Chris Lighty
American music manager (1968-2012)
Darrel Steven "Chris" Lighty (May 8, 1968 – August 30, 2012) was an American music manager and record producer. He co-founded Violator, a record label, management and marketing company, which represented hip hop and R&B artists such as Busta Rhymes, A Tribe Called Quest, Nas, Mobb Deep, Missy Elliott, LL Cool J, Noreaga, Prodigy, 50 Cent, Mariah Carey and Sean "Diddy" Combs. The New York Times called him "one of the most powerful figures in the hip-hop business."
Early life
Lighty was born in the Bronx, New York City, New York, and raised in the Bronx River Housing Projects. His mother was single. He had five siblings, including a brother, Dave. He attended Samuel Gompers High School, and did not attend college, and he stated that he "got [his] MBA in hell," in reference to growing up on the streets of a dangerous neighborhood.
Career
Lighty began working in the music industry by carrying vinyl record crates for DJ Red Alert. Later, Russell Simmons' company, Rush Artist Management, hired him. After leaving Rush, Lighty co-founded Violator Management with Mona Scott-Young in 1996; the company is named after the gang he belonged to in the Bronx. Violator was responsible for getting L.L. Cool J his first Gap commercial in 1997.
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This entry incorporates text from “Chris Lighty” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.