Hadi Elazzi
Encyclopedia
Turkey
Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...
music production - management company and record label GRGDN
GRGDN
GRGDN is a Turkish music production and artist management company as well as a record label based in Istanbul. The name of the company originates from the Turkish word gergedan which means rhinoceros....
. He is the manager of several renown Turkish artists like maNga
MaNga
Manga is a Turkish nu metal band whose music is mainly a fusion of Anatolian melodies with electronic elements. In 2009, they won both the Best Turkish Act award from MTV Turkey and consequently the Best European Act award from MTV Networks Europe in MTV Europe Music Awards 2009...
, Gripin
Gripin
Gripin is a rock band based in Istanbul, Turkey. Also Gripin is a medicine name for flu. The members are Birol , Murat , Evren , Ilker and Arda .- The beginning :...
, Göksel, emreaydın
Emre Aydin
Emre Aydın is a Turkish rock singer-songwriter. He has been referred to as emreaydın on his official site to establish a trademark. The singer won the MTV Europe Music Awards 2008 in the "Europe's Favourite Act" category. He is also the former lead singer for the Turkish rock band 6...
and Vega
Vega (band)
Vega is a Turkish alternative rock band, founded by keyboardist Gökhan Mert Koral , vocalist Deniz Özbey, and guitarist Esat Tuğrul Akyüz in 1996. Gökhan Mert Koral left the group in early 2003. They played in many Turkish festivals like Rock 'n Coke...
.
Early years
Hadi Elazzi was born into a mixed family - a Turkish mother and a LebaneseLebanon
Lebanon , officially the Republic of LebanonRepublic of Lebanon is the most common term used by Lebanese government agencies. The term Lebanese Republic, a literal translation of the official Arabic and French names that is not used in today's world. Arabic is the most common language spoken among...
father. In 1993 he was among the founders of the first university radio in Turkey
Turkey
Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...
, Boğaziçi Üniversitesi Radyosu, the radio station of Bosphorus University, which he studied at. During his university years he worked for several Turkish radio stations including Radio Contact, Metro FM, Show Radyo, Radyo 5.
After finishing university he decided to move to the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
and started attending music administration classes at the University of California Los Angeles in 1997. In the same year he started working for Sire Records
Sire Records
Sire Records is an American record label, owned by Warner Music Group and distributed through Warner Bros. Records.-Beginnings:The label was founded in 1966 as Sire Productions by Seymour Stein and Richard Gottehrer, each investing ten thousand dollars into the new company. Its early releases as a...
(Warner Music) in the marketing
Marketing
Marketing is the process used to determine what products or services may be of interest to customers, and the strategy to use in sales, communications and business development. It generates the strategy that underlies sales techniques, business communication, and business developments...
department. In 1999 he returned to Istanbul to work for Sony Music Turkey as a product manager
Product Manager
A product manager investigates, selects, and develops products for an organization, performing the activities of product management.A product manager considers numerous factors such as intended demographic, the products offered by the competition, and how well the product fits with the company's...
. After Sony, he fulfilled the role of the marketing manager of BMG Müzik Türkiye. He was also employed at DMC Müzik and Balet Plak at a later time.During his career he had worked with such artists like Gloria Estefan
Gloria Estefan
Gloria María Milagrosa Fajardo García de Estefan; known professionally as Gloria Estefan is a Cuban-born American singer, songwriter, and actress. Known as the "Queen Of Latin Pop", she is in the top 100 best selling music artists with over 100 million albums sold worldwide, 31.5 million of those...
, Ricky Martin
Ricky Martin
Enrique "Ricky" Martín Morales , better known as Ricky Martin, is a Puerto Rican and Spanish pop singer and actor who achieved prominence, first as a member of the Latin boy band Menudo, then as a solo artist since 1991.During his career he has sold more than 60 million album copies worldwide...
, Chumbawamba
Chumbawamba
Chumbawamba is a British musical group who have, over a career spanning nearly three decades, played punk rock, pop-influenced music, world music, and folk music...
, Lou Bega
Lou Bega
David Lubega , also known as Lou Bega, is a German musician of Italian and Ugandan descent, and is famous for his song "Mambo No. 5 ". This song is a remake of the Perez Prado instrumental from 1949...
, Apollo 440
Apollo 440
Apollo 440 are an English band formed in Liverpool in 1990. Apollo 440 have written, recorded and produced four albums, collaborated with and produced other artists, remixed as Apollo 440 and as ambient cinematic alter-ego Stealth Sonic Orchestra, and created music for film, television,...
, Jon Secada
Jon Secada
Jon Secada is a Cuban-American singer and songwriter. Secada was born in Havana, Cuba, and raised in Hialeah, Florida. He has won two Grammy Awards and sold 20 million albums since his English-language debut album in 1992. His music fuses funk, soul, pop and Latin percussion...
, Morcheeba
Morcheeba
Morcheeba are a British band, mixing influences from trip hop, rock, R&B, and pop.They have produced 7 albums since 1995, two of which reached the UK top ten.-Biography:...
, Steve Vai
Steve Vai
Steven Siro "Steve" Vai is a three time Grammy Award-winning American guitarist, songwriter and producer who has sold over 15 million albums. Steve Vai is widely known as a flamboyant guitar virtuoso....
or Eros Ramazotti.
GRGDN
In 2003 he founded his own company, GRGDNGRGDN
GRGDN is a Turkish music production and artist management company as well as a record label based in Istanbul. The name of the company originates from the Turkish word gergedan which means rhinoceros....
, together with his childhood friend Haluk Kurosman
Haluk Kurosman
Haluk Kurosman is a successful Turkish music producer and co-founder of GRGDN, a music production - management company and record label; producing, mixing and mastering the albums of successful young Turkish artists. Kurosman started to play the guitar at the age of 15 and had his own band,...
. While Kurosman supervises the recordings (including mixing, editing as well as songwriting), Elazzi is responsible for the management and marketing of GRGDN artists. As an independent label they published the first album of Gripin
Gripin
Gripin is a rock band based in Istanbul, Turkey. Also Gripin is a medicine name for flu. The members are Birol , Murat , Evren , Ilker and Arda .- The beginning :...
, entitled Hikayeler Anlatıldı
Hikayeler Anlatildi
Hikayeler Anlatıldı is the first album by the Turkish music group Gripin, released in 2004 by GRGDN. It was later re-released as Hikayeler Anlatıldı 2 by Sony Music/GRGDN, containing a bonus cd with the acoustic versions of the songs.-Track listing:...
. Later they joined up with Sony Music and continue publishing audio cds in cooperation with Sony.
Hadi Elazzi has become a widely-acknowledged name in the Turkish music industry, giving his name to several projects outside of his own company's. For example, he was one of the jury members of the talent competition Battle of the Bands, and recently has given advice for a music competition organized for university students, called UniStar.
Currently he is teaching music administration at the Galatasaray Communications, Technology and Music Academy.