Thomas Daniel "Tommy" Mottola (born July 14, 1948) is a music executive, producer and author. He is currently the Chairman of Mottola Media Group and previously the Chairman & CEO of Sony Music Entertainment, parent of the Columbia label, for nearly 15 years. He is married to the Mexican actress and singer Thalía.
Early career
Mottola was born in The Bronx, New York. He graduated from Iona Grammar School in 1962 and Iona Preparatory School in New Rochelle, New York in 1966. He briefly attended Hofstra University in Hempstead, New York before dropping out. He initially had aspirations of a music career, and released with CBS Records, but his singing career was short-lived.
Wishing to stay in the industry, Mottola started Champion Entertainment Organization Inc. to manage other artists. While working at the Chappell music-publishing company, he became the mentor to Philadelphia-based soul/rock performers Daryl Hall and John Oates.
His belief in the duo led him to push them relentlessly to do appearances and advertising promotions, including some of the first specialized music videos and one of the first modern "sponsored tours," for Beech-Nut's Care Free Gum, Panasonic, and Pontiac.
Hall & Oates paid tribute to him in their track "Gino (the Manager)" on their self-titled 1975 RCA release, better known as the Silver Album. Mottola also figured—this time, being mentioned by name—in "Cherchez La Femme," the 1976 dance hit by another Mottola act, Dr. Buzzard's Original Savannah Band. ("Tommy Mottola / Lives on the road ...")
Raised as a Roman Catholic, Mottola converted to Judaism shortly before his marriage to Lisa Clark. That marriage, which ended in divorce in 1992, produced a daughter (Sarah) and a son (Michael, who is now a production assistant with MTV).
Brisbane rock band Regurgitator wrote a tribute song to him called "I Love Tommy Mottola" for their 1999 album "...Art".
CBS
In 1987, Mottola was chosen to run CBS Records at the age of 37.
Soon afterward, Sony Corporation closed on its deal to buy the CBS Records group unit from CBS, naming him President and CEO of the music division, where he succeeded his former mentor Walter Yetnikoff, who had originally brought Mottola into CBS. Mottola served as Chairman and CEO Sony Music Entertainment.
Sony
During his tenure, he transformed Sony into one of the most successful global music companies, expanding its businesses into over 60 countries, while creating one of the strongest management teams in the industry. He revitalized Sony Music's publishing division by making such acquisitions as the Beatles catalogue and enabled Sony to become the first major music company to make available commercial digital downloads. He is widely well known for signing, developing, and nurturing the careers of Mariah Carey, Celine Dion, Destiny's Child, Jennifer Lopez, Shakira, Gloria Estefan, the Dixie Chicks, Marc Anthony, Barbra Streisand, Bruce Springsteen, Billy Joel, among others. He also worked with Michael Jackson from the time he began recording his "Dangerous" (1991) album. Jackson would later state that his relationship with Mottola dissolved based on corruption in his working practices, publicly referring to him as a "racist" and "devil". "The recording companies really, really do conspire against the artists." Jackson said.(source: Vh1).
Mariah Carey
In 1988, Brenda K. Starr, a Columbia artist, handed Mottola a demo tape from one of her backup singers. Initially he tossed it aside, but later decided to listen to it. He was impressed by the demo and tracked down the singer, a then-unknown Mariah Carey, and eventually signed her. Mottola is seen as the main architect for Mariah's success in the early years of her career.
In June 1993, Mottola and Carey married in a lavish ceremony, but the marriage was short-lived with the couple separating shortly before Christmas 1996 and divorcing in early 1998. In 2000, Carey, at the time Columbia's biggest selling artist, signed an $80 million contract with Virgin Records, but after the commercial and critical failure of her first album for the label, the Glitter soundtrack, Virgin dropped her from the company and it rescinded the $80 million contract. Carey later signed with Island Records.