GEORGE NAUFUL-Chief Operating Officer
George Nauful’s extensive and multi-faceted music business background encompasses senior positions at independent and major labels, as well as with leading distribution companies. This experience, coupled with his classical training as a musician, gives him an invaluable “big picture” perspective on the industry today, its evolution and, most importantly, its future. In his current role as OVOH’s Chief Operating Officer, George, a 25-year industry veteran, oversees business affairs and all operations for the innovative corporation.
Before joining OVOH, George oversaw Mesa/Bluemoon, the GRAMMY®-winning, artist-driven label he co-founded in 1989. The label has gone through several career evolutions. Recent successes on Mesa/Bluemoon include R&B/neo-soul star Lalah Hathaway’s acclaimed album Outrun the Sky, released through Universal in 2004 as a joint venture with AgU Entertainment. The album’s first single, “Forever, For Always, For Love,” reached #1 on R&R’s Urban AC chart and was a Billboard Top 40 R&B hit. In addition to his executive responsibilities, George has also served as Producer and Executive Producer for a number of Mesa/Bluemoon projects, including releases by Rick Braun, Jeff Golub, Brian Culbertson, Willie & Lobo, Black Uhuru, Strunz & Farah and King Sunny Ade, among others.
In 1994, George and Mesa/Bluemoon became part of the Atlantic Records family, and in 1997, he went to work exclusively for Atlantic, re-imagining Mesa/Bluemoon as a key component in the company’s esteemed Jazz and Classics division. He also served as Atlantic’s Vice President of A&R for jazz and world music. The association generated ongoing success, further GRAMMY nods (for reggae acts Aswad and Steel Pulse) and remained in place through 1999. After his time at Atlantic, George engineered a new distribution arrangement for Mesa/Bluemoon through BMG, and subsequently through Universal/Fontana.
Prior to the Mesa/Bluemoon era, George co-founded the Passport Jazz label for Passport Records in the mid-’80s, and later served as Passport’s General Manager. He went on to run Jem Distribution, the West Coast’s largest independent record distribution company in the 1980s. Five associated labels, including Passport, were under his purview, and successes included recordings from acts including the Rippingtons, Randy Brecker, Synergy and Keiko and Kazu Matsui.
George’s career in the music business began when he ventured west to California in the ’70s. He started as a Los Angeles studio musician/session player, writer and producer. His first record company experiences were administrative stints at Capitol Records and several indie labels, followed by a tenure overseeing import/export for Japan-based Eastern Pacific Sounds. George’s first executive position was as general manager for The PARAS Group, founded in the early ’80s as a marketing and distribution outfit specifically created to service independent labels. He holds a Business degree from The Citadel, and a degree in composition and arranging from the Southern California Conservatory of Music.