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Mark Pitts
Mark Pitts (born July 4, 1970) is an American record executive and talent manager who has served as President of RCA Records since 2021. He also co-founded the record label ByStorm Entertainment with Wayne Barrow in 1998, through which he has signed artists including J. Cole, Miguel, Ro James, Andrea Martin, B. Smyth, Mali Music and Luke Christopher, among others.
He began his career as a staffer for Puff Daddy's Bad Boy Records, where he co-managed the Notorious B.I.G and Faith Evans; he executive produced the former's first two albums: Ready to Die (1994) and Life After Death (1997). Pitts executive produced the Netflix film, Biggie: I Got a Story to Tell (2021), and co-produced Notorious and Blue (both 2009).
Pitts has worked with artists who have amassed a total of 53 Grammy Awards nominations, and 10 wins.
Pitts was born in Brooklyn, New York, on July 4, 1970. He was first introduced to music by his grandmother, a classically trained piano teacher who began giving Pitts lessons at the age of four. Pitts spent six years of his childhood at the Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, and later continued learning music at the High School of Music and Performing Arts, where he also studied art.
His professional music career started in the early 1990s, prior to entering Howard University, when he formed a rap group called Three Left. He intended to pitch the rap group to his friend, Sean Combs, who was working at Uptown Records at the time. After a meeting with Combs, Pitts decided that he wanted to work behind the scenes. In 1993, he started working with Combs at his entertainment company Bad Boy Entertainment, where Pitts managed the Notorious B.I.G., Faith Evans, and Changing Faces. Pitts would also arrange for his cousin and business partner Wayne Barrow to meet with B.I.G. as well. Barrow would join Pitts in managing B.I.G.
Pitts opened Mark Pitts Management (now ByStorm),[citation needed] took on additional artists such as Nas, and a few years later negotiated an end to the public feud between Nas and Jay-Z. He told Essence magazine:
"I have to say it's one of my most proudest moments. It felt good and I always believe that having the two of them sit down and (reconcile) was something that BIG would have wanted me to do and in some way I felt like if BIG ever had the chance that's what he would have done with Tupac. At the time, when me and Nas first started working together, I said, 'We have to do something different. You're supposed to be a movement, so you need to do a song with Jay and get past all the bulls—. So I had a conversation with Jay and he was open. I couldn't believe it was going down, and because they both felt comfortable and know my energy, and when we all got together that day, I couldn't believe it was happening and we sat down and worked things out like men. That was definitely BIG guiding me."
In 1995, Pitts moved over to an executive position at Universal Records (née Rising Tide) where he signed Philly-based rapper Tracey Lee, and five years later became Senior Vice President of A&R for Arista Records, where he worked with Usher on several albums including his album Confessions that was certified diamond (for sales of 10 million), as well as TLC, Anthony Hamilton, and CeeLo Green. He signed Chris Brown and Miguel while at Jive Records. In 2006, Pitts was made a father for the second time, after the birth of his daughter, Jaden.
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Mark Pitts
Mark Pitts (born July 4, 1970) is an American record executive and talent manager who has served as President of RCA Records since 2021. He also co-founded the record label ByStorm Entertainment with Wayne Barrow in 1998, through which he has signed artists including J. Cole, Miguel, Ro James, Andrea Martin, B. Smyth, Mali Music and Luke Christopher, among others.
He began his career as a staffer for Puff Daddy's Bad Boy Records, where he co-managed the Notorious B.I.G and Faith Evans; he executive produced the former's first two albums: Ready to Die (1994) and Life After Death (1997). Pitts executive produced the Netflix film, Biggie: I Got a Story to Tell (2021), and co-produced Notorious and Blue (both 2009).
Pitts has worked with artists who have amassed a total of 53 Grammy Awards nominations, and 10 wins.
Pitts was born in Brooklyn, New York, on July 4, 1970. He was first introduced to music by his grandmother, a classically trained piano teacher who began giving Pitts lessons at the age of four. Pitts spent six years of his childhood at the Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, and later continued learning music at the High School of Music and Performing Arts, where he also studied art.
His professional music career started in the early 1990s, prior to entering Howard University, when he formed a rap group called Three Left. He intended to pitch the rap group to his friend, Sean Combs, who was working at Uptown Records at the time. After a meeting with Combs, Pitts decided that he wanted to work behind the scenes. In 1993, he started working with Combs at his entertainment company Bad Boy Entertainment, where Pitts managed the Notorious B.I.G., Faith Evans, and Changing Faces. Pitts would also arrange for his cousin and business partner Wayne Barrow to meet with B.I.G. as well. Barrow would join Pitts in managing B.I.G.
Pitts opened Mark Pitts Management (now ByStorm),[citation needed] took on additional artists such as Nas, and a few years later negotiated an end to the public feud between Nas and Jay-Z. He told Essence magazine:
"I have to say it's one of my most proudest moments. It felt good and I always believe that having the two of them sit down and (reconcile) was something that BIG would have wanted me to do and in some way I felt like if BIG ever had the chance that's what he would have done with Tupac. At the time, when me and Nas first started working together, I said, 'We have to do something different. You're supposed to be a movement, so you need to do a song with Jay and get past all the bulls—. So I had a conversation with Jay and he was open. I couldn't believe it was going down, and because they both felt comfortable and know my energy, and when we all got together that day, I couldn't believe it was happening and we sat down and worked things out like men. That was definitely BIG guiding me."
In 1995, Pitts moved over to an executive position at Universal Records (née Rising Tide) where he signed Philly-based rapper Tracey Lee, and five years later became Senior Vice President of A&R for Arista Records, where he worked with Usher on several albums including his album Confessions that was certified diamond (for sales of 10 million), as well as TLC, Anthony Hamilton, and CeeLo Green. He signed Chris Brown and Miguel while at Jive Records. In 2006, Pitts was made a father for the second time, after the birth of his daughter, Jaden.