Steve Popovich was an American record company executive.

Popovich was born in Nemacolin, Pennsylvania

Nemacolin, Pennsylvania

Nemacolin is a census-designated place in Greene County, Pennsylvania, United States founded as a company town around the workings of a YS&T company owned and operated coal mine in 1917 and named for a legendary Amerindian ally Chief Nemacolin, who showed the Virginia settlers how to cross the...

, and in 1962 started in the warehouse at Columbia Records

Columbia Records

Columbia Records is an American record label, owned by Japan's Sony Music Entertainment, operating under the Columbia Music Group with Aware Records. It was founded in 1888, evolving from an earlier enterprise, the American Graphophone Company — successor to the Volta Graphophone Company...

 Cleveland

1962-1969 Columbia Records Cleveland - Inventory control

Inventory control

Inventory control is the supervision of supply, storage and accessibility of items in order to ensure an adequate supply without excessive oversupply....

, sales desk, local Cleveland sales and radio and TV promotion. Main artists promoted were The Buckinghams

The Buckinghams

The Buckinghams are an American Sunshine Pop band from Chicago, Illinois. They formed in 1966 and went on to become one of the top selling acts of 1967. The band dissolved in 1970 but reformed in 1980 and continue to tour throughout the United States....

, Blood, Sweat & Tears

Blood, Sweat & Tears

Blood, Sweat & Tears is an American music group, originally formed in 1967 in New York City. Since its beginnings in 1967, the band has gone through numerous iterations with varying personnel and has encompassed a multitude of musical styles...

, Billy Joe Royal

Billy Joe Royal

Billy Joe Royal is an American singer.-Biography:Born in Valdosta and raised in Marietta in 1942, Royal became a local star at Savannah, Georgia's Bamboo Ranch in the 1950s and 1960s...

, Johnny Cash

Johnny Cash

John R. "Johnny" Cash was an American singer-songwriter, actor, and author, who has been called one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century...

, Paul Revere & the Raiders

Paul Revere & the Raiders

Paul Revere & the Raiders is an American rock band that saw considerable U.S. mainstream success in the second half of the 1960s and early 1970s with hits such as "Kicks" , "Hungry" , "Him Or Me - What's It Gonna Be?" and the 1971 No...

, Simon & Garfunkel

Simon and Garfunkel

Simon & Garfunkel are an American duo consisting of singer-songwriter Paul Simon and singer Art Garfunkel. They formed the group Tom & Jerry in 1957 and had their first success with the minor hit "Hey, Schoolgirl". As Simon & Garfunkel, the duo rose to fame in 1965, largely on the strength of the...

, etc.

1969-1972 Assistant to Ron Alexenburg, Director of Promotion Columbia Records.

1972-1974 at age 26 First VP of Columbia Records promotion and youngest VP at CBS. Appointed by Clive Davis

Clive Davis

Clive Davis is an American record producer and music industry executive. He has won five Grammy Awards and is a member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a non-performer. From 1967 to 1973 he was the President of Columbia Records. He was the founder and president of Arista Records from 1975...

. As VP Promotion his local and regional staff worked to maximize the careers of The Buckinghams

The Buckinghams

The Buckinghams are an American Sunshine Pop band from Chicago, Illinois. They formed in 1966 and went on to become one of the top selling acts of 1967. The band dissolved in 1970 but reformed in 1980 and continue to tour throughout the United States....

, Loggins & Messina

Loggins and Messina

Loggins and Messina are an American rock-pop duo consisting of Kenny Loggins and Jim Messina who achieved their success in the early to mid 1970s...

, Jerry Vale

Jerry Vale

Jerry Vale is an American singer.-Career:In high school, in order to make some money, he took a job shining shoes in a barbershop in New York City. He sang while he shined shoes, and his boss liked the sound so well that he paid for music lessons for the boy...

, O.C. Smith

O. C. Smith

O.C. Smith was an American musician. His recording of "Little Green Apples", which went to number 2 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1968, also sold over one million records.-Biography:...

, Dr. Hook & Medicine Show, Shel Silverstein

Shel Silverstein

Sheldon Allan "Shel" Silverstein , was an American poet, singer-songwriter, musician, composer, cartoonist, screenwriter and author of children's books. He styled himself as Uncle Shelby in his children's books...

, Boz Scaggs

Boz Scaggs

William Royce "Boz" Scaggs is an American singer, songwriter and guitarist. He gained fame in the 1970s with several Top 20 hit singles in the United States, along with the #2 album, Silk Degrees. Scaggs continues to write, record music and tour.-Early life and career:Scaggs was born in Canton,...

, Paul Revere & the Raiders, Bob Dylan

Bob Dylan

Bob Dylan is an American singer-songwriter, musician, poet, film director and painter. He has been a major and profoundly influential figure in popular music and culture for five decades. Much of his most celebrated work dates from the 1960s when he was an informal chronicler and a seemingly...

, Bruce Springsteen

Bruce Springsteen

Bruce Frederick Joseph Springsteen , nicknamed "The Boss," is an American singer-songwriter who records and tours with the E Street Band...

, Santana, Janis Joplin

Janis Joplin

Janis Lyn Joplin was an American singer, songwriter, painter, dancer and music arranger. She rose to prominence in the late 1960s as the lead singer of Big Brother and the Holding Company and later as a solo artist with her backing groups, The Kozmic Blues Band and The Full Tilt Boogie Band...

, Johnny Cash, Marty Robbins

Marty Robbins

Martin David Robinson , known professionally as Marty Robbins, was an American singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist...

, Lynn Anderson

Lynn Anderson

Lynn Rene Anderson is an American country music singer and equestrian known for a string of hits throughout the 1970s and early 1980s, most notably her Grammy Award-winning, worldwide mega-hit, " Rose Garden." Helped by her regular exposure on national television, Anderson was one of the most...

, Tom Rush

Tom Rush

Tom Rush is an American folk and blues singer, songwriter, musician and recording artist.- Life and career :Rush was born in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. His father was a teacher at St. Paul's School, in Concord, New Hampshire. Tom began performing in 1961 while studying at Harvard University after...

, David Bromberg

David Bromberg

David Bromberg is an American multi-instrumentalist, singer, and songwriter. Bromberg has an eclectic style, playing bluegrass, blues, folk, jazz, country and western, and rock and roll equally well. He is known for his quirky, humorous lyrics, and the ability to play rhythm and lead guitar at the...

, New York Rock Ensemble, Dave Mason

Dave Mason

David Thomas "Dave" Mason is an English singer, songwriter, and guitarist from Worcester, who first found fame with the rock band Traffic...

, West Bruce Laing, Mahavishnu Orchestra

The Mahavishnu Orchestra

The Mahavishnu Orchestra was a jazz fusion group, led by John McLaughlin, that debuted in 1971, dissolved in 1976 and reunited from 1984 to 1987.-First Mahavishnu Orchestra:...

, It's A Beautiful Day, New Riders of the Purple Sage

New Riders of the Purple Sage

New Riders of the Purple Sage is an American country rock band. The group emerged from the psychedelic rock scene in San Francisco, California in 1969, and its original lineup included several members of the Grateful Dead. Their best known song is "Panama Red"...

, Johnny Mathis

Johnny Mathis

John Royce "Johnny" Mathis is an American singer of popular music. Starting his career with singles of standards, he became highly popular as an album artist, with several dozen of his albums achieving gold or platinum status, and 73 making the Billboard charts...

, Chicago, Percy Faith

Percy Faith

Percy Faith was a Canadian-born American bandleader, orchestrator, composer and conductor, known for his lush arrangements of pop and Christmas standards. He is often credited with creating the "easy listening" or "mood music" format which became staples of American popular music in the 1950s and...

, Tony Bennett

Tony Bennett

Tony Bennett is an American singer of popular music, standards, show tunes, and jazz....

, Peter Nero

Peter Nero

Peter Nero is an American pianist and pops conductor.-Early life:Born in Brooklyn, New York, As Bernard Nierow, Nero started his formal music training at the age of seven. He studied piano under Frederick Bried...

, Earth, Wind & Fire

Earth, Wind & Fire

Earth, Wind & Fire is an American soul and R&B band formed in Chicago, Illinois, in 1969 by Verdine and Maurice White. Also known as EWF, the band has won six Grammy Awards and four American Music Awards. They have been inducted into both the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and the Vocal Group Hall of...

, Taj Mahal

Taj Mahal (musician)

Henry Saint Clair Fredericks , who uses the stage name Taj Mahal, is an American Grammy Award winning blues musician. He incorporates elements of world music into his music...

, The Manhattans

The Manhattans

The Manhattans are an American popular R&B vocal group, with a string of hit records spanning four decades. Their best known million-selling songs being "Kiss and Say Goodbye" and 'Shining Star' in 1980...

, The Wombles

The Wombles

The Wombles are fictional pointy-nosed, furry creatures that live in burrows, where they help the environment by collecting and recycling rubbish in useful and ingenious ways. Wombles were created by author Elisabeth Beresford, originally appearing in a series of children's novels from 1968...

, Mark Lindsay

Mark Lindsay

Mark Lindsay is an American musician, best known as the singer for the group Paul Revere & the Raiders.-Biography:Lindsay was born in Eugene, Oregon and was the second of eight children...

, Tony Bennett

Tony Bennett

Tony Bennett is an American singer of popular music, standards, show tunes, and jazz....

, Eric Andersen

Eric Andersen

Eric Andersen is an American singer-songwriter.-Biography:In the early 1960s, Eric Andersen was part of the Greenwich Village folk scene in New York...

, Andy Williams

Andy Williams

Howard Andrew "Andy" Williams is an American singer who has recorded 18 Gold- and three Platinum-certified albums. He hosted The Andy Williams Show, a TV variety show, from 1962 to 1971, as well as numerous television specials, and owns his own theater, the Moon River Theatre in Branson, Missouri,...

, Ray Coniff, David Essex

David Essex

David Essex OBE is an English musician, singer-songwriter and actor. Since the 1970s, Essex has attained nineteen Top 40 singles in the UK , and sixteen Top 40 albums...

, Chambers Brothers

The Chambers Brothers

The Chambers Brothers is a soul-music group, best known for its 1968 hit record, the 11-minute long song "Time Has Come Today". The group was part of the wave of new music that integrated American blues and gospel traditions with modern psychedelic and rock elements, spawning a heady mix...

, Miles Davis

Miles Davis

Miles Dewey Davis III was an American jazz musician, trumpeter, bandleader, and composer. Widely considered one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century, Miles Davis was, with his musical groups, at the forefront of several major developments in jazz music, including bebop, cool jazz,...

, Mott the Hoople

Mott the Hoople

Mott the Hoople were a British rock band with strong R&B roots, popular in the glam rock era of the early to mid 1970s. They are popularly known for the song "All the Young Dudes", written for them by David Bowie and appearing on their 1972 album of the same name.-The early years:Mott The Hoople...

, Johnny Winter

Johnny Winter

John Dawson "Johnny" Winter III is an American blues guitarist, singer, and producer. Best known for his late 1960s and 1970s high-energy blues-rock albums and live performances, Winter also produced three Grammy Award-winning albums for blues legend Muddy Waters...

 and others.

Promotion Awards: National Promotion Man of the Year 1972-1973 Billboard Magazine as voted by radio.

Clive Davis Award presented to Steve Popovich and Ron Alexenburg for Promotion Excellence.

1974-1976 VP A&R Epic Records working with Epic head, Ron Alexenburg

1974-1976 Epic A&R – Popovich and Alexenburg, and their A&R staff consisting of Greg Geller, Tom Werman, John Boylan, Becky Mancuso-Winding, etc. were instrumental in signing and launching the careers of: Jaco Pastorious, Boston

Boston (band)

Boston is an American rock band from Boston, Massachusetts that achieved its most notable successes during the 1970s and 1980s. Centered on guitarist, keyboardist, songwriter, and producer Tom Scholz, the band is a staple of classic rock radio playlists...

, Cheap Trick

Cheap Trick

Cheap Trick is an American rock band from Rockford, Illinois, formed in 1973. The band consists of members Robin Zander , Rick Nielsen , Tom Petersson , and Bun E...

, Ted Nugent

Ted Nugent

Theodore Anthony "Ted" Nugent is an American guitarist, musician, singer, author, reserve police officer, and activist. From Detroit, Michigan, he originally gained fame as the lead guitarist of The Amboy Dukes, before embarking on a lengthy solo career...

, Wild Cherry, Suzy and the Red Stripes, Southside Johnny & The Asbury Jukes

Southside Johnny & The Asbury Jukes

Southside Johnny & The Asbury Jukes are a Jersey Shore musical group led by Southside Johnny. They have been recording albums since 1976 and are closely associated with Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band. They have recorded and/or performed several Springsteen songs, including "The Fever" and...

, Betty LaVette, ke, Doc Severensen, Joe Tex

Joe Tex

Joseph Arrington, Jr. , better known as "Joe Tex", was an American Southern soul singer-songwriter, most popular during the 1960s and 1970s...

, Dave Loggins

Dave Loggins

David Allen "Dave" Loggins is a singer, songwriter and musician. He is widely remembered for his 1974 composition "Please Come to Boston", which was a top-10 hit in the U.S. for him, and was subsequently covered by numerous other artists. He was inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame...

, Michael Murphy, Charlie Rich

Charlie Rich

Charles Rich was an American country music singer and musician. A Grammy Award winner, his eclectic-style of music was often hard to classify in a single genre, playing in the rockabilly, jazz, blues, country, and gospel genres.In the latter part of his life, Rich acquired the nickname The Silver...

, The Soul Children and others.

1977-1982 Founder and President of Cleveland International Records

Cleveland International Records

Cleveland International Records is an independent record label formed in 1977 by Steve Popovich. One of the first albums the label released was 1977's Bat Out of Hell by Jim Steinman and Meat Loaf which has sold over 40 million copies worldwide. They have also released recordings by B.J...

 whose greatest claim to fame was Meat Loaf

Meat Loaf

Michael Lee Aday , better known by his stage name, Meat Loaf, is an American hard rock musician and actor...

's Bat Out of Hell

Bat out of Hell

Bat Out of Hell is the second album by American rock musician Meat Loaf, and his first collaboration with composer Jim Steinman, released in October 1977 on Cleveland International/Epic Records #PE-34974. Selling approximately 200,000 copies per year as of 2010, it is the fifth best-selling album...

currently at 40 million records worldwide. The label also found worldwide success with Jim Steinman

Jim Steinman

James Richard "Jim" Steinman is an American composer, lyricist, and Grammy Award-winning record producer responsible for several hit songs. He has also worked as an arranger, pianist, and singer...

’s solo album Bad for Good

Bad for Good

On the original vinyl release, "The Storm" and "Rock And Roll Dreams Come Through" were the A-side and B-side, respectively, of a 33-rpm 7" single, enclosed with the album. These tracks, according to Steinman's concept, are supposed to be the prelude and epilogue, respectively, of the album. The...

, Ellen Foley

Ellen Foley

Ellen Foley is an American singer and actress, who has appeared on Broadway and television, where she co-starred in the sitcom Night Court. In music, she has released three solo albums but is best known for her collaborations with the singer Meat Loaf.- Early life and career :Foley was born in St....

 Night Out album, BJ Thomas, The Rovers, Michael Kamen

Michael Kamen

Michael Arnold Kamen was an American composer , orchestral arranger, orchestral conductor, song writer, and session musician.-Background:...

/Dick Wagner, Slim Whitman

Slim Whitman

Ottis Dewey Whitman, Jr. , known professionally as Slim Whitman, is an American country music singer and songwriter, known for his yodelling abilities. He has sold in excess of 120 million albums in unit sales and has had numerous successful recordings...

, the Boyzz Too Wild to Tame, Eddie Middleton. Management and/production of Ian Hunter

Ian Hunter (singer)

Ian Hunter Patterson is an English singer-songwriter. He was the lead singer of the English rock band Mott the Hoople from its inception in 1969 to its dissolution in 1974, and he again fronted them at the time of their 2009 reunion. Hunter was a musician and songwriter before Mott The Hoople, and...

/Mick Ronson

Mick Ronson

Michael "Mick" Ronson was an English guitarist, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, arranger and producer. He is best known for his work with David Bowie, as one of The Spiders from Mars...

 and production of Tom Jones

Tom Jones (singer)

Sir Thomas John Woodward, OBE , known by his stage name Tom Jones, is a Welsh singer.Since the mid 1960s, Jones has sung many styles of popular music – pop, rock, R&B, show tunes, country, dance, techno, soul and gospel – and sold over 100 million records...

, The Iron City Houserockers, Southside Johnny & The Asbury Jukes

Southside Johnny & The Asbury Jukes

Southside Johnny & The Asbury Jukes are a Jersey Shore musical group led by Southside Johnny. They have been recording albums since 1976 and are closely associated with Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band. They have recorded and/or performed several Springsteen songs, including "The Fever" and...

 and Ronnie Spector

Ronnie Spector

Veronica Yvette "Ronnie" Spector is an American rock and roll and popular music vocalist, and was the lead singer of the 1960s hit-making girl group, The Ronettes, who were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2007. She is known as the "original bad girl of rock and roll."-Personal...

. The company’s first single was in 1977 featuring "Say Goodbye to Hollywood", Ronnie Spector

Ronnie Spector

Veronica Yvette "Ronnie" Spector is an American rock and roll and popular music vocalist, and was the lead singer of the 1960s hit-making girl group, The Ronettes, who were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2007. She is known as the "original bad girl of rock and roll."-Personal...

 & The E Street Band produced by Miami Steve Van Zandt.

1986 SR Vice President Polygram Nashville working with Statler Brothers, Tom T. Hall, and Kathy Mattea and signing Johnny Cash

Johnny Cash

John R. "Johnny" Cash was an American singer-songwriter, actor, and author, who has been called one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century...

, Kris Kristofferson

Kris Kristofferson

Kristoffer "Kris" Kristofferson is an American musician, actor, and writer. He is known for hits such as "Me and Bobby McGee", "For the Good Times", "Sunday Mornin' Comin' Down", and "Help Me Make It Through the Night"...

, Johnny Paycheck

Johnny Paycheck

Johnny Paycheck was the legal name of Donald Eugene Lytle , a country music singer and Grand Ole Opry member most famous for recording the David Allan Coe song "Take This Job and Shove It"...

, Frank Yankovic (winner of First Polka Grammy 1986), Wayne Toups & Zydecajun, Donna Fargo, David Lynn Jones, Everly Brothers, and special projects like The Class of ’55 Album featuring Johnny Cash

Johnny Cash

John R. "Johnny" Cash was an American singer-songwriter, actor, and author, who has been called one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century...

, Roy Orbison

Roy Orbison

Roy Kelton Orbison was an American singer-songwriter, well known for his distinctive, powerful voice, complex compositions, and dark emotional ballads. Orbison grew up in Texas and began singing in a rockabilly/country & western band in high school until he was signed by Sun Records in Memphis...

, Jerry Lee Lewis

Jerry Lee Lewis

Jerry Lee Lewis is an American rock and roll and country music singer-songwriter and pianist. An early pioneer of rock and roll music, Lewis's career faltered after he married his young cousin, and he afterwards made a career extension to country and western music. He is known by the nickname 'The...

 and Carl Perkins

Carl Perkins

Carl Lee Perkins was an American rockabilly musician who recorded most notably at Sun Records Studio in Memphis, Tennessee, beginning during 1954...

.

1995–2011: Cleveland International Records: David Allan Coe, Frank Yankovic, Brave Combo, Eddie Blazonczyk, Singing Nuns, Chas & Dave, Michael Learns to Rock, and Roger Martin.

Popovich has been involved as co-producer and/or label in six Grammy nominations and winner of two.

In 1997 Popovich was inducted into the National Cleveland-Style polka Hall of Fame.

Steve Popovich is also a founding member of the Hit Parade Hall of Fame.