Ryan Michael Gentles (born November 28, 1977) is an American

music manager A talent manager (also known as an artist manager, band manager or music manager) is an individual who guides the professional career of artists in the entertainment industry. The responsibility of the talent manager is to oversee the day-to-day ...

and the CEO of Wiz Kid Management. He is best known as the longtime manager of the

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

-based band

The Strokes The Strokes are an American rock band from New York City. Formed in 1998, the band is composed of lead singer and songwriter Julian Casablancas, guitarists Nick Valensi and Albert Hammond Jr., bassist Nikolai Fraiture, and drummer Fabrizio More ...

, whom he managed from 2000 until 2020.

Career

Gentles began his career in the music industry as a musician; he was the vocalist and guitarist in the band Timmsie's First Time which broke up in 1995 and then The Selzers, which broke up in 2000. Matthew Romano, The Strokes' drum technician and back-up drummer, was also in both bands, playing drums. While in school, Gentles interned for future Strokes publicist Jim Merlis at

Geffen Records Geffen Records is an American record label established by David Geffen and owned by Universal Music Group through its Interscope Geffen A&M Records imprint. Founded in 1980, Geffen Records has been a part of Interscope Geffen A&M since 1999 and h ...

and New York music venue

Mercury Lounge The Mercury Lounge is a live music venue in the Lower East Side of New York City. Like its brother venue The Bowery Ballroom, The Mercury Lounge is celebrated as an iconic indie venue due to its acoustics, its fostering and even launching of up ...

. After graduating in 1999, he was hired by Mercury Lounge and shortly became their booker. He soon came in contact with The Strokes who asked him "three or four times to manage them" despite the fact that professional managers were courting the band. He became their manager in 2000 and, at the insistence of frontman

Julian Casablancas Julian Fernando Casablancas (born August 23, 1978) is an American singer, musician and songwriter, best known as the lead vocalist and primary songwriter of Rock music, rock band The Strokes, with whom he has released six studio albums since the ...

, had an equal share in the profits of the band, untypical of the music industry. Gentles was contracted to be The Strokes exclusive manager for five years and continued to manage them. He played a starring role in their 2003 music video " The End Has No End." He has been considered to be "the sixth Stroke." After twenty years of managing The Strokes, Gentles and the band parted ways in October 2020. Gentles established his management firm, Wiz Kid Management, in 2003. In the early 2000s, he managed musicians Adam Green and

Ryan Adams David Ryan Adams (born November 5, 1974) is an American singer-songwriter, record producer, artist, and poet. He has released 23 albums, as well as three studio albums as a former member of alt-country band Whiskeytown. In 2000, Adams left ...

for a brief period. In January 2008, he merged his company with that of music business veteran's Danny Goldberg to form Gold Village/Wiz Kid Management. In June 2014, Wiz Kid joined the management division of production company

C3 Presents C3 Presents is a concert promotion, event production and artist management company based out of Austin, Texas. C3 also produces several multi-day festivals including Austin City Limits Music Festival in Texas, Voodoo Music + Arts Experience in Ne ...

. Beginning in the mid-2000s, Gentles also managed other Strokes members' musical projects, including Albert Hammond, Jr.'s solo career, Nick Valensi's band CRX, and Fabrizio Moretti's project Machinegum. Gentles played guitar on one track of Strokes-guitarist Albert Hammond, Jr.'s 2006 album, titled '' Yours to Keep''.

Management roster

Current artists * ROMES *

School of Seven Bells School of Seven Bells (often stylized as SVIIB) was an American indie rock band from New York City, formed in 2007. It originally consisted of Alejandra Deheza (vocals, guitar), her sister Claudia Deheza (keyboards, vocals) and Benjamin Curtis ...

* Streets of Laredo *

Hinds Hinds may refer to: Deer, especially does *Deer People with the surname Hinds: *Hinds (surname) In places: * Hinds, New Zealand, a small town * Hinds County, Mississippi, a US county *Hinds Lake, a lake in Minnesota *Hinds River, a river that flo ...

* machinegum Former artists *

The Moldy Peaches The Moldy Peaches were an American indie group founded by Adam Green and Kimya Dawson. Leading proponents of the anti-folk scene, the band has been on hiatus since 2004. The appearance of their song " Anyone Else but You" in the film ''Juno'' s ...

* Adam Green *

* Albert Hammond, Jr. * CRX *

The Hunts ''The Hunts'', by Amelia Biagioni, is a book of poems written originally in Spanish. Description A bilingual edition of an astonishing poetic cycle that ranges across time and space to recreate the eternal hunt: the unstoppable, restless process ...

* Rathborne * Nightbox

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gentles, Ryan 1977 births Living people American music managers The Strokes