Chris Anokute

Chris Anokute is an A&R executive. While at Capitol Records he oversaw artists including Katy Perry, Joss Stone and Varsity Fanclub. He is currently Senior Vice-President of A&R at Universal Motown.

Career

Anokute's entry point into the music industry came when, at the age of 17, he approached John Houston, father of Whitney, and asked to be part of his management team. Houston hired Anokute as an apprentice.^[1]

Shortly started his own management company together with Stephen Chukumba, managing writers and producers in the New Jersey area. Acts they signed included J.U.S. and Alkatraz.^[2] At the same time he secured an internship in A&R administration at Def Jam Records, working under A&R executive Rob Mitchell. Once promoted to A&R assistant, he worked on projects including Sum 41, Ashanti, Foxy Brown and Jay Z's The Blueprint.^[1]

Anokute discovered the songwriter Alisha Brooks and introduced her to Vada Nobles. Nobles provided a selection of instrumentals to write to, and from one track Brooks created "Pon de Replay".^[1] Soon afterwards the song was recorded by the then unknown Rihanna and helped land the 16-year-old a deal with Def Jam Universal. Three months later the song reached number 1 on the Billboard 200.

Anokute was hired by Jason Flom as a junior A&R at Virgin/Capitol, where he became a vocal supporter of Flom signing Katy Perry and later went on to successfully A&R her second album Teenage Dream.^[3]

References

1. ^ ^{a b c} "Interview With Chris Anokute". HitQuarters. 18 Oct 2010. http://www.hitquarters.com/index.php3?page=intrview/opar/intrview_Chris_Anokute_Interview.html. Retrieved 25 Oct 2010. 
2. ^ "The Making of a Music Mogul". stephenchukumba.wordpress.com. 2 Jun 2010. http://stephenchukumba.wordpress.com/2010/06/02/chris-anokute-the-making-of-a-music-mogul/. Retrieved 25 Oct 2010. 
3. ^ "Correction to the interview with Chris Anokute". HitQuarters. 21 Jan 2011. http://www.hitquarters.com/index.php3?page=intrview/opar/intrview_AnokuteCorrection.html. Retrieved 21 Jan 2011. 

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Name	Anokute, Chris
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