Stephen H. Sholes

Stephen Henry Sholes (February 12, 1911 – April 22, 1968) was a prominent recording executive with RCA Victor.

Career

Sholes was born in Washington, D.C. and moved with is family to Merchantville, New Jersey, at the age of nine, near where his father worked in the Victor Talking Machine Company plant in Camden. Sholes started work at Victor as a messenger boy in 1929 and worked part-time for the firm while a student at Rutgers University.

Scholes worked for a time in RCA Victor's radio division, but his experience playing saxophone and clarinet in dance bands led him to the record division. During World War II, he worked in the Army's V-disc operation, which made records for radio broadcast and for personal use by army personnel.

In 1945, he became head of the country division in Nashville, Tennessee and was responsible for recruiting such talent as Chet Atkins for RCA Victor. When he left Nashville, Atkins took over as head of the country music division. He also recruited Eddy Arnold, The Browns, Hank Locklin, Homer and Jethro, Hank Snow, Jim Reeves, and Pee Wee King. In 1955, he signed Elvis Presley for RCA Victor. He eventually had fifteen chart topping hit singles in the UK as a record producer for Presley. In 1982 he reached fourth place on the list of most successful record producers on the UK charts.