Oseary

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Guy Oseary

Head of Artists & Repertoire

Maverick Records

Age: 24

Guy Oseary talked his way to a top job in the record business.

As the chief talent scout for Madonna’s Maverick Records, Oseary is the man responsible for finding and signing acts that will top the charts. His ascension to such an important post while still in his early 20s is a testament to the fact that ambition still goes a long way in Hollywood.

As a teen-ager, Oseary says he knew he wanted to work in the entertainment business. Although he lived with his father in a small apartment in West Hollywood, Oseary says he used a fake address to gain admission to Beverly Hills High School a better school to make show biz connections.

“I knew that I wanted to be in entertainment from an early age, and the only connections I had to it were my friends’ parents,” he says. “That’s how I started, talking to everyone I could.”

One of those he contacted early on was Freddy DeMann who had, at the time, just been put in charge of developing Madonna’s new label.

After Oseary graduated from high school, DeMann gave him some entry-level work. But later, when DeMann wasn’t impressed with any of the candidates to head the Artists and Repertoire division, he approached Oseary who was 20 at the time.

Oseary has been credited with some of Maverick’s biggest successes to date including Alanis Morissette and the bands Candlebox and Prodigy.

“I knew I would make it,” he says. “It was just a matter of how. I’ve been very fortunate to get where I am, and I don’t forget that.”

His success signing these bands has accounted for hundreds of millions of dollars in record sales for Maverick, a spokesman says. Morissette alone has sold some 25 million albums worldwide to date.

This was among the reasons Madonna named Oseary a partner at the label last month.

“It’s an amazing story in a short time, he’s really skyrocketed in this industry,” says John Branca, an entertainment attorney with Ziffren Brittenham Branca & Fischer. “He’s always got his face out there, always meeting new people, and has instincts to go really far. With that kind of determination, and at his age, who knows how far he’ll go.”

Joe Bel Bruno

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