Ron Gillyard is a
record executive
A music executive or record executive is a person within a music company, in particular, a record label who works in senior management and makes executive decisions over the label's artists. Their role varies greatly but in essence, they can over ...
with nearly 20 years experience in the
entertainment industry
Entertainment is a form of activity that holds the attention and Interest (emotion), interest of an audience or gives pleasure and delight. It can be an idea or a task, but it is more likely to be one of the activities or events that have deve ...
. He is a
Grammy Award
The Grammy Awards, stylized as GRAMMY, and often referred to as The Grammys, are awards presented by The Recording Academy of the United States to recognize outstanding achievements in music. They are regarded by many as the most prestigious ...
winner.
Start in music
Gillyard started in the music business as an intern at
. He has been employed by
Clive Davis
Clive Jay Davis (born April 4, 1932) is an American record producer, A&R executive, record executive, and lawyer. He has won five Grammy Awards and was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, as a non-performer, in 2000.
From 1967 to 1 ...
, Chief Creative Officer of
Sony Music Entertainment Worldwide;
Jimmy Iovine
James Iovine ( ; born March 11, 1953) is an American entrepreneur, former Music executive, record executive, and media proprietor. He is the co-founder of Interscope Records and became chairman and CEO of Interscope Geffen A&M Records, Interscop ...
, chairman of
Interscope-Geffen-A&M
Interscope Geffen A&M Records (IGA) is an American umbrella label operating as a unit of Interscope Capitol Labels Group, owned by Universal Music Group. It currently consists of record labels Interscope Records (with its subsidiary, A&M Records) ...
;
Irving Azoff
Irving Azoff (; born December 12, 1947) is an American businessman, who is chairman of Full Stop Management, a company that represents recording artists. During the course of his career, he has worked as an agent, personal manager, concert pr ...
, chairman of
Live Nation Entertainment
Live Nation Entertainment, Inc. is an American multinational entertainment company that was founded in 2010 following the merger of Live Nation and Ticketmaster. It promotes, operates and manages ticket sales for live entertainment internation ...
; and Sean "Diddy" Combs, owner of
Bad Boy Entertainment Worldwide (which includes the
Sean John
Sean John is a privately held fashion lifestyle company created by music mogul Sean "Diddy" Combs, Sean John "Diddy" Combs. The line made its fashion debut with a men's sportswear collection for the spring 1998 season.
In 2016, the brand had ann ...
clothing line).
Some artists with whom he has worked include
Stevie Wonder
Stevland Hardaway Morris (; Judkins; born May 13, 1950), known professionally as Stevie Wonder, is an American and Ghanaian singer-songwriter, musician, and record producer. He is regarded as one of the most influential musicians of the 20th c ...
,
Boyz II Men
Boyz II Men ( ) is an American vocal harmony group from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, best known for emotional ballads and a cappella harmonies. Formed in 1985, they have been a trio composed of baritone Nathan Morris, tenor Wanya Morris, Wanyá Mo ...
,
Luther Vandross
Luther Ronzoni Vandross Jr. (April 20, 1951 – July 1, 2005) was an American Soul music, soul and Contemporary R&B, R&B singer, songwriter, and record producer. Over his career, he achieved eleven consecutive RIAA certification, RIAA-certified ...
,
BeBe & CeCe Winans
BeBe & CeCe Winans are an American gospel/ R&B music brother and sister duo. BeBe and CeCe Winans are the seventh and eighth of the Winans family's ten children, most of whom have had gospel music careers. Together, they have received several a ...
,
Alicia Keys
Alicia Augello Cook (born January 25, 1981), known professionally as Alicia Keys, is an American singer and songwriter. A classically trained pianist, Keys began composing songs at the age of 12 and was signed by Columbia Records at 15. After d ...
, India.Arie,
Mary J. Blige
Mary Jane Blige ( ; born January 11, 1971) is an American singer, songwriter, rapper, actress, and entrepreneur. Often referred to as the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, Queen of Hip-Hop Soul" and "Honorific nicknames in popular music, Qu ...
,
Sean Diddy Combs,
Will Smith
Willard Carroll Smith II (born September 25, 1968) is an American actor, rapper, and film producer. Known for his work in both Will Smith filmography, the screen and Will Smith discography, music industries, List of awards and nominations re ...
,
50 Cent
Curtis James Jackson III (born July 6, 1975), known professionally as 50 Cent, is an American rapper, actor, and television producer. Born in Queens, a borough of New York City, Jackson began pursuing a musical career in 1996. In 1999–2000, ...
and
Eminem
Marshall Bruce Mathers III (born October 17, 1972), known professionally as Eminem, is an American rapper, songwriter, and record producer. Regarded as one of the greatest and most influential rappers of all time, he is credited with popula ...
. In 2011 Gillyard was awarded his first Grammy award for his work as producer of Bebe & Cece Winans’ album "
Still
A still is an apparatus used to distillation, distill liquid mixtures by heating to selectively Boiling, boil and then cooling to Condensation, condense the vapor. A still uses the same concepts as a basic Distillation#Laboratory_procedures, ...
" (Best Contemporary R&B Gospel Album).
Career
Gillyard serves as the Chief Growth Officer of Quantasy, an award-winning full-service digital media agency specializing in social media, where is also Partner. Quantasy delivers premium interactive and social content for clients in the tech, automotive, entertainment, not-for-profit and financial sectors. Named by Inc. Magazine as one of America’s fastest growing private companies in 2019, Quantasy serves its clients by positioning them to embrace and utilize emerging digital, social, and communication tools to build and enhance their brands.
Theater life
Most recently, Gillyard has had the pleasure of producing the musical, BORN FOR THIS, created by his former client, Bebe Winans, and playwright Charles Randolph-Wright. BORN FOR THIS has run in Washington, DC, Atlanta, GA, Los Angeles, CA, and Boston, MA. Gillyard produced the runs in LA and Boston and has positioned the show for a run on Broadway.
Personal life
Born and raised in
Miami, Florida
Miami is a East Coast of the United States, coastal city in the U.S. state of Florida and the county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade County in South Florida. It is the core of the Miami metropolitan area, which, with a populat ...
, Gillyard graduated from
Howard University
Howard University is a private, historically black, federally chartered research university in Washington, D.C., United States. It is classified among "R1: Doctoral Universities – Very high research activity" and accredited by the Mid ...
with a degree in Finance. He is married with three children and resides in Los Angeles.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gillyard, Ron
Year of birth missing (living people)
Living people
Businesspeople from Miami
American entertainment industry businesspeople