Tina Davis

Quality. That one word sits at the heart of Tina Davis’ musical passion and stewardship of Phase Too Inc. The full-service management company was well known for discovering/developing and launching the career of Grammy Award-winning, platinum-selling singer/songwriter/producer Chris Brown. 

Before establishing Los Angeles-based Phase Too, Davis began honing two of her strong suits, discovering talent and artist development, in college. Between mass communication and broadcasting studies at Grambling State University in Louisiana, Davis moonlighted as an on-air personality for local radio station KRSU. That led to an on-air stint with the syndicated show Radioscope and eventual promotion to operations manager for the L.A.-based program. Love of music came naturally for the Northern California native. As a youngster, Davis watched her father gig in their garage with his own band. 

Fast forward to 1994 and Davis is learning the publishing end of the business as a creative assistant at Chrysalis Music Publishing. Interacting with a client roster that included OutKast and Macy Gray, she also worked as an assistant at BB King’s club at L.A.’s Universal City Walk. That’s where she created the popular industry hangout R&B Live, showcasing such fledgling L.A.-bred acts as Brandy and Montell Jordan. After a year at Chrysalis, Davis was recruited to become an A&R administrator at the West Coast office of revered hip-hop label Def Jam. 

Within a year, Davis was promoted to head of Def Jam West. Charged with fortifying the label’s Westside rap connections, she worked with such artists as Warren G and XX. Then Def Jam CEO and Davis mentor Lyor Cohen offered another prime opportunity: a move to New York as the label’s VP—and later senior VP—of A&R. Over the next 10 years, Davis oversaw the careers of such newcomers and veterans as Jordan, DMX, Method Man, Red Man, and LL Cool J. During her L.A. and New York Def Jam tenures, Davis handled A&R administration for various hit soundtracks, including Rush Hour, Rush Hour II, The Nutty Professor II, Belly, and How to Be a Player. She also signed eventual multiple-Grammy-winning singer-songwriter Ne-Yo and helped develop the label’s successful R&B imprint, Def Soul. 

That innate sense propelled Davis into the management arena when she simultaneously exited Def Jam and established Phase Too in 2005 with newly signed Jive/RCA artist Brown as her first client. Davis recently was the creator and executive producer of BET’s first music competition show, The Next Big Thing, which teaches artists what it really takes to be a star.

After 29 years in music, Tina Davis is currently the vice president of A&R at EMPIRE Inc.