Lucian Grainge

Sir Lucian Charles Grainge (born 29 February 1960) is a British record executive and music businessman who has served as the chairman and chief executive officer (CEO) of Universal Music Group since 2010.

Born to Jeanette and Cecil Grainge (born Sasha Goldstein), a Jewish designer who contributed to the global fashion scene of the 1960s by creating attire for the Beatles.

He grew up in a Jewish family in North London.

Beginning as an A&R staffer in the late 1970s, Grainge has worked in the music industry his entire career.

Grainge left Queen Elizabeth's Grammar School for Boys at the age of 18, and began working as a runner at MPC, a talent scout company in 1978.

After contacting several record label bosses, he was offered a job by Maurice Oberstein, chairman of CBS Records, working at publishing company April Music's A&R department.

His first signing was The Psychedelic Furs.

In 1982, he became the director of RCA Music Publishing.

Two years later he became an A&R director for MCA Records.

He set up PolyGram Music Publishing in 1986 and joined Polydor as general manager of A&R and business affairs in 1993.

In 1993, Grainge's first wife, Samantha Berg, experienced complications while giving birth to their son Elliot, and fell into a coma from which she never recovered.

He was promoted to managing director of Polydor in 1997.

Their daughter Alice was born in 2001.

They also have a daughter, Betsy.

In 2002, Grainge married his second wife, Caroline.

Grainge became the chairman of the UK division of the Universal Music Group, and then in 2005 of Universal Music Group International.

She died in England in 2007.

Elliot Grainge is founder and CEO of independent record label 10K Projects.

Billboard magazine named Grainge as the most powerful person in the music business on four occasions in the 2010s, and was named the inaugural Executive of the Decade in 2020.

He served in this position until 2010.

On 1 January 2011 he became CEO of Universal Music Group, and then chairman on 9 March 2011, succeeding Doug Morris.

Within his first year as chairman & CEO of Universal, the company acquired EMI's Recorded Music operations.

Grainge argued that selling to Universal was the only way to improve EMI, for the benefit of the entire industry.

UMG subsequently attempted to revitalise former EMI labels including Capitol Records and Virgin Records.

Commenting on the EMI acquisition, BuzzFeed commented that "Grainge will go down as the master architect of what is likely to be the last big deal in the music business".

As chairman and Chief Executive of Universal, Grainge has also sought to increase the group's international digital expansion via distribution partnerships with technology companies, including Apple, Spotify, Facebook, Tencent, and YouTube.

In November 2012 Grainge and his wife reportedly paid US$13 million for a house in Pacific Palisades.

They had previously leased a Brentwood home from the owner of Rhino Entertainment.

In 2015, Vivendi announced that Grainge had agreed to extend his tenure as UMG's chairman and CEO until at least 2020, stating he was key to its strategy.

Under his management, UMG experienced growth in annual revenue, digital recorded music revenue and EBITDA.

Grainge successfully floated UMG into its IPO in 2021.

Grainge led the 2017 multi-year global license agreement between UMG and Spotify.

Grainge led the acquisition of Bravado, then part of Sanctuary, and transformed it into UMG's entertainment merchandising and brand management division, Bravado.

The company represents artists including Justin Bieber, Lady Gaga, and Kanye West, and has formed partnerships with retailers including Barneys, Bloomingdale's and Selfridge's.

Grainge also oversaw the expansion of classical labels Deutsche Grammophon and Decca Classics, and agreed a global strategic partnership with entertainment company Live Nation.

In 2017, UMG was worth $22 billion, triple what it was worth when Grainge took over at the company.

In July 2018, JPMorgan said that UMG could be worth as much as $40 billion and then increased the valuation to $50 billion in 2019.

In March 2020, Grainge was admitted to intensive care for a month in Los Angeles after contracting COVID-19, subsequently fully recovering.

His older brother was Nigel Grainge, the founder of Ensign Records.

In February 2024, Grainge was named as a defendant in sexual harassment and assault lawsuit which music producer Rodney "Lil Rod" Jones filed against Sean Combs, who is well known as Diddy.