LOS ANGELES (Sanctuary Records) - The Sanctuary Group plc announced that on 30th
September 2004, in Los Angeles, it agreed to purchase Tony Davis Management Inc. from Mr. Tony Davis. TDM is a music management company and Mr. Davis, who is to join Sanctuary's US artist management team, manages the multi-platinum selling artist Nelly, as well as St Lunatics and breakthrough platinum artist Murphy Lee.
Following Sanctuary's acquisition of Mathew Knowles' Music World Entertainment in 2003, and the subsequent formation of Sanctuary Urban, the Group is now the world's leading Urban music company. Sanctuary's Urban businesses include Sanctuary Urban Management; Sanctuary Urban Records Group; URBANE, a merchandising division; and a live booking agency. Urban music now accounts for a quarter of all music hard product sold in the US and 14% in the UK.
The Sanctuary Urban Management roster has some of the highest profile artists in the world and includes Destiny's Child; Mary J. Blige; Jadakiss; Eve; Beyonce; Floetry; Mary Mary; Kelly Rowland; Solange; Angie Stone; Michelle Williams and Xzibit. Sanctuary Urban Records artists include Chaka Khan; De La Soul; Earth, Wind & Fire; and The O'Jays.
Commenting on the news, Sanctuary Group Inc Chief Executive Officer Merck Mercuriadis said, "Over the last 5 years Nelly has pushed the boundaries of hip hop selling over 20,000,000 albums and culminating in the historic achievement of his new albums SWEAT and SUIT entering the Billboard Top 200 Albums Chart at No 1 and No 2. Tony Davis has been there every step of the way and it is fantastic to welcome Tony and Nelly to the Sanctuary family.
Mercuriadis further noted, "Mathew Knowles has done an incredible job of establishing Sanctuary Urban over the last 12 months and with an artist roster including Destiny's Child, Beyonce, Mary J Blige, Eve, Jadakiss, Angie Stone - and now Nelly - it is the place to be."
Mathew Knowles President Sanctuary Urban added, "Sanctuary Urban Management welcomes Tony Davis to our team. Tony has done a remarkable job building the careers of Nelly, Murphy Lee and the St. Lunatics. I've watch from a far and seen Nelly develop into one of the stellar rappers in Hip Hop. I'm ecstatic to have them both part of our team and urban artist roster."
