SANTA MONICA, CA. (Top40 Charts/ Interscope/ Geffen/ A&M Records) - Mark Ronson, Grammy Award winner for Producer of the Year, Record of the Year and Pop Vocal Album (the latter two for his work with Amy Winehouse) will bring his Allido Records label to Interscope Geffen A&M Records. The joint venture between Allido, co-owned by Ronson and Rich Kleiman, and the Interscope Records label will be home to a wide range of artists and projects.
"One of the foundations of Interscope has been partnering with producers who can move the needle of popular culture," said Jimmy Iovine. "Mark has that rare ear for great songs and artists who will have extraordinary careers. We're thrilled to be in business with him." Ronson, as an artist or producer, will not be exclusive to Allido/Interscope.
The first artist signed to Allido/Interscope is Wale (pronounced wah-lay), a young, go-go influenced, hip-hop sensation from Washington, DC, who has been touted in both Rolling Stone and Entertainment Weekly as an artist to watch in 2008. His debut album is expected by year's end.
"Jimmy Iovine is a dude," explains Ronson. "The plain fact that he started out as an engineer on Born To Run, went on to produce records for U2 and Patti Smith, and then formed one of the most influential labels in the history of American music encapsulates every reason why I would want to be in business with Interscope Records. I've always tried to balance discovering brilliant new talent and producing great records; and, along with Rich Kleiman, then putting those records out through Allido Records. Interscope is the perfect place for us to do that. What a dude."
"Although we've signed individual artists to majors since our inception, Allido has always developed organically and independently. However, the time has arrived to formally bring the label to a place that has the infrastructure of a major but that is still willing to think outside the box," explained Kleiman. "Interscope has a reputation for being a true partner in their joint ventures and this is an invaluable characteristic."
"Mark and Rich have an incredible working partnership that's resulted in a true melding of artistic and business vision," commented Luke Wood, the executive at Interscope Geffen A&M who brokered the deal for the company. "We're looking forward to a long and fruitful relationship with Allido."
Ronson was nominated for three Grammys at the 50th Annual Grammy Awards, winning for Producer of the Year (for Winehouse's Back To Black album, its "Rehab" and "You Know I'm No Good" tracks, Lily Allen's "Littlest Things," and his own album, Version), Record of the Year ("Rehab") and Pop Vocal Album (Back To Black). The other nomination was for Album of the Year (for Back To Black). An internationally renowned DJ, Ronson has also recently worked on albums from Christina Aguilera and Robbie Williams.
Allido Records, based in New York City, was launched in 2004 as an independent imprint and has since released a handful of albums via individual artist deals, including releases by Rhymefest, and Ronson himself, and Daniel Meriweather later this year. Allido has worked on numerous music supervision projects and released soundtracks to the Oscar-nominated movie Half Nelson and a compilation series for the Hard Rock Hotel Group.
