Nick Raphael

Nick Raphael is a music industry executive and was born in London, England. He is currently President of Capitol Records in the UK. He got his first taste of the music industry in 1987, when he with school friends promoted a night at Dingwalls in Camden Lock, London. His most recent successes include 5 Seconds of Summer who became the first band to have their first three albums enter at No. 1 on the Billboard 200, Paloma Faith who won the 2015 Brit Award for Best Female Solo Artist, Liam Payne who currently has the biggest selling single from a member of One Directionand Sam Smith who won four 2015 Grammy Awards plus an Oscar and Golden Globe in 2016.In October 2018, Sam Smith surpassed 20 million global album sales.
Career.
In the early 1990s, Raphael moved to Leeds, UK and organized, managed and promoted several night club venues such as Hi Flyers, The Gallery and The Warehouse. This led him to becoming a DJ and recording artist with partner Paul Fryer under the name 'TWA'. Raphael, Fryer and Suzy Mason then started the seminal Vague club, which ran between 1993 and 1996. His work throughout 1991 until 1994 as a Night Club promoter, DJ, recording artist and remixer led Raphael to his first corporate job in the UK music industry in 1994 at London Records UK, where he served as Product and later Label Manager for FFRR. In 1996, he left London Records to start NorthWestSide (NWS) Records (at BMG) with Christian Tattersfield. They signed Jay-Z the same year. In 2000, NorthWestSide Records was rolled into Arista Records and Raphael was appointed A&R Director. One year later in 2001, Raphael left Arista to join Sony, where he was hired as the Managing Director of Epic Records UK.Raphael stayed with Sony for 10 years he left in 2011 with Jo Charrington to re launch London Records for Universal Music - after Universal bought EMI they decided to launch Capitol Records in the US and UK in April 2013 - London Records roster and staff were rebranded Capitol Records UK - with Raphael named as president.
In 2006, Nick Raphael together with Jo Charrington founded the companies Salli Isaak Songs Limited and Salli Isaak Music Publishing Limited. Collectively, the Salli Isaak roster has written twenty UK Top 10 singles, nine UK No.1 singles, and won multiple Ivor Novello Awards. in 2018, both Salli Isaak companies were acquired by Downtown Music Publishing.
Career progression.
Posts held at the following record companies since 1994;
Artists discovered or signed by Nick Raphael.
Raphael (alongside Tattersfield and Charrington) has signed, and launched a number of artists including
Awards and nominations.
Music Week Awards.
In 2010, Raphael and Charrington were recipients of the Music Week A&R award, which they received again in 2015 making them the only A&R team to win the award twice.