Sony Music has announced the appointment of Tris Penna, most recently MD for Andrew Lloyd Webber's Really Useful Records, as A&R Director for its Epic UK division. He'll report to Epic UK boss Nick Raphael, and work alongside the label's existing A&R head Jo Charrington. Prior to working for Really Useful, Penna spent a decade at EMI, and prior to that worked for Polygram and publishers Chappell Music.
Confirming the appointment, Nick Raphael told CMU: "We are delighted to have hired a creative executive whose career includes working with artists as diverse as Blur, Pet Shop Boys, Marc Almond, Dusty Springfield, Vanessa Mae and Andrew Lloyd Webber. His skills across all areas of music built up over the last 30 years working for publishers, record companies, and most recently, The Really Useful Group will be a great new asset for Epic and Sony Music".
Lloyd Webber also had some nice things to say about his departing MD, something along the lines of: "Tris Penna has been a wonderful friend and loyal colleague at the Really Useful Group where we have enjoyed many successes together. We shall all miss him but we wish him the very best in his new role (and hope we can still take part in his fabulous pop quizzes)".