Tommy Mottola - Biography

Last Editor: ebony2pac				Tommy Mottola Biography -   Name : Tommy Mottola Profession : Music Director Birth Details : born 14 July 1949 Birth name : Thomas Daniel Mottola Jr. Spouse : Thalía (2 December 2000 - present) Mariah Carey (5 June 1993 - 5 March 1998) (divorced) Lisa Clark (1971 - 1990) (divorced) 2 children

Tommy Mottola Trivia -

Was the president of Sony Music Entertainment. Discovered Mariah Carey at a party, listened to her demo, and signed her to his record company Leaves Sony to launch his own label. [9 January 2003] Collects guns. Converted to Judaism to marry first wife Lisa Clark. Cousin of jazz guitarist Tony Mottola. Dropped out of Hofstra University. Six months in the planning, his wedding to Mariah Carey featured 50 flower girls, an 8 piece orchestra, a boys choir, and 300 guests including Barbra Streisand, Bruce Springsteen, Gloria Estefan, Michael Bolton, Christie Brinkley, Tony Bennett, Ozzy Osbourne, Robert De Niro and Michael Ovitz. The event reportedly cost $5 million. He is Italian-American. Discovered Hall & Oates. Other acts he guided during his tenure as head of Sony's U.S. operations include Michael Jackson, Bob Dylan, Jessica Simpson, the Dixie Chicks, and Destiny's Child.

Tommy Mottola Detailed Biography -

Thomas Daniel 'Tommy' Mottola Jr,(born 14 July 1949), is a music executive and owner of Casablanca Records in a joint venture with the Universal Music Group. He headed Sony Music Entertainment, parent of the Columbia label, for nearly 15 years. Apart from his experience in managing music outfits, Mottola is known as a mentor and former talent manager. His most famous proteges were Hall & Oates in the 1970s and 80s, and Mariah Carey (later his wife) in the 1990s. Prior to that marriage, he wed Lisa Clark in 1971, for whom he had converted to Judaism. Of Italian-American descent, Mottola was raised by a strict but music-loving Italian family. Mottola learned to play the trumpet, and polished his smooth tenor voice. Blessed with good looks, 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, the enterprising Mottola started Don Tommy Enterprises to manage other acts. While working at the Chappell music-publishing company, he became the mentor to Philadelphia-based soul/rock performers Daryl Hall and John Oates, engineering their rise from a blue-eyed soul act with a few hits, to the most successful duo in American pop music history. 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. In the 1970s, Mottola gained charge of the agency Champion Entertainment Organization, whose flagship acts were Hall & Oates, John Mellencamp and Carly Simon. The duo paid tribute to him in their "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...") Mottola left the agency in 1988, when he was picked to run Columbia Records, eventually adding the other CBS Records labels to his portfolio. Soon afterward, Sony Corporation closed on its deal to buy the CBS Records group unit from CBS, Inc., but performed a hushed background check on Mottola due to allegations of Mafia ties, before naming him President and CEO of the music division. In 1989, Brenda K. Starr, a Columbia artist, handed Mottola a demo tape from one of her backup singers. Initially he tossed it aside, but decided to listen to it. So awestruck by her polished coloratura soprano, he tracked down the singer, a then-unknown Mariah Carey, immediately signing her and starting one of the most expensive promotion campaigns ever for a brand new artist. In 1993, he married Mariah Carey in a lavish ceremony. The marriage was short-lived; by 1998 they divorced. Carey later alleged that Mottola restricted her freedom and was psychologically abusive. She eventually left Columbia. He later went on to date other stars such as Jennifer Lopez, and Naomi Campbell, before he decided to date popstar ThalĂ­a, who later became his wife.