Sylvia Rhone
CEO, Elektra Entertainment Group
Sylvia Rhone's current tenure as Chairman
of the Elektra Entertainment Group is the latest achievement
in a distinguished 21-year career in the music business. Her
historic appointment as Chairman/CEO of EEG establishes her
as the only African American and the first woman in the history
of the recording industry to attain such a title.
During her first year at EEG she was enormously
successful at consolidating the three companies that became
the Elektra Entertainment Group. Ms Rhone guided the delicate
merger of Elektra, EastWest, (of which she was formerly CEO)
and Sire Records into the Warner Music Group's premiere boutique
label. She was directly involved in the launch of several
new artists at EEG, including Better Than Ezra, Adina Howard,
Ol' Dirty Bastard and Kut Klose. Long known throughout the
industry as a keen developer of musical talent, she was also
instrumental in the continuing success of platinum plus artists
like the Rembrandts and the tremendous solo debut of Natalie
Merchant.
Her career reads like a virtual litany of
firsts. In 1990 she became the first African American woman
to head a major record company when she was named CEO/President
of Atlantic's EastWest Records America division. A year later
when the EastWest artist roster and operations were combined
with those of Atco Records, Ms Rhone was named Chairman/CEO
of Atco/EastWest, and subsequently of EastWest Records /America.
At EastWest, she was directly involved in
breaking several talented newcomers as well as taking established
artists to new heights. En Vogue, Gerald Levert, Pantera and
Das EFX all ignited during her watch. She also played a pivotal
role in furthering the careers of noted superstars like AC/DC
and Simply Red, now both prestigious EEG artists.
Sylvia Rhone began her career with Buddha
Records in 1974. In a succession of promotions over the next
six years, she also held positions at ABC Records and Ariola
Records. Ms Rhone was previously part of the Elektra family
in 1980 as Northeast Regional Promotion Manager/Special Markets,
and was eventually promoted to Director/National Black Music
Marketing. She took on broader responsibilities in A&R
and Marketing in 1986 with her promotion to Senior Vice President/General
Manager of Atlantic Records. At Atlantic she was responsible
for such artists as Levert, Brandy, Intro, D.O.C., MC Lytle,
Chuckii Booker, Miki Howard and Gerald Albright. It was under
her watch that Billboard Magazine named Atlantic the Number
One Black Music Division in 1988.
Born and raised in New York City's historic
Harlem, Ms Rhone holds a B.S. in Economics from the Wharton
School at the University of Pennsylvania. She has been honored
with over two dozen awards during her career, both from the
music industry and the greater community. Recently, Ms Rhone
was awarded an Honorary Degree, A Doctorate of Humane Letters,
from Adelphi University. Highlights and honors include 1995's
Herbert H. Wright Award from the National Association of Market
Developers; Sony's Soul of American Music Excellence Award;
The Urban Network's Executive Of The Year Award; The Boy Scouts
of America's Whitney M. Young Service Award; the New Music
Seminar's Joel Webber Prize for Excellence in Music and Business
Award; and the Legacy Life Member Award from the National
Council of Negro Women.
Ms Rhone is active in a number of community
based organizations and took the lead role in the entertainment
industry in 1996 in organizing a fund raising benefit for
the National Council of Churches Burned Churches Fund, which
raised funds to rebuild churches destroyed by fire.
Sylvia Rhone is a member of the Board of
Directors of Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, the Studio
Museum of Harlem, the RIAA, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame,
Jazz at Lincoln Center and the R&B Foundation.
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