Peter Edge | |
|---|---|
| Born | England |
| Citizenship | English-American |
| Alma mater | Coventry Polytechnic |
| Occupation(s) | Record executive, chairman and CEO of RCA Records |
| Years active | 1985 - present |
| Board member of | Arms Around the Child |
| Awards | Billboard Power 100 (consecutive years 2012-2022) |
| Website | rcarecords |
| Signature | |
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Peter Edge is an English-American record executive. He is the chairman and CEO of RCA Records. [1] [2]
Edge was born near Coventry, England. Fueled in part by his sister's record collection – which included influential records by Aretha Franklin, Otis Redding, and Marvin Gaye—he developed an early passion for music. As a university student at Coventry Polytechnic, Edge dj’d at local radio stations, clubs and parties and formed a friendship with 2 Tone and The Special AKA founder, Jerry Dammers. He graduated with honors and earned a degree in Communication Studies, which required coursework in film, art, psychology and sociology. [3] [4] [5]
Following his graduation, Edge moved to London, where he was hired as a music researcher for Channel Four's television series Switch. He booked up-and-coming artists such as Sade and Grace Jones for Switch, and was hired by Simon Fuller to work a side gig as an A&R representative for Chrysalis Music Publishing. As he gained recognition for his “ears,” he was invited to meet with Doug D’arcy, then the head of Chrysalis Records. Edge had planned to pitch D’Arcy on creating another music program for television, but was instead recruited to start a label. In 1985, the label, Cooltempo, was launched as an imprint of Chrysalis Records, where, by then, Fuller also worked. [3] [6]
A reflection of his own taste in music as well as the burgeoning house and hip hop scene of the mid-80s, the Cooltempo roster was anchored by pioneering hip hop artists including Doug E. Fresh, Erik B and Rakim, EPMD, The Real Roxanne, and Monie Love, as well as house artist Adeva. Edge worked in partnership with producer Danny D of D Mob, and with a string of best-selling albums and hit singles including Paul Hardcastle's "19," Monie Love's "Grandpa's Party," and Adeva's "Respect," Cooltempo became the preeminent dance label of the time. [7] [8] [9]
Edge began working at Warner Bros. Records in 1991, after he met Benny Medina and Lenny Waronker, who then ran the label. Over his five-year tenure at Warner Bros., he signed Monie Love to a US contract and signed and worked closely with Meshell Ndegeocello and the artists associated with Native Tongues, including the Jungle Brothers. He moved to New York in 1993. [10] [11]
In 1996 Edge was introduced to the then 14-year-old Alicia Keys by her manager, Jeff Robinson. Later that year, he met Clive Davis, who hired him as vice president of A&R at Arista Records. Robinson and Edge set up showcases for Keys, but the timing was off, and as Edge transitioned from Warner Brothers to Arista, Keys was signed by Columbia Records. [12]
At Arista, Edge continued to focus on dance and pop music, notably signing the trip hop trio Faithless, who went on to sell more than 10 million records worldwide. Along with Sister Bliss and Maxi Jazz, Faithless included Rollo Armstrong, whose sister, Dido, sang on several of the group's tracks. Impressed, Edge signed Dido to Arista, and oversaw the recording of her first album, No Angel , which sold 21 million records worldwide. [13] Edge also signed Angie Stone, a three-time Grammy nominee, in addition to others, and in 1998 was reunited with Keys, who had been released from her contract at Columbia. Edge served as the executive producer on her debut album, Songs in A Minor . [10]
In 2000, with $150 million in funding from BMG, Davis founded J Records and brought Edge and other key executives from Arista to the newly formed label. [14] Keys' Songs in A Minor was released on J, and entered the Billboard charts at #1. It earned five Grammy Awards, and as of 2015 had sold more than 13 million albums. Keys' catalogue has exceeded 75 million in global sales. [15]
With Edge running A&R, J released multi-platinum records from Luther Vandross, and Jamie Foxx, among others, as well as Mario's self-titled debut album, which was certified gold. Two years after it was launched, BMG bought a majority stake in J, and it was folded into the RCA Music Group; in 2004, as the result of a joint venture between BMG and Sony, the label operated as part of the Bertelsmann Music Group. Subsequently, Edge was appointed executive vice president of A&R at RCA, and in 2007, he was named president of A&R for RCA Music Group. [16] He continued to work with Keys—her second album, The Diary of Alicia Keys, surpassed 15 million in sales—and served as the A&R executive on Dido's multi-platinum records Life for Rent and White Flag.Edge had additional success with records by Jamie Foxx, Jazmine Sullivan and Mario, who had a worldwide hit with "Let Me Love You." [17] [18]
Following a series of sales, mergers and reorganizations between 2007 and 2011, Sony Music became the parent company of RCA Music Group, which then included Jive Records, Arista, J, and RCA. In 2011, Doug Morris, formerly the chairman of Universal Music, was named chairman of Sony Music Entertainment and, with an acknowledged focus on a&r and artist development, appointed Edge RCA Records chief executive officer. [19] Shortly thereafter, the Jive, Arista, and J label imprints were folded into RCA Records. [20]
Edge has remained involved in the process of making records at RCA, and works with A&R executives including Keith Naftaly, Mark Pitts, and Tunji Balogun. Under his auspices, RCA has released hit records by Christina Aguilera, Chris Brown, Kelly Clarkson, Miley Cyrus, D’Angelo, Foo Fighters, Kings of Leon, Ray LaMontagne, P!nk, Mark Ronson, Britney Spears, Justin Timberlake, Shakira, and Usher, among others, and achieved breakthrough success with artists including A$AP Rocky, A$AP Ferg, G-Eazy, Childish Gambino, H.E.R., Khalid, Miguel, Pentatonix, Bryson Tiller, SZA, and Sia. [21]
Edge has been included on Billboard's "Power 100" list for nine consecutive years, beginning in 2012. [22] [23] [24] [25] [26] [27] [28] [29]
Edge has been involved in the charitable organization Keep a Child Alive since it was established in 2003. Founded by Alicia Keys and Leigh Blake, a longtime AIDS activist, the organization provides HIV treatment, care, food and support services to children and families affected by HIV in Kenya, Rwanda, South Africa, Uganda and India. He serves on the Global Board of Directors for Arms Around The Child, an outgrowth of Keep A Child Alive, which provides housing, medical treatment, education and additional services to children who have lost their parents or are living in adversity. Edge was honored for his work with the charity in 2013 at the inauguration of The Other Ball, an annual fundraiser for Arms Around The Child. [18] [30] [31]
In June 2016, both Edge and Tom Corson, then the president and COO of RCA, were presented with the music visionary of the year award by the UJA, the United Jewish Appeal. An annual award for professionals in the music industry, Corson and Edge were honored for demonstrating leadership and philanthropy, both at work and in the community. $1.2 million was raised at the 2016 event to support a network of nearly 100 nonprofits that serve 4.5 million people in New York and in 70 countries around the world through programs that provide food, medicine, job training and more to people in need. [32] [33]
| Year | Album | Artist | Credit |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | Mind of Mine | ZAYN | A&R |
| 2015 | Love Stuff | Elle King | A&R |
| Reality Show | Jazmine Sullivan | Producer | |
| Nina Revisited: A Tribute to Nina Simone | Producer, executive producer | ||
| 2014 | JHUD | Jennifer Hudson | Executive producer |
| Shakira | Shakira | A&R | |
| 2012 | Girl on Fire | Alicia Keys | A&R |
| New Life | Monica | Producer | |
| Perfectly Imperfect | Elle Varner | Producer | |
| Two Eleven | Brandy | Executive producer | |
| 2011 | Late Nights & Early Mornings | Marsha Ambrosius | Producer |
| The Essential Whitney Houston | Whitney Houston | A&R | |
| 2010 | Love & War | Daniel Merriweather | A&R, executive producer |
| 31 Minutes to Takeoff | Mike Posner | A&R | |
| Best Night of My Life | Jamie Foxx | Executive producer, producer | |
| Love Me Back | Jazmine Sullivan | Producer | |
| What Did You Think Was Going to Happen? | 2AM Club | A&R | |
| 2009 | D.N.A. | Mario | Producer |
| Impossible | Daniel Merriweather | A&R | |
| The Element of Freedom | Alicia Keys | Executive producer | |
| Throwing Bricks Instead of Kisses | Inward Eye | A&R | |
| 2008 | Fearless | Jazmine Sullivan | Executive producer |
| Intuition | Jamie Foxx | Executive producer | |
| Safe Trip Home | Dido | A&R | |
| 2007 | As I Am | Alicia Keys | Executive producer |
| Go | Mario | Executive producer | |
| 2006 | Blue Collar | Rhymefest | Executive Producer |
| Defected in the House: Eivissa 06 | Various artists | Executive producer | |
| East Side Story | Emily King | Executive producer | |
| MTV2 My Block: Chicago | Various artists | Executive producer | |
| 2005 | Dido Live | Dido | A&R |
| Greatest Hits Live | Angie Stone | Executive producer | |
| Stone Hits: The Very Best of Angie Stone | Angie Stone | Executive producer | |
| Unplugged | Alicia Keys | Executive producer | |
| Unpredictable | Jamie Foxx | Executive producer | |
| 2004 | Don't Leave Home | Dido | A&R |
| If I Ain't Got You | Alicia Keys | Executive producer | |
| Stone Love | Angie Stone | Executive Producer | |
| Turning Point | Mario | Executive producer | |
| 2003 | Life for Rent | Dido | A&R |
| The Diary of Alicia Keys | Alicia Keys | Executive producer | |
| White Flag/Paris | Dido | A&R | |
| 2002 | How Come You Don't Call Me | Alicia Keys | Executive producer |
| Learning From Falling | Lamya | Producer | |
| Mario | Mario | Executive producer | |
| No Fear | Abra Moore | A&R | |
| 2001 | Fallin' (German CD) | Alicia Keys | A&R, executive producer |
| Fine | Whitney Houston | A&R | |
| Luther Vandross | Luther Vandross | A&R | |
| Mahogany Soul | Angie Stone | Executive producer | |
| Olivia | Olivia | A&R | |
| Songs in A Minor | Alicia Keys | Executive producer | |
| Thank You | Dido | A&R | |
| 2000 | The Greatest Hits | Whitney Houston | A&R |
| 1999 | Black Diamond | Angie Stone | Executive producer |
| No Angel | Dido | A&R | |
| 1997 | Money Talks soundtrack album | Various artists | A&R |
| 1994 | Natural Thing | Juliet Roberts | Executive producer |
| Ambushed | Da Bush Babees | A&R [34] | |
| 1993 | In a Word or 2 | Monie Love | Executive producer |
| The Voice | Mavis Staples | Executive producer |
Clive Jay Davis is an American record producer, A&R executive, record executive, and lawyer. He has won five Grammy Awards and was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, as a non-performer, in 2000.
RCA Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Group Corporation.
Dido Florian Cloud de Bounevialle O'Malley Armstrong, known professionally as Dido, is an English singer and songwriter. She attained international success with her debut album No Angel (1999); hit singles from the album include "Here with Me" and "Thank You". It sold over 21 million copies worldwide, and it won her several awards, including two Brit Awards; additionally, she won Best British Album and Best British Female as well as the MTV Europe Music Award for Best New Act. The first verse of "Thank You" is sampled in "Stan", a critically acclaimed collaboration with American rapper Eminem. Her next album, Life for Rent (2003), continued her success with the hit singles "White Flag" and "Life for Rent". In 2004, Dido performed with other British and Irish artists in the Band Aid 20 version of the charity single "Do They Know It's Christmas?".
Arista Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America, the American division of the Japanese conglomerate Sony. The label was previously a division of Bertelsmann Music Group, the North American division of German conglomerate Bertelsmann. Founded in November 1974 by Clive Davis and deactivated in 2011, Arista was re-established in 2018. Along with RCA Records, Columbia Records, and Epic Records, it is one of Sony Music's four flagship record labels.
Jive Records was a British-American independent record label founded by Clive Calder in 1981 as a subsidiary of the Zomba Group. In the US, the label had offices in New York City and Chicago. Jive was best known for its successes with hip hop, R&B, and dance acts in the 1980s and 1990s, along with teen pop and boy bands during the late 1990s and early 2000s.
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Sony Music Entertainment (SME), commonly known as Sony Music, is an American multinational music company owned by Sony Entertainment and managed by the American umbrella division of multinational conglomerate Sony Group Corporation. It is the recording division of Sony Music Group, with the other half being the publishing division, Sony Music Publishing.
J Records is an American record label owned and operated by Bertelsmann Music Group until it was transferred to Sony Music Entertainment when they acquired all of BMG's record labels in late 2008 at the end of their merger. It was distributed through the RCA Music Group. The label was founded in 2000 by Clive Davis and was dissolved into RCA Records in 2011.
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Clive Ian Calder is a South African-British billionaire record executive and businessman primarily known for co-founding the Zomba Group with Ralph Simon, and its subsidiary Jive Records. As of October 2021, Calder has an estimated net worth of US$5.5 billion.
RCA/Jive Label Group was an American record label group, owned by Sony Music Entertainment and representing the merger of the RCA Music Group and JIVE Label Group. The umbrella group was formed in 2007 under the name BMG Label Group, was rebranded as RCA/Jive Label Group in 2009. In July 2011 it was finally dissolved into two separate labels: the RCA Music Group and Epic Records which took Jive subsidiaries until October 2011 when it retired Jive Records along with Arista Records and J Records. The artists on those three labels were moved to RCA Records.
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Peter Edge, Chairman and CEO, RCA Records
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