Coran Capshaw, the founder of Red Light Management, the world's largest independent artist management company, will receive City of Hope's 2017 Spirit of Life award. The medical and scientific research and treatment center announced Monday (April 24) that its Music, Film and Entertainment Industry Group will present the award -- which recognizes a leader whose work has fundamentally impacted the music, film or entertainment industries -- to Capshaw at its annual gala dinner on Nov. 2 in Los Angeles.
“City of Hope is proud to recognize Coran with its highest honor, the Spirit of Life award,” said Robert W. Stone, president and chief executive officer of City of Hope. "We deeply appreciate Coran’s commitment to our mission and focus on providing cutting-edge treatment and compassionate care to our cancer and diabetes patients.”
“I’m humbled to receive such a great honor from City of Hope, an organization at the forefront of life-changing treatment and research that improves and saves so many lives," said Capshaw.
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Capshaw founded Red Light Management in 1991 at the beginning of his now 25-year role as the personal manager of Dave Matthews Band. Red Light currently manages approximately 250 acts, including Matthews, Chris Stapleton, Maren Morris, Phish, Luke Bryan, Sam Hunt, Lady Antebellum, Tiësto, Enrique Iglesias, Lionel Richie, Alabama Shakes, Chicano Batman and Marshmello. The company has offices in New York, Los Angeles, Charlottesville, Nashville, Atlanta and Seattle, plus London and Bristol in the United Kingdom.
In order to complement Red Light's entrepreneurial management approach, Capshaw created GreenLight Media & Marketing and New Era to forge innovative partnerships for events, bands and brands. (In 2016, Live Nation Entertainment purchased a 51 percent stake in Greenlight). And, in April, Capshaw reacquired Musictoday, an entertainment web-commerce company and pioneer in the direct-to-fan model, which he'd sold in 2006. Red Light's sister company, Starr Hill Presents, promotes live music on a regional and national level, with an equity position in a variety of festivals and venues including the Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival, Outside Lands, South by Southwest and the Ascend Amphitheater in Nashville.
In 2011, Capshaw became the first artist manager to receive the Humanitarian Award at the Billboard Touring Awards conference. He was recognized for his longtime commitment to local, national and international philanthropic efforts, often in tandem with artists on Red Light's roster. He has produced a number of Dave Matthews Band relief concerts, including the Standing with Standing Rock Benefit concert, which took place in Washington, D.C., in November 2016; a free "healing" concert for the Virginia Tech community following the tragic shootings in 2007; the Red Rocks Concert for Hurricane Katrina Relief in 2005 near Denver; and a Central Park Concert for New York City's parks and public school system in 2003. He also produced Phish's A Benefit for Vermont Hurricane Recovery in 2011.
Inspired by the guiding humanitarian principles of City of Hope and motivated by the institution's commitment to innovative medical research and compassionate patient care, a group of key industry executives founded the charity’s Music, Film and Entertainment Industry Group in 1973. In its 44-year history, the group has raised more than $113 million for City of Hope and has honored key figures in the music and entertainment industry. Recent past honorees include Joel A. Katz, chair, Global Entertainment and Media Practice of Greenberg Traurig; Lucian Grainge, chairman and CEO, Universal Music Group; Irving Azoff, chairman and CEO, Azoff MSG Entertainment, and his wife Shelli; Eddy Cue, senior vice president of Apple's Internet Software Services; and Rob Light, head of the music department, partner and managing director of Creative Artists Agency.
