Newspaper $3.95 3 VOL. LIX, NO. 23 FEBRUARY 17, 1996 NUMBER ONES STAFF GEORGE ALBERT THE ENTERTAINMENT TRADE MAGAZINE President and Publisher POP SINGLE KEITH ALBERT One Sweet Day Cover Story Exec. V.P./General Manager M.Ft MARTINEZ Mariah Carey Blistering Pace For Stabbing Westward Managing Editor (Columbia) EDITORIAL If early notices are any indication, Columbia recording act Stabbing Westward Los Angeles JOHN GOFF might expand on the success it experienced as a new band in 1994. A combination STEVE BALTIN URBAN SINGLE of emotionally vivid rock ballads and touring with established acts that broadened GIL ROBERTSON IV KAREN SIDLOW Retail Gude its audience base proved to be what the marketing doctor ordered for this group's Not Gon’ Cry HECTOR RESENDEZ, Latin Ecitor Ungod debut. Cash Box’s Karen Sidlow talked with band vocalist Christopher Nashville Mary J. Blige WENDY NEWCOMER Hall about the music on and the upcoming club tour in support of Stabbing New York (Arista) J S. GAER Westward’s latest album. Wither Blister Burn & Peel. CHART RESEARCH —see page 5 Los Angeles BRIAN PARMELLY RAP SINGLE ZIV On A Blues Note TONY RUIZ Tonight’s The Night PETER FIRESTONE Cash Box this week launches what we believe will be a popular section. It's all Nashville Kris Kross GAIL FRANCESCHI about the blues and the people who make and market the music. Each installment (Ruffhouse/Columbia) MARKETING/ADVERTISING will feature notes and news about this oft-neglected segment of the business, Los Angeles reviews of current product, and most importantly a chart listing the top selling FRANK HIGGINBOTHAM JOHN RHYS blues titles. After next week’s edition, tins section will be offered every other COUNTRY SINGLE NashMIle week. Cash Box staffer John Rhys is at the helm. TED RANDALL (If Your Not...) I’m Outta.. New York —see page 15 NOEL ALBERT Shania Twain CIRCULATION (Mercury) Check Out Cash Box on The Internet at NINA TREGUB, Menager PASHA SANTOSO HTTP://CASHBOX.COM. Also featured on PRODUCTION SHARON CHAMBLISS-TRAYLOR POP ALBUM CompuServe! GENERAL COUNSEL DONALD WEISS MAN & ASSOCIATES \Abiting To Exhale Phone; (818)704-5151 Soundtrack CONTENTS PUBLICATION OFFICES LOS ANGELES (Arista) 6464 Sunset Bivd. Suite 605 , COLUMNS Hollywood, CA 90028 Phone (213)464-8241 East/West 4 R&B ALBUM Fax: (213) 464-3235 The Rhythm & The Rhyme 1 2 & 1 NASHVILLE Whiting To Exhale 50 Music Square Wfest, Suite 804 Blues Riffs 15 Nashville, TN 37203<3212 Soundtrack Phone (615)329-2898 Latin Lowdown 20 Fax (615)320-5120 (Arista) NEW YORK PO Box 2089 CHARTS Oiffside Park, NJ 07010 Phone (800) 580-6946 JAZZ ALBUM Fax: 585-9409 Top 100 Pop Singles 6 (201) Q’s Jook Joint CHICAGO Top 100 Pop Albums 8 rector, Coin Operations Quincy Jones CAMILLE COMPASIO Top 100 Urban Single 10 1442 S. 61 St. Ave (Quest) Cicero, IL 60650 Top 75 R&B Albums 12 Phone (708) 863-7440 UNITED KINGDOM Top 25 Rap Singles 13 COUNTRY ALBUM Director of Operations Top 25 Jazz Albums 14 HAL LEVY The Waman In Me 19 Parkowen, Quaker Road Top 20 Blues Albums 15 Cork, Ireland Shania Twain Phcne/Fax: 353-2131-6347 Top 15 Weekly Film Grosses 16 BRAZIL (Mercury) CHRISTOPHER PICKARD Top 40 Latin Albums 20 Est da Gavea, 611/BL.2/304 Rio de Janaro - RJ 22 610 - Brazil POSITIVE COUNTRY Top 100 Country Singles 21 Phone/Fax (55-21)322-2290 Top 75 Country Albums 23 ITALY Look VMio’s Laughing MARIO DE LUIGI "Music e Dischi" CMT Top 1 2 Video Countdown 24 Manuel Family Band Via De Amids 47 201233 Top 40 Positive Country Singles 26 Milan, Italy (Manuel Family) Phone (902)839-18-37/832-79-37 JAPAN SACHIO SAITO DEPARTMENTS 2-F Fi^ishiro-Bldg LATIN ALBUMS 4-Chome, 30-4, Shinbashi Industry News 3 Minato-ku Abriendo Puertas Tokyo, Japan 105 Pop Reviews 8 Gloria Estefan 6, Phone 03(5401)2065 Fax 03(5401)2067 Urban Reviews 11.13 (Sony) CASH BOX (ISSN 0008 7289) is pub- Jazz Reviews 14 lished weekly (except Christmas holi- days) by Cash Box , P.O. Box 2089, BLUES ALBUMS Blues Reviews 15 Cliffside Park. NJ 07010 for $180 first class. Copyright 1 995 by George Albert. Film, Video 16,17 Greatest Hits All rights reserved. Copyright under UK 19 Universal Copyright Convention. Stevie Ray Vauqhn POSTMASTER: Send address changes (Epic) Latin Reviews 20 to Cash Box, 6464 Sunset Blvd., #605, Hollywood, CA 90028. Country/Positive Country 21-26 CASH BOX FEBRUARY 17, 1996 3 Lead Story I Paul Cooper has been named vp at the MCA Mu- BMG Ent L/BA Dept. sic Entertainment Group, following a ubiquitous ten- ure at Warner Music U.S. Redo In his new job, Cooper, who reunites with MMEG several organizational changes in BMG ENTERTAINMENT has made chairman Doug Morris, will be responsible for work- its legal and business affairs department, announced Joel Schoenfeld, sr. ing closely with the senior management team and vp/GC. coordinating special projects for the music group. He Linda Rein, legal and business affairs vp, BMG Classics, and Gavina most recently was a sr. vp with WM. and prior to that Gallier, associate director, will now report directly to president Guenter served 17 years at Atlantic, starting in 1978 as national Hensler. They will continue to retain some reporting responsibilities to director of publicity and leaving the label as sr Schoenfeld. vp/West Coast gm. M Paul Brown has been named Steve Gawley has been promoted to director, legal and business vp of rock promotion at Arista Records, whete he will affairs. BMG Entertainment North America. He will report directly to now head up efforts by the rock, alternati' e, college and work closely with LaVerne Evans, recently named legal & business and AAA promotion divisions. Brown manned a simi- lar post at Elektra Entertainment since 1993 He also affairs vp. held the post of sr. director of rock promotion and held Shari Abel-Saunders was promoted to director, business affairs, a sales job at I.R.S. Also at Arista. Bill Wilson has BMG Distribution. Abel-Saunders will report directly to and work closely been promoted to assoc, dir. of product management. with Denis Kellman. BMG Distribution vp. Wilson previously was manager of product manage- Greg Irikura has been appointed associate director, BMG Entertain- Conroy ment. Andrea Ganis has been named exec vp of ment, reporting directly to Schoenfeld. promotion for Atlantic Records. Ganis. who joined “I am confident that these changes, particularly the promotions and Atlantic in 1980 as director of secondary pop promotion, most recently was new appointments, will allow us to maximize our potential as a depart- sr. vp of the company, a position she assumed in 1990. In one of her first to ment, thereby providing the best possible business and legal counsel moves in the new job, Ganis has named Dannv Buch sr. vp of promotion BMG Entertainment,” said Schoenfeld. for the company Buch joined the company in 1979 as Atlantic’s New York Rein joined BMG in 1 995 and before that was with the entertainment City pop promotion rep. In 1988, Buch was named vp of national album law firm of Grubman Indursky Schindler & Goldstein. She is a graduate promotion, and then named vp of promotion in 1992. H Mike Bernardo has of Brooklyn Law School. been promoted to vp of urban promotion at Mercury Records. She will now Gallier joined the company in 1994 as an intern while Gawley was be responsible for the daily operation of the urban promotion department, most recently associate director, legal & business affairs. Abel-Saunders including supervision of the national staff and interfacing with the label’s has been with BMG Entertainment for seven years and Irikura joins the various departments. Bernardo also will be responsible for developing company from the law firm of Shearman & Sterling. strategies and campaigns. Most recently sr. director of promotional Mercury. Bernardo came to the company from the post of vp at Uptown Records and has worked at Sony, Sultra and Merrick Distributors. H BMG Entertain- ment North America has announced a pair of appointments. Kevin Conroy has been promoted to sr. vp of marketing for the company. He has been responsible for creating alliance and marketing partnerships in an effort to expand the company’s core business assets. Along with his marketing duties, he has been involved in development of enhanced CDs. BMG Entertainment’s Grammys On Internet web site and expansion of BMG Video and BMG Television. Conroy served as vp of marketing for CBS/Fox Video from July 1991 to March 1995. Derek Ferguson has been named vp of financial reporting and analysis for the Via Apple company and will supervise BMG’s financial management reporting and financial analysis, while actively working to develop the company’s world- APPLE COMPUTER, INC. has announced it will present live, wide businesses through acquisitions and joint ventures Ferguson comes to interactive coverage of the 38th Annual Grammy Awards on the BMG from Bain & Company where he was a manager providing management Internet. consultancy services. H Eisa Markowitz has been promoted to sr. director will for The annual awards ceremony, which is telecast .to an interna- of publicity for Epic Records where she be responsible developing and implementing national publicity campaigns for the label’s roster and also tional audience of more than 1 billion viewers in over 170 countries, will explore new avenues of exposure for Epic’s artists. She has served as will now be accessible to millions more via their Apple Macintosh director of publicity at Epic since 1989 after joining the label in 1983 as an or Windows computer and Apple QuickTime Live!, Apple’s new counsel in the law virtual venue for live, interactive, online entertainment.