Hancock Named Columbia EVP/Head Of A&R
• After a four-year run as President of Sire Records, Rani Hancock is leaving Warner Music and returning to the Sony Music family as Columbia Records‘ newly named Executive Vice President and Head of A&R.
An internal memo from Columbia Records’ Chairman & CEO Ron Perry, obtained by RAMP, spells out the details, as it reads, “As of August 1st, Rani Hancock will be joining Columbia as our new EVP/Head of A&R based in NY and reporting to Ron Perry. Rani joins us from Sire Records where she served as President. She is coming home to Sony Music where she has a 15-year history, most recently as EVP A&R for RCA Records. Throughout her career, Rani has worked alongside numerous superstars and is an exceptional record maker. We are thrilled that Rani will help lead our A&R department into the future.”
Hancock began her music industry career at Arista Records under the legendary Clive Davis, working in A&R Administration as an assistant, eventually rising to Director. After five years she left to start her own management company. In 2000, Davis and Hancock were reunited, when he hired her as one of the founding employees of J Records as VP of A&R. Following the mergers of J Records with RCA and Arista, and then with Jive Records, Hancock rose to EVP of A&R at the RCA Music Group.
According to Variety, during her initial Sony Music tenure, Hancock signed and A&R’d such artists as Miley Cyrus, Kesha, Pitbull, Britney Spears, Magic!, Gavin DeGraw, Mike Posner, Daughtry, and Adam Lambert. In 2015, Hancock was named EVP, Head of A&R for Island Records, where she worked with Demi Lovato and Nick Jonas, to name a few. She was named President of Sire Records on August 1, 2017. [Photo credit: Cole Slutzky]
