Stephen Henry Sholes (February 12, 1911 – April 22, 1968) was a prominent American recording executive with

RCA Victor RCA Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Group Corporation. It is one of Sony Music's four flagship labels, alongside Columbia Records (its former longtime rival), Arista Records and Epic ...

Career

Sholes was born in Washington, D.C., and moved with his family to Merchantville, New Jersey, at the age of nine, near where his father worked in the

Victor Talking Machine Company The Victor Talking Machine Company was an American recording company and phonograph manufacturer, incorporated in 1901. Victor was an independent enterprise until 1929 when it was purchased by the Radio Corporation of America (RCA) and became ...

plant in Camden. Sholes started work at Victor as a messenger boy in 1929 and worked part-time for the firm while a student at

Rutgers University Rutgers University ( ), officially Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, is a Public university, public land-grant research university consisting of three campuses in New Jersey. Chartered in 1766, Rutgers was originally called Queen's C ...

. Cusic, Don
''Discovering Country Music''
p. 62. ABC-CLIO, 2008. . Accessed July 3, 2012. "Sholes was born in Washington, DC, on February 12, 1911, and lived there until he was nine when the family moved to Merchantville, New Jersey. After high school, he attended Rutgers University and continued to work at RCA Victor part time." Scholes worked for a time in RCA Victor's

radio Radio is the technology of communicating using radio waves. Radio waves are electromagnetic waves of frequency between 3 hertz (Hz) and 300 gigahertz (GHz). They are generated by an electronic device called a transmitter connec ...

division, but his experience playing

saxophone The saxophone (often referred to colloquially as the sax) is a type of single-reed woodwind instrument with a conical body, usually made of brass. As with all single-reed instruments, sound is produced when a reed on a mouthpiece vibrates to p ...

and

clarinet The clarinet is a Single-reed instrument, single-reed musical instrument in the woodwind family, with a nearly cylindrical bore (wind instruments), bore and a flared bell. Clarinets comprise a Family (musical instruments), family of instrume ...

in dance bands led him to the record division. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, he worked in the

Army An army, ground force or land force is an armed force that fights primarily on land. In the broadest sense, it is the land-based military branch, service branch or armed service of a nation or country. It may also include aviation assets by ...

's V-disc operation, which made records for radio broadcast and for personal use by army personnel. In 1945, he became head of the

country A country is a distinct part of the world, such as a state, nation, or other political entity. When referring to a specific polity, the term "country" may refer to a sovereign state, state with limited recognition, constituent country, ...

division in

Nashville, Tennessee Nashville, often known as Music City, is the capital and List of municipalities in Tennessee, most populous city in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is the county seat, seat of Davidson County, Tennessee, Davidson County in Middle Tennessee, locat ...

, and was responsible for recruiting such talent as

Chet Atkins Chester Burton Atkins (June 20, 1924 – June 30, 2001), also known as "Mister Guitar" and "the Country Gentleman", was an American musician who, along with Owen Bradley and Bob Ferguson (musician), Bob Ferguson, helped create the Nash ...

for RCA Victor. When he left Nashville, Atkins took over as head of the country music division. In the 1940s Sholes signed Eddy Arnold, The Browns, Hank Locklin, Homer and Jethro, Hank Snow, Jim Reeves, and Pee Wee King. In 1955, he signed

Elvis Presley Elvis Aaron Presley (January 8, 1935 – August 16, 1977) was an American singer and actor. Referred to as the "King of Rock and Roll", he is regarded as Cultural impact of Elvis Presley, one of the most significant cultural figures of the ...

to RCA Victor. He eventually had fifteen chart topping

hit single A hit song, also known as a hit record, hit single, or simply hit, is a recorded song or instrumental that becomes broadly popular or well-known. Although ''hit song'' means any widely played or big-selling song, the specific term ''hit record'' ...

s in the UK as a

record producer A record producer or music producer is a music creating project's overall supervisor whose responsibilities can involve a range of creative and technical leadership roles. Typically the job involves hands-on oversight of recording sessions; ensu ...

for Presley. In 1982 he reached fourth place on the list of most successful record producers on the UK charts. In 1957, Sholes convinced RCA to build its own

recording studio A recording studio is a specialized facility for Sound recording and reproduction, recording and Audio mixing, mixing of instrumental or vocal musical performances, spoken words, and other sounds. They range in size from a small in-home proje ...

in Nashville on Seventeenth Avenue South; this would become RCA Studio B. The same year, he became the company's pop singles manager, then pop singles and

album An album is a collection of audio recordings (e.g., music) issued on a medium such as compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl (record), audio tape (like 8-track cartridge, 8-track or Cassette tape, cassette), or digital distribution, dig ...

s manager in 1958, and West Coast manager in 1961. The latter promotion took him to

Los Angeles, California Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

. In 1963, Sholes became RCA Victor

vice president A vice president or vice-president, also director in British English, is an officer in government or business who is below the president (chief executive officer) in rank. It can also refer to executive vice presidents, signifying that the vi ...

for pop A&R and returned to New York. He served on the

Country Music Association The Country Music Association (CMA) is an American trade association with the stated aim of promoting and developing country music throughout the world. Founded in 1958 in Nashville, Tennessee, it originally consisted of 233 members and was the f ...

(CMA) and Country Music Foundation (CMF) boards of directors.Countrymusichalloffame.com
Sholes was inducted into the

Country Music Hall of Fame The Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum in Nashville, Tennessee, is one of the world's largest museums and research centers dedicated to the preservation and interpretation of American vernacular music. Chartered in 1964, the museum has amass ...

, which he had worked to create, in 1967. Sholes died in Nashville of a

heart attack A myocardial infarction (MI), commonly known as a heart attack, occurs when Ischemia, blood flow decreases or stops in one of the coronary arteries of the heart, causing infarction (tissue death) to the heart muscle. The most common symptom ...

at the age of 57. At the time of his death he was visiting to see his longtime friends, Homer and Jethro, record a live album at

Vanderbilt University Vanderbilt University (informally Vandy or VU) is a private university, private research university in Nashville, Tennessee, United States. Founded in 1873, it was named in honor of shipping and railroad magnate Cornelius Vanderbilt, who provide ...

. He was driving to the school when he was stricken. Sholes was portrayed by actor Bart Hansard in the CBS mini-series '' Elvis'' (2005).

References

*Rumble, John. (1998). "Steve Sholes". In ''The Encyclopedia of Country Music''. Paul Kingsbury, Ed. New York:

Oxford University Press Oxford University Press (OUP) is the publishing house of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world. Its first book was printed in Oxford in 1478, with the Press officially granted the legal right to print books ...

. p. 483.

External links

http://www.geocities.com/shakin_stacks/stevesholes.txt
* http://www.countryworks.com/artist_full.asp?KEY=SHOLES
Country Music Hall of Fame profile of Stephen H. Sholes (listed as Stephen Sholes).
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sholes, Stephen H. 1911 births 1968 deaths Record producers from New Jersey American music industry executives Country Music Hall of Fame inductees People from Merchantville, New Jersey Rutgers University alumni 20th-century American businesspeople