say, without a doubt, we are never going back. This is for my nieces and all the young girls out there: Never let anyone tell you what you can or cannot do — whether with your body or your mind.”

Being voted into this position by the music industry community, she adds, “means the world to me, to have the respect of my peers, which include so many people that I admire so much.”

This story appears in the Sept. 28, 2024, issue of Billboard.

The first time George Prajin took Peso Pluma shopping for a music video, they didn’t see eye to eye. “I wanted him to go John Varvatos rock’n’roll, and he wanted to go to Burberry,” Prajin recalls. Considering that the video would also feature regional Mexican artist Luis R Conriquez for their 2022 collaboration, “Siempre Pendientes,” “I was like, ‘I don’t know about that,’ ” he adds. But, as Prajin proudly admits of the all-plaid ensemble (complete with bucket hat) that Peso insisted upon (and which perfectly contrasted with the gritty desert setting), “He was right — and after that I learned not to go against him.”
That implicit trust now goes both ways — and Prajin, 52, has earned it. As the son of Antonino Z. Prajin — who owned Prajin One Stop, a music retailer and distributor that sold to over 3,000 stores across the United States and Mexico and had more than 20 warehouses throughout Southern California in its 1980s and ’90s heyday — the music business has always been in his blood. “Some people do what they love. Some people are born into a trade. I got the best of both worlds,” he says, speaking in a green room at the Honda Center in Anaheim, Calif., hours before a recent Peso Pluma show there.

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After graduating from University of California, Los Angeles in the mid-’90s, Prajin founded the independent label Z Records, which scored early success with Jessie Morales (known as El Original de la Sierra), an Angeleno who loved West Coast rap and Mexican music and who ruled Billboard’s Top Latin Albums chart with his Homenaje a Chalino Sánchez in 2001. But when physical record sales plummeted, Prajin One Stop shuttered in the late 2000s — and so did Z Records. “It was hard to make money with music during that period of time,” he recalls. “And so, I got disillusioned. I got a little depressed — but I tried to stay very close to music.”

Prajin went on to earn a degree from Southwestern University School of Law, becoming a sports and entertainment attorney and establishing his own practice while producing music on the side — and retaining ownership of the Z Records catalog. But in 2008, thanks to his love of MMA (and friendship with fighter Tito Ortiz), he entered an entirely new world: the Ultimate Fighting Championship. Prajin spent the next decade-plus focused on representing UFC’s top talent as an agent and a manager, earning a reputation as a master negotiator. “It’s educating yourself on the deal and being two steps ahead — and knowing what you’re asking for is valid,” he says.

By 2019, Prajin — who had continued to do music business work even as he dove into the UFC world — and his practice were negotiating “massive deals” for record labels. At the same time, he noticed a catalog-driven uptick in Z Records’ revenue and, on the advice of his law partner, Anthony Lopez, reentered the industry, launching Prajin Parlay in 2021. “I was looking for something that had nothing to do with any of the clients I was representing, and I started going back into the ’90s,” he says. And so, with the new Prajin Parlay, he soon helped launch Época Pesada (a group of corrido giants who were then in their 40s) and revive the career of Lupillo Rivera.

Soon, Prajin was again focusing on music full time, and his first major signing (in partnership with Grand Records) was Mexican singer-songwriter (and future star) Junior H. But it was an early management signee who would define his storied career — and help him emerge as one of Latin music’s most powerful and admired executives.

When Prajin first met Peso Pluma (born Hassan Emilio Kabande Laija) in 2019, thanks to an introduction from his former client Morales, the then-unknown artist was walking around Prajin Parlay Studioz in Anaheim playing guitar. “I was really intrigued by him,” Prajin recalls with a far-off look in his eyes. Morales was trying to help the young artist find management to no avail; given that Prajin himself had just reentered the industry, he, too, initially passed.

Morales’ father, Herminio Morales, signed the future superstar, but soon became too ill to work. And so, by 2022, the offer was back on the table — and this time, Prajin said yes. (Herminio, who is healthy today, remains involved in Peso’s career.) “I [waited until I] felt like I could really put up my sleeves and do what I do best,” Prajin explains.

George Prajin photographed backstage at Intuit Dome in Inglewood, Calif., on Aug. 20, 2024.

Chris Polk

Apparently, that was developing a global groundbreaker who has repeatedly made Billboard chart history while helping to elevate música mexicana from “the genre that has always taken a back seat,” as Prajin puts it, to the forefront of the mainstream.

“I’m not going to take all the credit because [label] Rancho Humilde, Natanael Cano, Junior H and all these other artists brought something that first, second and third generations of Mexicans born in the United States were lacking,” Prajin says. “But Hassan took that road and connected it to the international highway.”

Prajin now admits that when he first met Peso he was a bit confused. “I couldn’t tell what type of artist he was,” he says. “I thought he was a rapper, or was he a rocker? [The last] thing I thought of was a corridos singer. When we first started talking, he told me he wanted to do reggaetón. He wanted to do everything.” (Prajin even had him record a Pink Floyd song “to see if he trusted me.”)

“I said, ‘I love that, that’s what I want, but I’ve been doing this for 20 years, and it’s tough,’ ” Prajin continues, noting how in the past he’d only had fleeting success with rappers recording over banda beats. But, critically, Peso didn’t want to blend anything; he wanted to own every clearly marked lane he explored.

Together, they made a plan “to focus on his core audience, regional Mexican, and really build that. And at the same time, reach out and get a feel of these other genres and take it from there.” And they’ve done just that. In 2022, Peso made his Hot Latin Songs debut with “El Belicón,” with Raúl Vega. The following year, he scored the most entries on the chart of any regional Mexican act — and his team-up with Eslabon Armado, “Ella Baila Sola,” became the first regional Mexican song to enter the top five on the Billboard Hot 100 (where Peso has now charted 31 songs).

Peso’s third album, 2023’s Génesis, scored the highest placement on the Billboard 200 for a música mexicana album ever, debuting at No. 3. This year’s Éxodo double album also debuted in the top five, and for its second half, Peso enlisted several nonregional heavy hitters including Cardi B, Quavo, Anitta and DJ Snake. In August, Peso scored one of his biggest features yet, replacing Bad Bunny on Ye and Ty Dolla $ign’s “Drunk,” off the new deluxe version of Vultures 2. (“He couldn’t believe it,” Prajin says, “because they’re so mysterious. They don’t even tell us until the song is released.”) Lately, Peso has been walking onstage to Black Sabbath; Prajin thinks he could do a rock album one day.

Their relationship has now expanded beyond just music to include Double P, Peso’s imprint through Prajin Parlay Records that launched in April 2023. (Prajin is the imprint’s co-founder and COO.) By December, Double P had signed a distribution deal with The Orchard, and in August, the label’s publishing division signed a global administration deal with Downtown.

Today, Double P’s roster boasts a tight-knit crew that shares talent — and Peso’s friendship. As CEO and head of A&R, Peso has strategically signed Mexican music acts Vega, Jasiel Nuñez, Tito Double P (Peso’s cousin and one of his co-writers) and Los Dareyes de la Sierra, among others.

“We’re building a team and going together, and that’s what I love about Hassan,” Prajin says. “Jasiel Nuñez was a friend. They made a deal — whoever makes it first is going to pull the other guy with him, and [Hassan] did that. He pulled him with him on tour. We’ve signed him. That’s their philosophy. We’re a real community.”

Plus, as Prajin says, having Peso as a partner helps him stay on top of his management game, too. “Because you really want to give the attention to Hassan, but then you don’t want to sign other artists and not give them the attention that they deserve… He’s always like, ‘Hey, make sure that everybody’s getting the attention that they need, too.’ ”

And as Prajin Parlay has proved over time, one rising tide can indeed lift all boats. In 2023, it finished atop the year-end Hot Latin Songs Publishers chart — Prajin proudly displays the trophy at his house next to his Grammy (honoring Génesis as best música mexicana album [including Tejano] at the 2024 awards). “One of the reasons why we won that publisher of the year award is [because of] Tito Double P,” Prajin says, crediting his songwriting savvy. “[He] then developed as an artist, and today, we released his first album.

“We’re providing those label services, and we’re doing it inclusive of the same management fee that any other manager would charge,” he continues. “A lot of people tell me that’s a crazy notion, but we’re not going to get rich or poor overnight.”

That same thought process led Prajin to restructure Peso’s five-year record and management deal just nine months in. Prajin had seen his early client Jessie Morales make a healthy living off music, only to end up “on hard luck,” and he never forgot it. “I always told myself, especially when I was practicing law, that if I had the chance to do this again, I would teach [artists] to not only be wary of how they spend their money, but to also build their own team. Have their own lawyer, have their own CPA. I want them to make sure that going forward, whatever they do in their lives, they’re going to make the right financial decisions. I fought hard for [Peso] to have his own [attorney in] Mexico. He has his own CPA. And then he has a person that audits the CPA.

“When I saw him making the kind of money that he was making… The artists should be the ones seeing the benefits, and that’s why we changed our deal,” Prajin continues. “I restructured it and made him a partner in Double P. It’s the right thing to do — and just one of the few times in life that something good turns into something great, because we’re killing it.”

Prajin, who is warm and attentive, says his father’s own “big heart” inspires him as an executive. “His kindness, his generosity, those are the things that have [helped me excel],” he says. “You could be a shark. But I don’t think those guys last too long. It’s all about networks. Right? I think a lot of the things that we accomplished were because I was able to pick up the phone and reach out to anyone. Everything comes full circle.”

And Prajin Parlay’s betting-inspired name tells its own full-circle story: Prajin has often said when something works, he doubles down. In the years to come, he says he’s “doubling down on everything” — beginning with Double P Records, saying the label is in the middle of completing a business transaction that will allow it to “really double down.”

“Double P Records and Prajin Parlay in five years are going to be a global brand,” he says, noting that in the next year or so he hopes to open offices and a recording studio in Madrid. He also has plans to grow the management roster and maybe even acquire other catalogs or companies. He’s also considering a sports division: “We’ve talked about it, yes,” Prajin says, adding that he and Peso are both fans of combat sports, and even share a boxing coach.

He admits that as a manager, what takes up most of his time each day is “trying to make everyone happy… I’m constantly trying to make sure everybody takes vacations, has their personal lives. You know, I’ve lived my life, I haven’t had any kids. I’ve devoted myself to my artists and to my athletes. And am I going to regret it down the road? I might. So I always tell people, ‘Think about yourself, too. This job isn’t your only focus.’ ”

Fortunately, Peso has been planning ahead for quite some time. The artist has long admired Jay-Z, and Prajin believes Peso is already following in the rapper’s footsteps to becoming a mogul himself. As for Prajin, he says his five-year plan looks a lot like an exit route, before laughing through a nervous smile: “No, I’m just kidding.”

He mentions how the other day, he and Peso were reminiscing when the artist told him, “You changed my life.”

“He changed my life as well,” Prajin says. “He’s allowed me to love music again, and also reach a lot of the goals I made for myself that I thought had passed.”

This story appears in the Sept. 28, 2024, issue of Billboard.

These managers on the rise have guided their artists through breakout years, navigating such firsts as topping the charts, opening stadium shows (for none other than Taylor Swift) and even selling out arenas on their own.

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See latest videos, charts and news

Drew Simmons

Age: 41Company: Foundations MusicKey Clients: Noah Kahan, Dayglow, COIN

“There is no off-cycle anymore,” says Simmons, who has had a front-row seat to Noah Kahan’s nonstop year, “and that is taxing on the infrastructure around the artist but also on the artist themselves.” From Kahan’s success with Stick Season and its deluxe edition (the latter debuted at No. 3 on the Billboard 200) to selling out arenas to raising nearly $2 million for mental health resources through The Busyhead Project, Simmons is “excited about opportunities ahead for artists as the paradigm shifts, placing more and more leverage in [their] hands.”

Noah Kahan and Drew Simmons

Patrick McCormack

James Rosemond Jr.

Age: 31Company: Mastermind ArtistsKey Clients: Ice Spice, RIOTUSA

Ice Spice became a chart staple this year, notching four top 10 hits on the Hot 100 including collaborations with superstars like Taylor Swift and Nicki Minaj. For Rosemond, being able to pair Ice and producer RIOTUSA with Minaj on two of those tracks (“Princess Diana,” “Barbie World”) was particularly gratifying: “I get high on helping creatives achieve their dreams and positively change their socioeconomic status.”

Ice Spice, RIOTUSA and James Rosemond Jr.

Dowan “StarTheStar” Wilson

Jesse Gassongo-Alexander, Phoebe Gold

Ages: 30, 29Company: UpCloseKey Clients: PinkPantheress, Tommy Gold

Gassongo-Alexander never planned to become a manager, but he says working with “a generational artist” like PinkPantheress has been an “incredible experience.” This year, the British artist-producer made her Hot 100 debut with the Ice Spice collaboration “Boy’s a liar Pt. 2” and was featured on the Barbie soundtrack. “By continually building trust with each other, we’ve navigated from the early days to now,” he says. Adds Gold: “Our flow has come from treating each other like human beings.”

Alistair Raymond

Age: 37Company: Beatnik Creative/Blue Raincoat ArtistsKey Clients: Arlo Parks, Lana Lubany, Miso Extra

Last year, Raymond’s independent management company partnered with Blue Raincoat Artists. And while he cites “financial support in the early stages of a new artist’s career” as a major challenge for managers, his entire roster leveled up in 2023. Parks’ second album, My Soft Machine, reached No. 9 on the U.K. Albums Chart, while Lana Lubany and Miso Extra both signed long-term record deals. “It takes at least one to two years to get a new artist off the ground with little monetary return,” he says. “It’s an all-or-nothing investment, but the best job in music.”

Aton Ben-Horin, Ethan Curtis

Ages: 43, 36Company: Plush ManagementKey Clients: JVKE, Coi Leray, Faouzia

Ben-Horin, who is also executive vp of A&R at Warner Music Group, describes this year as “incredible,” citing Hot 100 top 10 hits like Coi Leray’s “Players” (produced by Plush client Johnny Goldstein) and JVKE’s “Golden Hour.” The latter also sold out his first tour without a major label or marketing budget beyond radio. “While understanding the short-form content world is important for management,” Curtis says, “even more important is finding talent that is social media native.”

Sean Okeke

Company: Jonzing World EntertainmentKey Clients: Rema, Ruger

“The past 12 months have seen the biggest moments in the Afrobeats genre, which I am super happy I played a strong part in,” Okeke says. Thanks in part to a remix featuring Selena Gomez, Rema’s “Calm Down” became a global hit, reaching No. 3 on the Hot 100 and topping the Global Excl. U.S. chart, making Rema the first artist from Africa to reach No. 1. “The hunger and the joy to see a talent excel at the highest level brought me into this field,” Okeke says, “and has continuously influenced my stay here.”

Mandelyn Monchick

Age: 29Company: Red Light ManagemenKey Clients: Lainey Wilson, Meg McRee, Ben Chapman

Monchick met Lainey Wilson in 2015 and became fast friends with the country artist. “She didn’t have anyone championing her, and I thought she was a great songwriter, so I started talking about her every chance I had.” This year, Wilson added three more entries on the Hot 100, sold out her first headlining tour, won multiple country music awards and made her acting debut on Yellowstone. “We did everything we could for a long time,” Monchick says, “and it built a damn good foundation.”

Lainey Wilson and Mandelyn Monchick

Aubrey Wise

James Vitalo

Age: 35Company: Gold Theory ArtistsKey Clients: Turnstile, Knocked Loose, Beach Fossils

The past 12 months have been of growth for both Vitalo — who expanded his boutique firm one year after its launch — and Turnstile, which scored its first Grammy nominations (three total) and opened on blink-182’s arena tour. Vitalo, who first worked with the hardcore band as its booking agent before becoming its manager, says, “The biggest challenge has always been setting a realistic pace that will allow for longevity.”

Kristina Russo

Age: 34Company: KR ExperimentsKey Client: GAYLE

Russo describes the past year as “a wild time,” during which GAYLE received her first Grammy nomination (for song of the year with breakout hit “abcdefu”) and opened for P!nk overseas and for Taylor Swift on The Eras Tour. But her biggest priority is guiding GAYLE through the whirlwind: “We are adamant she, as a person, comes first,” Russo says. “Mental, physical and emotional health are imperative in order to do her job. Shout out to our therapists.”

Kristina Russo and GAYLE

Acacia Evans

Tom Skoglund

Age: 35Company: Full Stop ManagementKey Clients: Tate McRae, Harry Styles

Tate McRae scored two Hot 100 hits this year, including her fast-rising new single, “Greedy,” which arrived during her sold-out North American tour. Working on the pop artist’s next era has been “incredibly fulfilling,” Skoglund says, as was completing Harry Styles’ two-and-a-half-year Love on Tour trek. “Watching the meteoric success of Harry’s House being played to sold-out stadiums day in and day out will forever be a highlight of my career,” he says.

Heather Kolker

Age: 51Company: Dreamshop ManagementKey Clients: MUNA, Nanna, Of Monsters and Men

This year, Kolker (who started as an agent before switching to management) launched her own company while MUNA hit a high, touring with Taylor Swift and boygenius, selling out headlining shows and more. “You must believe that your artist can achieve the future they envision — and that you’re the right team to help get them there,” she says.

Danny Kang, Stefan Max

Key Client: Zach Bryan

Kang and Max have managed Zach Bryan through a breakout year, during which the country-rocker scored his first No. 1 album and Hot 100 chart-topper with “I Remember Everything,” featuring Kacey Musgraves. (This year alone, he has racked up 25 entries on the latter list.) His 2024 headlining tour will take him to arenas and, in some cases, stadiums.

Luis Villamizar

Age: 34Key Client: Feid

This year, Feid charted a pair of top 10 hits on Hot Latin Songs while MOR, No le Temas a la Oscuridad became his highest-charting entry on Top Latin Albums at No. 4. “Forming such a valuable team was one of the greatest successes,” says Villamizar. “It’s not just one person.”

Sam Schulman

Age: 33 Company: Best Friends MusicKey Clients: Bishop Briggs, Blake Rose, FINNEAS

Schulman credits her musician father and live music for inspiring her to become a manager. “The older I got, the more obsessed I became with the industry and wanting to be a part of it,” she says. That energy led to a major year: She co-founded Club Kassiani, a networking event for women in music, while her artists Blake Rose made his U.S. late-night TV debut and Bishop Briggs won the latest season of The Masked Singer. Schulman says her approach is all about “eliminating the ‘noise’ of what other artists are doing.”

Dani Russin

Age: 38Company: Good World ManagementKey Clients: Troye Sivan, Jake Wesley Rogers, Orville Peck

Russin met veteran manager Brandon Creed over a decade ago and “highly admired his ability for decision-making and diplomatic nature,” she says. She has worked with him ever since, this year joining his newly launched venture, Good World, where she enjoyed a “career highlight” working on Troye Sivan’s latest album campaign. Her history with Creed is her career’s only constant: “Management has always been a 24/7 job, but it’s also now this rapidly changing and ever-evolving ecosystem,” she says. “It’s what keeps things exciting. No two days are alike.”

Colette Patnaude Nelson, Eddie Wintle

Ages: 34, 36Company: Expand EntertainmentKey Clients: Conan Gray, J. Maya, Rowan Drake

Patnaude Nelson and Wintle, who together discovered Conan Gray as a high schooler on YouTube, agree that the biggest challenge for managers and artists today is cutting through the noise. “Building a fan base and getting people to care about your music is harder than ever,” Wintle says. It’s why watching 100,000 fans at Lollapalooza Argentina sing every word of Gray’s hourlong set in March was, as he recalls, “one of the craziest moments” of his career so far.

Colette Patnaude Nelson and Conan Gray

Dillon Matthews

Jayne Andrew, Ty Baisden

Ages: 36, 39Company: COLTUREKey Clients: Brent Faiyaz, Hamzaa, N3WYRKLA

In 2022, Brent Faiyaz scored a chart breakthrough with his independently released Wasteland, which summited the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart and debuted at No. 2 on the Billboard 200. It was a moment his partners and COLTURE co-founders Andrew (head of management, partnerships and creative development) and Baisden (head of ventures) had been working toward for years. In May, Faiyaz inked an unprecedented partnership (estimated at close to $50 million) to form a creative agency with UnitedMasters. But the biggest success, Baisden says, is that they built their infrastructure “outside of the major-label system.”

Josh Marshall

Age: 32Company: Mogul VisionKey Clients: d4vd, Rubi Rose

Though Marshall says he “fell into” management, the past year has solidified his path — and that of his company, Mogul Vision, with help from GM Robert Morgenroth. And while breakout star d4vd has scored a pair of Hot 100 hits and an opening slot on tour with SZA, Marshall has set his sights even higher: “The biggest challenge,” he says, “is creating infrastructure around an artist to grow their business long term beyond music.”

Josh Marshall and d4vd

Raheem Powell

Holly Cartwright, Shira Knishkowy

Ages: 31, 35Company: Another Management CompanyKey Clients: Blondshell, Alvvays, Waxahatchee

Knishkowy worked in label publicity and communications at Spotify before pivoting to management — and almost immediately, she and Cartwright helped discover and sign indie rock newcomer Blondshell. This year, the artist and alt-pop act Alvvays made their respective late-night TV debuts and grew their audiences globally. “Breaking new artists alongside Holly and finding new ways to elevate artists who have already achieved a level of success alongside [fellow managers] Rennie Jaffe and Mike Sneeringer is something I’m really proud of,” says Knishkowy.

Bello

Key Client: Central Cee

“It’s all a blur,” Bello says of his last 12 months, during which fast-rising British rapper Central Cee broke U.K. chart history as “Sprinter” (with Dave) became the longest-reigning rap single, while in the United States, he debuted on the Hot 100 with his Drake collaboration, “On the Radar Freestyle.” For “90% of the time,” Bello says, milestones were met without a team in place. This year, however, Central Cee signed a multimillion-dollar deal with Columbia Records in partnership with Sony Music U.K. and with Wasserman Music for worldwide agency representation. Says Bello: “I take pride in being someone my artists can trust blindly and make sure they get what they deserve.”

Central Cee and Bello

Danny Wonders

This story will appear in the Oct. 21, 2023, issue of Billboard.

Eight managers, who have guided the careers of everyone from Nirvana to Robert Goulet, have been named as 2023 inductees to the Personal Managers Hall of Fame. Two of the managers, George Shapiro and Shirley Grant, are being honored posthumously.

The 2023 inductees will join 50 current Hall of Fame members, which include Sid Bernstein, Bernie Brillstein, Brian Epstein, Ken Kragen, Doc McGhee, Patricia McQueeney, Dolores Robinson, Jack Rollins and David Sonenberg.

“The Personal Managers Hall of Fame celebrates illustrious careers in entertainment, music, sports and talent management,” Clinton Ford Billups Jr., national president of the sponsoring National Conference of Personal Managers (NCOPM), said in a statement. “The 2023 inductees reflect the contributions, ethics and history of personal management that the Hall of Fame acknowledges and honors.”

Nominations are solicited nationwide from the personal management community. Inductees are selected by the national board of officers of the National Conference of Personal Managers, the nation’s oldest trade association committed to the advancement of personal managers and their clients.

The 2023 Personal Managers Hall of Fame red carpet reception and induction ceremony will be held Wednesday, Oct. 25 at the Golden Nugget Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas.

More information and tickets for the Personal Managers Hall of Fame is available at www.PersonalManagersHallofFame.org.

Here’s the full list of 2023 inductees to the Personal Managers Hall of Fame.

Phil Brock – CEO of Studio Talent Group, which for more than 25 years has represented actors for commercials, film, television and theatre, including Richard Moll, Mary Woronov and Emmy winner Pat Harrington Jr. (One Day at a Time). Brock was elected in 2020 as a member of the Santa Monica (Calif.) City Council.

Chris DiPetta – Veteran talent manager, television producer and owner of Atlanta comedy club The Punchline. For more than three decades, Chris DiPetta has managed the career of Billy Gardell, actor, comedian and star of the CBS sitcoms Mike and Molly and Bob Hearts Abishola.

Danny Goldberg – Has worked in the music business as a personal manager, record company president, publicist and journalist since the late 1960s.  His current management clients include The Waterboys and Martha Wainwright and three-time Grammy winner Steve Earle. 

Vera Goulet – For more than three decades, managed the career of her late husband Robert Goulet, who won a Grammy as best new artist of 1962 and a Tony for best actor in a musical in 1968 for The Happy Time. The singer/actor died in 2007.

Shirley Grant – During a career spanning more than four decades, guided the careers of Jonas Brothers, Keshia Knight Pulliam, Christina Ricci, Allison Smith and JD Roth, as well as Broadway stars Alex Boniello and Michael Lee Brown. Grant died in 2020. (Posthumous inductee)

Susan Joseph – A personal manager, concert promoter and branding consultant. Her clients have included songwriter Diane Warren, actress Nell Carter, singer Laura Branigan and actress Pia Zadora.

George Shapiro – A champion of comedy who guided the careers of Carl Reiner, Andy Kaufman, Peter Bonerz, Marty Feldman, Gabe Kaplan, Robert Wuhl, Bill Persky & Sam Denoff, Austin & Irma Kalish, and Norman Barasch. Shapiro died in 2022 at age 91. (Posthumous inductee)

David Spero – A music manager who has overseen the careers of Bad Company, Dickey Betts, Petula Clark, Billy Bob Thornton, Yusuf / Cat Stevens, Survivor, Don Felder, Patty Smyth, Joe Walsh and many others. Spero is also a 1970s rock-radio pioneer and a member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame board of directors.