but most of all, we do a lot of hard work and laughter!

 Kwame Kwaten

DIRECTOR

Punk rock got me here. The music and the "can do" attitude.

Over his 30+ year career in the music industry, Kwame has been a musician, manager, producer, consultant and A&R.

His own writing and production credits include work for Jay Z, Shola Ama, Mick Jagger, Tom Jones and Seal to name a few. The band, D-Influence (which Kwame was a member of), signed to Atlantic Records, accomplished many amazing moments such as supporting Michael Jackson, Prince and James Brown on tour. His A&R and management work over the years has seen him discover Shola Ama, Laura Mvula and Rumer resulting in millions of records sales and multiple award wins and nominations.

Kwame is also currently a Trustee at The Brits Trust, Vice-Chair of the UK’s Music Managers Forum, Trustee of the MOBO Charity and Co-Chair of the BRITS Diversity Committee. He is also Co-Director of a social enterprise company, Cre8ing Vision, with Andrea Euell and Nicola Charles.This company houses The Ultimate Seminar, Ultimate Live, The Ultimate Circle, The A&R Initiative Focus Groups and The MBOL Show.

Point Blank Music School appointed him as Music Industry Mentor, a part time role that he relishes.

Founder and owner of Ferocious Talent Ltd Kwame Kwame runs everything from top to bottom, his A & R skills are unparalleled. With Shola Ama, Rumer and Laura Mvula he has been instrumental in the songs choices for their, and all his artists EPs and albums.

JONNY TAYLOR

Jonny Taylor worked at ATC Management for 3 years before joining Ferocious Talent.

He is the General Manager of Ferocious Label Services. He heads up the day-to-day running of the digital distribution platform, gives advice on scheduling, marketing services & rights collection and provides real time streaming data for our clients.

FAB Consultancy is run by Kwame and Jonny as partners, together they assist in helping artists progress their project in any way that is needed.

Jonny co-manages Maya Lane and Finlay C with Kwame and assists with Hak Baker and Caitlyn Scarlett; he plays a pivotal role in making sure everything runs smoothly.

Jonny hates cucumber.

BEN BUSHELL

Artist Manager

Ben met Kwame at ATC management in 2013, since then they have taken on multiple acts together.

He looks for energy in an act, music that moves you in any way. He likes music that makes you feel, makes you productive, angry, sad or whatever.

The best music has a vibe, and that’s what I care for.

Ben is proud to represent such powerful artists who are writing some of the best music he has ever heard. It’s great fun to work in music but it takes a lot to get here. He believes that a hard work ethic and the ability to only accept the best are the tools you need in this business.

Ben, with Kwame co-manages Hyphen, Ines Rae, Billie Angela, Moreofthem & George Ogilvie (Master Rights).

Ben Ashurst

AMIE DIBBA

Senior Artist and Label Manager, Ferocious Label Services

Amie Dibba is a Texas-born, North Minneapolis raised, Gambian woman, now living in London. At Ferocious Talent, Amie also co-manages Talia Roux, Elena Flury and Mollyxo with Kwame Kwaten and assists on acts such as Blue Lab Beats and Paul Schulze.

Amie's journey to joining the Ferocious team started from a 2-day weekend of watching Cre8ing Vision’s Ultimate Seminar Virtual Edition 2020. She was immediately inspired! After the event, Amie reached out to Mr. Kwame Kwaten, who has been mentoring her since. Amie is now part of the Cre8ing Vision family where she does A&R scouting for Ultimate Live and staff support for the Ultimate Seminar. In May of 2021, Amie Dibba discovered Louise Harris who at the time had 2,606 monthly listeners on Spotify. Amie later introduced Louise to Kwame Kwaten, Director of Ferocious Talent. In December of 2021, "Change of Heart", a collaboration between Louise Harris, Paul Schulze (managed by Kwame) and SOMMA, was released and is now at 11 million streams on Spotify.

Amie also produces a podcast, writes music video treatments, shoots and edits visual content and has a music blog.

Shauna Thacker

Artist Manager, Ferocious Talent

Raised in the West Midlands, Shauna has built her career in the music and entertainment industry, first as a sound technician, production assistant to tour manager across the world. Working with legendary artists such as The Jackson’s, Stormzy, Nines, Heather Small etc.

Now serving as a day to day artist manager at Ferocious Talent for the rising star Izzy Withers, branding her industry experience with a passion for artist development and innovation.

Nutyas Surya Gumilang

Nutyas Surya Gumilang (NSG) is a music producer, songwriter, performer and owner of a digital independent label based in Jakarta named NSG Music Recordings. He was born in Indonesia and raised in London, United Kingdom. NSG graduated from Kingston University and took a major in music. Before he came back to Jakarta, he worked in Activision's DJ Hero as DJ/MashUp. Now he's an established music producer in Indonesia and has worked with such big names in the country as Rinni Wulandari, Jamie Aditya, Indah Dewi Pertiwi, Citra Scholastika and many more. He also produced music for young and talented artists under his label NSG Music Recordings in various genres, from Pop, R&B, Hip-hop, EDM, World Music and more.

Besides working behind the scenes, NSG is also an established singer, rapper and DJ. With Trinity Optima Production, a big label in Indonesia, NSG has spawned two radio hits, titled "Good Time" and "Ngumpul Ngumpul." Under his own label, he has produced more radio hits like "Starlight," "Losin' My Mind," "Sempurna" and "Undercover Lovin." In 2015, he joined an EDM music competition on NET TV Indonesia called The Remix, where he and his partner, Meichan Munos, clinched 4th place on the show, Rarasurya. Apple Music stated that NSG is championing the young artists of Indonesia, and that makes NSG want to contribute more to music scenes and do his best to make his craft known, not only in Indonesia but in the global market.

Ferocious Talent would like to welcome Nutyas in his new role as SVP of Ferocious/NSG Indonesia. We are very excited about working together internationally on projects in and outside of Indonesia.

Nutyas’ experience in Indonesia is second to none and creatively he is a giant. We look forward to working together.

RYDER AGOLLI

Ryder's love for music started when he first came across a piano in a friend's home. Thousands of hours of piano lessons later, alongside a music degree from King's College London and his love for all things 90’s R&B & Hip-Hop, led him to playing regular live gigs at venues such as Mighty Hoopla Festival, Birthdays Dalston, Colours Hoxton, and Sofar Sounds. He also produced for Lowkey, Awate, BINA, and Davina Oriakhi.

This time also saw him put together live R&B and Hip-Hop events as part of The Welcome Party, which included shows at Birthdays Dalston and a sold-out show at Folklore. After attending The Ultimate Seminar, an application for an A&R role at Believe saw him become part of the core group of A&Rs at the A&R Focus Group Programme.

He is responsible for assisting Kwame with Brave James, The Halfway Kid and Steve Brown.

João Assunção

João was born in Porto, Portugal, in the late 90s and has always had an almost unhealthy obsession with music! From growing up with legends like ACDC and Guns’N’Roses, to raving to Daft Punk and grooving to Sister Sledge and Chic, the passion for music and the drive to be part of this wonderful industry has always been there. Today, João can proudly say that he has achieved that goal.

João also works with Shauni Caballero, he is the managing director of The Go 2 Agency they provide a platform to artists, performers and songwriters by managing and administering all aspects of their Intellectual property. They offer publishing services through the publishing company, G293, a joint venture with Riki Bleu, Head of Since 93 Records.

His duties within Ferocious Talent include, but are not limited to, assisting Kwame in managing one of our producers, Spacedtime Beats, Maura with accounts and Jonny with a multitude of tasks. He is a document genius and uploads/registers our artists PRS and PPL.

MAURA KWATEN

Maura was brought up on Milt Jackson, Charlie Parker, The Chieftans, Yes, Elton John and Super Tramp when she was a kid. 

Skip a few years and she found hip-hop via MC Shan and Roxanne Shante in the mid-80s. In 1990, she started DJ-ing and after many months of 5-hour practice sessions and nagging promoters with my tapes, she became Resident DJ at Fresh n Funky, Kat Klub and etc. for 10 years. She is Resident DJ at Mobile Mondays and 7th Heaven at Chip Shop Brixton.

She runs her jewellery business - www.luckylittleblighters.com, designing and making everything herself. She likes PG tips, Prosecco and to have a good dance with Kwame and their two children.

Her Ferocious duties include day-to-day everything for Blue Lab Beats and Kaidi & NK-OK. Assisting in artists' videos and shoots is one of her favourite Ferocious things - organising extras, stylists, makeup artists etc.

She does a bit of everything really; filling out PRS forms, dyeing artist's hair, booking flights, mending flight cases, congratulating artists for their amazing work, telling them off when they are ridiculous, applying for funding, helping out with Kwame’s insane diary, searching out and welcoming fabulous interns to the family and anything and everything that crops up.

Shaik Syasya

Syasya’s involvement in the music industry began in 2016 when she flew from tropical Singapore to the exciting city of London to study BA Music Business in University of Westminster.

Through uni, she joined the Ferocious Talent family focusing on marketing, design and social media.

In the past 7 years, Syasya has worked for other music companies such as Sony Music Singapore, Believe Digital, Cre8ing Vision and iluvlive. She is also Program Coordinator for Cre8ing Vision’s A&R Focus Group Programme, taking it to major record labels such as Virgin, Warner, Island, Believe and Capitol Records.

She is now a freelancer, working on projects in different capacities ranging from Partnerships Manager to First Assistant Director and founded her own marketing collective, The Kale Kolektif.

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ThE FEROCIOUS Story

1988

Compère at Borderline Club

1989

D-Influence formed

1990

D-Influence release “I’m the One” #1 Dance Chart sign to Acid Jazz then to Atlantic Records USA

1991

D-Influence release 'Good Lover'

1992

D-Influence world tour begins, also touring with Michael Jackson on the Dangerous tour.

D-Influence self-produced & released the album 'Good 4 We'.

1993

D-Influence tours with Prince

1994

D-Influence start producing and remixing new acts.

1995

D-Influence releases 'Prayer for Unity' album.

1996

Discover Shola Ama in a Hammersmith tube Station  sign her to our production co. Freak Street – Co Write/Produce her 1st Album “Much Love”

1996 - 2001

Go deep into Production of new / established acts and score many million sellers  including Seal, Changing Faces, 2 More Shola Ama  Albums, Tom Jones “Reload”,  Mark Morrisson, Lighthouse Family, Mick Jagger

1997

Become Bjorks backing band and feature on Later with Jools Holland

1997

Shola Ama D-influence produced “You Might Need Somebody” Breaks radio records and stays Top 10 for 2 months. Shola Ama wins Best Female Brit Awards

1997 - 1999

Shola Ama's  D-influence produced Much Love Sells 1 Million Copies 

1997

D-Influence Sign to Echo Records and Release “London” Score 1st Top 30 hit

1998

D-Influence embark on World Tour

Kwame founded UK’s 1st Urban Music Seminar

1998 - 2004

The Urban Music Seminar becomes the largest seminar of its kind in Europe 14,000 people attend the last one in 2004.

2005

Begin management 1st act Louise Setarabecomes the youngest ever signing to the legendary Bluenote Records NYC

2006 -  2016

Kwame becomes a manager at ATC Management

2006

Winner Ghanaian Entrepeneur of the Year

2009

Start managing Rumer. Signed her to Atlantic Records. "Seasons of my Soul” becomes a top selling album selling over a 1 Million Copies – Brit Nominated 

2009

Forms new Edutainment company Cre8ing Vision with long time Seminar partners Nikki Charles and Andrea Euell

2010

Cre8ing Vision Launch new seminar named – The Ultimate Seminar

2012

Start managing a new act from Birmingham – Laura Mvula “Sing to the Moon” Album Charts Top Ten - Laura performs mainstage Glastonbury and for The Nobel Peace Prize

2013

Winner of Artiste Manager Of The Year – Live Music and Business Awards

2013

Start managing poet Hollie Mcnish

2014

Starts management company Ferocious Talent

Organises the release of Laura Mvula and the Metropole Orkest  Album a 60 piece Orchestra recorded performance of Laura Mvula’s Sing to the Moon Album - This culminates with a Sold Out performance at the Royal Albert Hall

2014

Sign Roseau to Big Dada – Joint venture with Will Evans

2015

Signs Sarah Walk to One Little Indian / Jodie Abacus to Ministry Of Sound /Age Of Luna to Believe Recordings /The Night VI to a joint venture deal with SPV.

 2016

Kwame is made co chair of the Brits diversity committee