Keith Naftaly

Keith Phillip Naftaly (born 1962) is an American music industry executive. He is the president of A&R at RCA Records. Naftaly previously held senior A&R positions at record companies including Arista, DreamWorks Records, and Sony Music. He has worked with artists including Pentatonix, Kesha, Whitney Houston, Kelly Clarkson, Luther Vandross, Sia and Christina Aguilera.

A radio programmer prior to the start of his label career, Naftaly introduced hip hop to a mainstream audience in the mid-80s, creating the "first multi-cultural pop radio station" as the program director of San Francisco's KMEL.

Early life

Naftaly was born in San Francisco and grew up in the Miraloma Park neighborhood. His father, Stanley Naftaly, was a chemist. His mother, Bryna, was a community activist, and advocated for the desegregation of schools. Naftaly began attending a majority black school in Hunters Point. Although Naftaly studied classical piano as a child, he also took interest in popular music, especially R&B played on local radio station KDIA.

After graduating from Lowell High School in 1980, Naftaly attended the University of California, Berkeley and briefly worked for student station KALX.

Career

While a student at UC Berkeley, Naftaly took a night shift job answering request lines at San Francisco top-40 station KFRC after dissatisfaction with KALX. Naftaly also explored the workings of KFRC's music department and made connections with record promoters. He eventually dropped out of college to produce KFRC's morning show with Don Rose.