Vivian Scott Chew is a pioneer whose career has laid the groundwork for some integral aspects of the music industry that are taken for granted today.
She is the person who ushered in the dancehall movement into America by signing Shabba Ranks and Third World, and founded ASCAP’s Rhythm & Soul Music Awards in response to a lack of recognition for African American songwriters.
Across a 30+ year career, Scott Chew also lays claim to opening up various international markets for a host of huge acts (Jill Scott, India Arie, Toni Braxton and Common, to name a few), at a time when the world outside of America didn’t get much attention from US artists who weren’t at superstar level.
While working in A&R at PolyGram, she signed Safire, who became one of the leading crossover artists in the Latin hip hop movement, and Scott Chew released one of the first commercially successful major label reggae hip-hop collaborations (a track called Forbidden Love by Third World and Daddio).
