Stephen
Sholes

As a high-level recording executive, Stephen Henry Sholes helped to shepherd country music’s commercial growth in the years following World War II.

Starting at the Bottom

Sholes’ journey at RCA began in 1929 in Camden, New Jersey. He started as a messenger at the company’s plant, balancing his work with part-time studies at Rutgers University.

In 1935, he joined RCA’s radio department, but his experience playing saxophone and clarinet in regional dance bands soon landed him a sales position in the record department. Under the guidance of senior executives Eli Oberstein and Frank Walker, he assisted in producing a diverse range of acts mainly in New York, Chicago, and Atlanta. During the war, Sholes worked in the Army’s V-disc operation, making recordings for radio broadcasts and personal listening by soldiers.

A Rapid Ascension to the Top

In 1945, Sholes became head of both country and R&B recording for RCA. He signed or developed country artists Chet Atkins, Eddy Arnold, the Browns, Hank Locklin, Homer & Jethro, Hank Snow, Jim Reeves, and Pee Wee King. At various points in his RCA career, Sholes also recorded jazz artists such as Jelly Roll Morton, Earl Hines, and Dizzy Gillespie.

Making Nashville Music City

Sholes, along with other producers, played a pivotal role in transforming Nashville into a music industry center. He championed the use of local studios, eventually convincing RCA to rent a newly built studio on Seventeenth Avenue South in 1957, which allowed the label to schedule sessions for its artists and lease the facility to other labels when it wasn’t being utilized by their roster.

The Rock & Roll Revolution

Sholes’s signing of Elvis Presley in 1955 was a seminal event in the international rock & roll revolution. As Presley’s sales skyrocketed and other Sholes-produced acts gained hits, the rising executive became the company’s pop singles manager in 1957, pop singles and albums manager in 1958, and West Coast manager in 1961. Sholes moved to Los Angeles in the latter role and supervised recording, administration, sales, and marketing activities. Sholes installed his former production assistant Chet Atkins to run RCA’s Nashville operation in 1955 but continued supervising Presley’s recordings there and elsewhere. Sholes became RCA Records’ vice president for pop A&R in 1963 and returned to New York.

During the 1960s Sholes served on the Country Music Association (CMA) and Country Music Foundation (CMF) boards of directors. He died during a visit to Nashville only a year after the opening of the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum, which he and fellow CMA leaders had worked hard to establish.

–John Rumble

– Adapted from the Country Music Hall of Fame® and Museum’s Encyclopedia of Country Music, published by Oxford University Press.