In our latest roundup, we present eight more stars of tomorrow from various parts of the biz whose dedication and effort make their superiors look good.
This week's entrants will also find their faces in our latest print mag. And if they don't care about that (because, why should they?), we're told the pages make for excellent freezer paper when handling leftover Fourth of July meats.
Charles “CB” Burks III
VP, A&R, Red Bull Records
In 2015, Burks realized he wanted a career in A&R after being in the studio for
Bryson Tiller’s
TRAPSOUL recording sessions and by 2021, he was working
Blxst’s
Sixtape 2 and
Before You Go. Fresh off those projects, Burks has been busy handling A&R for new music by
PineapleCITI,
Kofi,
Peter $un and
Kyle Banks while bolstering Red Bull Records’ roster with new signings. In a full-circle moment, Burks went from attending
USC on a football scholarship to returning in the fall of 2021 as an instructor for a semester. We barely graduated―or did we?
Natalie Koe
Music Agent, UTA
In the past year, Koe’s seen
Shygirl sell out her debut U.S. tour, grooved at
Channel Tres’
Coachella debut, raved into the wee hours at
Dombresky b2b
Noizu’s sold-out
Palladium set and danced with her parents at
Terminal 5 for
Tinashe’s biggest sold-out show to date. With Shygirl’s debut album,
Nymph, and major festival looks ahead, Koe is also working with acts like
BETWEEN FRIENDS,
Madeline the Person (whose “MEAN!” earned 20m+ streams in six weeks) and more. In her spare time, she’s learning K-pop dances. Too bad she can’t wiggle away from this feature.
D’Anthony Bly
Founder/CEO, 11 11 Management
Four years into managing
Coi Leray, Bly’s proud to see her land three hits in the past 12 months: “No More Parties,” “Blick Blick” w/
Nicki Minaj and “BIG PURR (Prrd)” f/
Pooh Shiesty. With major fests on the horizon (
Lollapalooza,
Life Is Beautiful,
Rolling Loud Portugal) for the rapper, Bly’s also spearheading the series
Cooking with Coi Leray and brand partnerships (
Monster Energy,
Sprite,
Fashion Nova), among other initiatives. Recently, Bly earned a Best R&B Song
Grammy nom as a publisher of
H.E.R.’s “Focus.” We’re still waiting for an invite.
Chloe Weise
VP, A&R, RCA
Weise has come a long way since earning her first chart-topper with
Sia &
Sean Paul’s “Cheap Thrills.” She’s seen
Martin Garrix perform “Scared to Be Lonely”—the first outside song she ever placed—for 400k people at
Tomorrowland and been thanked by the
Backstreet Boys in front of 20k fans after their
DNA album went to #1. Now, she’s focused on a new album from
Kane Brown, plus more from
Becky G,
Tate McRae and recent RCA signing
Purple Disco Machine, among others. In middle school, Weise sang at the
White House Christmas party. We just got detention.
Sarah McCann
SVP, International Creative, Downtown Music Services
From dancing with
Mary J. Blige,
Jimmy Iovine,
Kuk Harrell and
Tricky Stewart to working on music by
Rihanna,
Cher and
Justin Bieber while she was pregnant in 2012, being asked to DJ at
Dr. Dre’s house and more, McCann’s career is nothing short of exciting. Lately, she’s all about Downtown’s newest wave of clients, who’ve contributed to works by
Beyoncé,
Ye,
The Weeknd and
John Legend, among others, and forging new partnerships with “culture-shifting” creatives. In her spare time, you can find McCann in WeHo. We’re regulars on the couch.
Kevin Eskowitz
Attorney, Rothenberg, Mohr & Binder LLP
Earlier this year, Eskowitz was excited to see
Conan Gray sell out
Radio City Music Hall as part of the North American leg of his 2022 world tour. Following the arrival of Gray’s sophomore album,
Superache, on 6/24, Eskowitz is also gearing up for
Gryffin’s second LP, which follows his recent headliner slot at
Bonnaroo, plus more from clients like
JPEGMafia,
Yung Bae,
Emotional Oranges,
ASTN,
Rich Amiri and
Petey. Eskowitz has a mean first serve on and off the court—the tennis court, that is. We just have tennis elbow.
Will Sword
U.S. Head of Advertising & Direct-to-Fan Marketing, ONErpm
Sword will always cherish his time working with
Aron Magner of the
Disco Biscuits, the band he can thank for meeting his fiancé. Having helped artists like
Elohim,
1da Banton,
Method Man,
siiickbrain,
Trace Adkins and
Barlow & Bear reach a global audience to monetize content on social media, Sword’s all about working on creative and out-of-the-box methods to get artists paid for their content. While the exec had a “less-than-thrilling” rap career in college, he can still play “pretty mediocre” mandolin, which is still much more than we can say.
Jules Davis
Operations & A&R Manager, AG Artists
Davis was thrilled to attend the 2020
Grammys when client
Shawn Mendes was nominated for Pop Duo/Group Performance alongside
Camila Cabello (“Señorita”). Lately, her hands have been full developing and executing a sustainability plan (alongside climate scientists) as the project lead on Mendes’
Wonder: The World Tour Sustainability & Greening Program, among other projects through
The Shawn Mendes Foundation. Next up for the A&R Manager is nurturing her pup,
Kai—who’s featured barking on a
Quinn XCII track. Can someone say
pawb deal?
