Hosh Gureli
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Hosh Gureli (born September 11, 1961) is a
music executive A music executive or record executive is a person within a record label who works in senior management and makes executive decisions over the label's artists. Their role varies greatly but in essence, they can oversee one, or many, aspects of a re ...
and management partner at
Primary Wave Music Primary Wave is a private music publishing and talent management company. Primary Wave was founded in January 2006 by music executive Lawrence Mestel. Since its origin as a music publishing company, Primary Wave has expanded into talent manageme ...
, overseeing their
Electronic Music Electronic music is a genre of music that employs electronic musical instruments, digital instruments, or circuitry-based music technology in its creation. It includes both music made using electronic and electromechanical means ( electroac ...
Department.


Career

Hosh Gureli grew up in Middletown, New York. At age 16, he began his career in music as a record clerk for Record World. After a year at
Syracuse University Syracuse University (informally 'Cuse or SU) is a Private university, private research university in Syracuse, New York. Established in 1870 with roots in the Methodist Episcopal Church, the university has been nonsectarian since 1920. Locate ...
, Gureli transferred to
Emerson College Emerson College is a private college with its main campus in Boston, Massachusetts. It also maintains campuses in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California and Well, Limburg, Netherlands ( Kasteel Well). Founded in 1880 by Charles Wesley Emerson as a ...
in
Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...
. In 1982, Hosh created and hosted
WERS WERS (88.9 FM) is one of Emerson College's two radio stations (the other being campus station WECB), located in Boston, Massachusetts, United States. Programming features over 20 different styles of music and news, including live performances an ...
’s Boston Mastermix program. After
college A college (Latin: ''collegium'') is an educational institution or a constituent part of one. A college may be a degree-awarding tertiary educational institution, a part of a collegiate or federal university, an institution offering ...
, Gureli remained in Boston throughout the mid-1980s. During this time, he worked as a DJ in Boston at several of city's clubs. His work eventually led to an internship at popular music station,
Kiss 108 WXKS-FM (107.9 FM), branded as ''Kiss 108'', is a commercial top 40/CHR radio station licensed to serve Medford, Massachusetts, and covering Greater Boston. Owned by iHeartMedia, the WXKS-FM studios are in Medford and the transmitter sits ato ...
, in 1987 under the leadership of program director, Sunny Joe White, and music director, Jerry McKenna. It was during this time that he met up with the program director of
KMEL KMEL (106.1 FM) is an urban contemporary radio station that is licensed to San Francisco, California, and serving the San Francisco Bay Area. It is owned and operated by iHeartMedia. KMEL has studios located in the SoMa district, and broadcasts ...
,
Keith Naftaly Keith Phillip Naftaly (born 1962) is an American music industry executive. He is the president of Artists and repertoire, A&R at RCA Records. Naftaly previously held senior A&R positions at record companies including Arista Records, Arista, Drea ...
, at a radio conference. Several months later in 1988, Naftaly appointed Gureli as the music director of the San Francisco radio station. Together, Naftaly and Gureli spread a newly engineered rhythm-crossover format, with a heavy blend of urban, hip hop, pop and dance records. Additionally, Gureli created and hosted KMEL Underground, a mixshow featuring a myriad of
EDM EDM or E-DM may refer to: Music * Electronic dance music * Early Day Miners, American band Science and technology * Electric dipole moment * Electrical discharge machining * Electronic distance measurement *Entry, Descent, and landing demonstrat ...
acts. In 1993, Gureli was recruited by
Clive Davis Clive Jay Davis (born April 4, 1932) 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. From 1967 to 1 ...
as a senior director of A&R at
Arista Records Arista Records () is an American record label owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America, the North American division of the Japanese conglomerate Sony. The label was previously handled by BMG Entertainmen ...
. Later, he became the Vice President of A&R at
J Records J Records was 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. It was distributed through the RCA Music Gro ...
/
RCA Music Group RCA Music Group was an umbrella group of labels distributed by Sony Music Entertainment that existed between March 2004 and 2009, and for a short period of time between July 2011 and October 2011 as all RCA Music Group labels were merged with RCA ...
. Coinciding with his time working with Clive, Gureli continued work in underground mix shows spinning for New York’s
Hot 97 WQHT (97.1 FM, ''Hot 97'') is a commercial radio station, licensed to New York, New York, which broadcasts an urban contemporary music format. The station is owned by Mediaco Holding and operated by Emmis Communications under a shared service ...
in 1993. In the 90's, Gureli also produced a number of remixes for larger acts like
Toni Braxton Toni Michele Braxton (born October 7, 1967) is an American Contemporary R&B, R&B singer, songwriter, actress and television personality. She has sold over 70 million records worldwide and is one of the best-selling female artists in history. ...
's "
Un-Break My Heart "Un-Break My Heart" is a song by American singer Toni Braxton for her second studio album, ''Secrets'' (1996). The song was written by Diane Warren and produced by David Foster. It was released as the second single from the album on October 7, 19 ...
" and
Whitney Houston Whitney Elizabeth Houston (August 9, 1963 – February 11, 2012) was an American singer and actress. Nicknamed "The Voice", she is one of the bestselling music artists of all time, with sales of over 200 million records worldwide. Houston in ...
’s “ It’s Not Right…But It’s Ok". He continued his work into the next decade.


A&R Discography


References

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Gureli, Hosh American music industry executives Living people 1961 births