Harve Pierre

Location:
Brooklyn, New York, US
Type:
Artist / Band / Musician
Genre:
Hip Hop / R&B / Pop
Site(s):
Label:
Bad Boy Records
Type:
Major
“Can’t stop, won’t stop.” As P.Diddy’s right hand man, Harve Pierre has lived by this mantra since his introduction to the music game years ago. Born in the East New York section of Brooklyn, but raised in Queens, Harve grew up in a neighborhood which, at the time, was inhabited by hip-hop greats such as the Fat Boys, LL Cool J, Run DMC and Salt N Pepa, just to name a few. With such a heavy hip-hop presence right in his back yard, it was only a matter of time before Harve himself became enamored by rap and, thus, began his love affair with music. Famed DJ Clark Kent took him under his wing and introduced him to the music industry as a teenager. Jermaine Dupri was the first super producer to believe in Harve’s talent as he recorded a song for his group’s demo before the world even knew of Kris Kross. With the help of Kevin Maxwell, Tommy Boy A&R, and Patrick Moxey, Gang Starr’s manager at the time, Harve was able to secure a publishing deal with MCA which eventually led to a record deal with Pay Day/Polygram Records which was also the home of female rap group Salt N Pepa.



The name of the group was Stixx and Stones, a conglomerate of Nasheim Myrick, Dave Crockett, and Harve Pierre. Harve temporarily postponed his musical aspirations to pursue a higher education at Howard University, but it wasn’t long before his love and passion for music beckoned. During his freshman year, Harve hooked up with dorm mate and fellow New Yorker, Derrick “D-Dot” Angellietie, who shared the same burning desire for music. By the time his sophomore year rolled around, Harve and D-Dot met up with another New Yorker with a fondness for music, Sean “Puffy” Combs. Together, and separately, they began promoting parties on Howard’s campus. While Puff trekked his way back and forth from DC to New York for his infamous internship turned job at Uptown Records, Harve stayed at Howard University and graduated with a degree in Business and Hospitality Management. Post graduation, Harve put his degree to use and went to work as a manager at the Grand Hyatt Grand Central Station in the heart of New York City. In addition to his job at the hotel, Harve opened up a restaurant in Brooklyn and ran it for a year and a half. But once again, music beckoned and in 1992, Harve humbly embarked upon his career in the music industry as an intern for his college buddy, Puffy, who had climbed the ranks to VP of A&R at Uptown Records. As an intern, Harve worked as production coordinator setting up the studio session for Mary J. Blige and Jodeci’s first albums and attended all sessions. When Puffy was notoriously fired from his post at Uptown Records, Harve joined him at his newly created Bad Boy Entertainment which, at the time of its inception, was headquartered at Puffy’s Scarsdale, NY home. Puff quickly acquired Craig Mack and the Notorious BIG for his Bad Boy roster; forcing a need for a home studio. Harve suggested long time childhood friend, Nasheim Myrick. Nasheim came to the house one day and never left. He eventually became the first of the “hitmen” producers that Puffy signed to start the Bad Boy sound. Along with other producers, Bad Boy began to crank out the inaugural hits that took the music industry by storm and laid the foundation for building Bad Boy Records, a record company that quickly became THE premiere label, leading at the forefront of the industry. In 1993, Harve was promoted to the position of Director of A&R, where he oversaw the album production of Craig Mack’s “Funk Da World”, and the immaculate debut album by the late, great Notorious BIG, “Ready to Die”, an album that was instantly deemed a classic in hip-hop. Harve left Bad Boy in 1995 to broaden his experience in the music industry and became the Associate Director of Black Music at RCA Records, which would provide more learning for him being that RCA was a major label. With one promotion offering after another as he exited the door, and holding two platinum SWV albums and one gold album each for artists Shawnte Savage and Rome, under his belt; Harve returned back to Bad Boy Entertainment, his first home, shortly after the untimely death of the Notorious BIG. Not only did he have the knowledge that he was looking to gain, he had the illuminating passion that would drive him to head the A&R dept as the new Vice President.



In 2002, Harve Pierre was cast on to the hit TV show Making the Band 2 for two seasons after Bad Boy inked a deal with MTV. This hit reality series brought Harve in to the homes of millions of viewers weekly as they tuned in for the trendy and pioneering hip reality show.



In 2003, while at Bad Boy, Method Man and Kevin Liles took notice of Harve Pierre’s ability to make a hit album and solicited his A&R skills to A&R his album “Tical 0: The Prequel” after his five year hiatus. This would be the album that would catapult Method Man back on to the charts having sold over 500,000 units.



Today, nearly five years later, Bad Boy Worldwide Entertainment Group (BBWEG) is one of the world's pre-eminent urban entertainment companies, encompassing a broad range of business including recording, music publishing, artist management, television and film production, recording facility, marketing and advertising, apparel and restaurants. With a collection of businesses whose annual sales are quickly approaching $300 million and an employee base that is 600 strong, Bad Boy Entertainment Group has grown into one of the most premier record labels of the 21st century. Harve Pierre was the Executive VP/General Manager/VP of A&R, and with Mr. Combs, is largely responsible for the pop appeal of urban entertainment. In just eight years, founder and CEO Sean "Diddy" Combs and Harve Pierre have forever changed the entertainment industry by catapulting the music and style of urban youth culture into the American mainstream and creating what is considered by experts to be one of the most important forces in entertainment today.



In addition to recently receiving a lifetime ownership stake in Bad Boy, the company that he has been with from day one; Harve Pierre has also been promoted the PRESIDENT of Bad Boy Entertainment. He will also be able to start building his Crazy Joint imprint to be distributed by Bad Boy / Atlantic Records May 2008.



Harve is also chairman and CEO of his own company Crazy Joint Entertainment & Harve Pierre Publishing.
0.02 follow us on Twitter      Contact      Privacy Policy      Terms of Service
Copyright © BANDMINE // All Right Reserved
Return to top