BOOK COVER Magazine - February 2014 | Page 17

On July 19, 2013, Tony Rose, Publisher/CEO, Amber Communications Group, Inc., was announced as the Harlem Book Fair / Phillis Wheatley Book Awards “2013 African American Book Publisher of the Year” at the 15th Anniversary of the Harlem Book Fair, in the Langston Hughes Auditorium, Schomberg Center for Research in Black Culture, New York City, NY. On February 1, 2013, Amber Books, the award winning imprint of Phoenix, AZ based, Amber Communications Group, Inc., was announced as an NAACP Image Award winner for “Outstanding Literary Work – (Youth/Teens)” – for its title, “Obama Talks Back: Global Lessons – A Dialogue With America’s Young Leaders” by Gregory J. Reed, Esq., and has earned an NAACP Image Award for Literature at the 44th Annual NAACP Image Awards Show, Shrine Auditorium, Los Angeles, CA. Tony Rose was born in Roxbury (Boston) Massachusetts, raised in the Whittier Street Housing Projects, was honorably discharged from the U.S. Air Force after serving in the Vietnam War, and attended the University of Massachusetts and the University of California in Los Angeles. He was employed as a production assistant at the Burbank Studios (Warner Brothers and Columbia Pictures), in the accounting and sales division at Warner/Electra/Atlantic Records (WEA), an accounts representative at Warren Lanier Public Relations and as an A & R representative at RCA Records, Los Angeles, California. Rose returned to Boston and along with record producer Maurice Starr became the primary architect of that, which in the late 70’s and 80’s would be called “The Boston Black Music Scene” a movement that ultimately led to the discovery of the international blockbusters Prince Charles and the City Beat Band, The Jonzun Crew, New Edition and New Kids on the Block. In 1979 he formed Solid Platinum Records and Productions and in 1982 he was named one of the “Top Ten Record Producers in the World”. Rose in the 80′s held recording / production deals with Virgin Records, Atlantic Records and Pavilion / CBS/Sony Records. Rose was a successful Record Producer, Record Company Owner, Personal Manager, Music Publisher, Recording Studio Owner, Recording Engineer, Song Writer and Composer for more than fifteen years. His Solid Platinum Records and Productions was the first African American production company to have a production deal with Virgin Records. In 1983, albums produced by Rose “Gang War” and “Stone Killers” by Prince Charles and the City Beat Band reached Gold Album status and shared the charts with Michael Jackson’s Thriller for six consecutive months in the number one, two and three positions throughout the world and his legendary “Prince Charles and the City Beat Band” albums “Gang War”, “Stone Killers”, “Combat Zone” and singles, have accounted for more than Four Million sold worldwide. Rose’s many music awards include “Gold” and “Platinum” Albums and “Ampex Golden Reel” Awards for recording and engineering New Kids on the Block. Rose, has also penned Before the Legend – The Rise of New Kids on the Block and …A Guy Named Maurice Starr – The Early Years, published August 2008. He also has served as a Literary Sub-Committee Member in the Category of Non-Fiction Literature and Instructional Literature for the 2007 (38th), 2008 (39th), 2009 (40th), 2011 (42nd) and 2012 (43rd) NAACP Image Awards (Show); the Co-Founder and Executive Director of the African American Pavilion at BookExpo America, the Nation’s Largest Book Publishing Trade Show from 2004-2010 and the Founder of Amber Communications Group, Inc.’s African American Pavilion Booth at BookExpo America, 2011, 2012, 2013. Connect With Amber Communications: [email protected]