High Frequency: Meet heavy-hitting music executive Amber Grimes
After an early start as a promoter, Amber Grimes is executive vice president and general manager of the music label and management company Love Renaissance.
TheGrio is celebrating Black Music Month with “High Frequency,” our celebration of trailblazing Black Women in music.
From party promoting in her college days to working for and now alongside some of the top music executives in the game, Amber Grimes has done it all. However, solidifying a name for herself as a Black woman in a notoriously cutthroat industry was no overnight accomplishment; Grimes has put in her 10,000 hours — and then some.
A native of Atlanta, Grimes credits the city’s vibrancy and community for her personal growth and professional trajectory.
“Growing up in Atlanta is the only reason I am who I am, [am] doing what I’m doing, and I know what I know,” she tells theGrio. “[T]hey say it takes a village; I think that that was a real thing for me growing up [there]” she adds. “Atlanta is everything to me; it’s the reason I’m me.”
Like many Black children, Grimes was surrounded by music growing up. She recalls first falling in love with music while still in middle school, when she unearthed Stevie Wonder’s “Greatest Hits” album in her family’s collection.
“It was the most amazing body of work I’ve ever heard,” she recalls. “I was like, ‘This guy is incredible!’ I wore that CD out until it wouldn’t play anymore.”
Stevie Wonder’s intricate compositions piqued Grimes’ musical curiosity, broadening her palate and immense love for various musical styles.
“Respecting other people’s genres of music and differences shapes who you are as a person,” she notes. If you can respect somebody, you find some understanding, find common ground and work together.”
Confident, effervescent, and streetwise, Grimes always strived beyond mediocrity. Honing her communication skills on her high school debate team and as class president, she proved a force to be reckoned with. Her friendly competitiveness and “go-hard or go-home” bravado were further cemented as a high school athlete competing in basketball and track and field.
“I’m a winner,” she gloats as she reflects on those years, crediting her high-school track coach, Coach Turner, for imparting much-needed life lessons.
“The biggest challenge track helped me overcome was learning how to lose,” she shares. “I’ve had a great relationship with being able to take a loss because of track and to pick myself back up and pick the people around me and empower them to say, ‘This is what it is; let’s keep going because there’s another opportunity to win.’”
Once in college at Kennesaw State University, Grimes began to promote some of the hottest parties in Atlanta, recruiting a group of fellow female promoters to launch the first-ever women-led street team in the “A.” In the process, she built an extensive network of industry execs, artists, producers, and insiders that would prove useful in years to come.
DJ Scream was the first to pay Grimes for her work promoting a mixtape with Gucci Mane and Lil Wayne. The upstart promoter passed out an astounding 2,000 CDs by herself, her first experience breaking a record — and “my first entertainment check,” she recalls.
With word of mouth and the grit to show for it, Grimes soon saw her hard work begin to effortlessly align with myriad opportunities, including opening the doors to a stint at Def Jam.
Impressed with her hustle and her refusal to enter the industry as an intern, the Def Jam team offered Grimes a position as executive assistant to then VP of A&R Bu Thiam (current EVP of Capitol Records). Faced with the choice of finishing school or committing fully to her passion, Grimes chose the former — and hasn’t looked back since.
“Bu taught me everything I know,” she says gratefully. “All these once-in-a-lifetime, bespoke experiences with artists and producers; not many jobs in the music industry allow you to see what everyone does. That was my school,” she added.
The industry education paid off; next was a stint as Head of A&R at Nick Cannon’s Ncredible South, helping fellow producer-friend Mike WiLL Made-It build his label, Eardrummers. Troy Carter would eventually create a role for her at Spotify, as would head honcho of Capitol Records Lucian Grainge, who appointed Grimes SVP of Global Creative, where she honed her skills as a businesswoman and industry influencer.
“I learned very quickly leadership is not about yelling at everybody,” she now jokes. “Being a leader is about making other leaders.”
Grimes has now brought her leadership skills to the incomparable Love Renaissance, better known as LVRN, a music label and management company where she serves as executive vice president and general manager. Built by five first-generation immigrants, LVRN is home to artists 6lack, Summer Walker, Davido, Alex Vaughn, and other industry up-and-comers.
“It was a once-in-a-lifetime experience to get to work with five friends that I was not going to let pass me by,” says Grimes, noting that Love Renaissance is exactly that: LOVE. It’s a company dedicated to not only representing artists of color but also providing them with wellness resources, such as a therapy group for both artists and staff, something previously unheard of in the “Devil Wears Prada”-type environment known as the music industry.
Grimes has traveled a rare road, carving her own path much of the way. When asked what advice she’d give others looking to break into the music game, she says, “Don’t be scared. People will support you. People will love you. People will empower you. I’m a walking testament that you can have a successful and joyous time doing what you love.”
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