Chris Anokute is an A&R executive. While at Capitol Records he oversaw artists including Katy Perry, Joss Stone and Varsity Fanclub. He is currently Senior Vice-President of A&R at Universal Motown.

Anokute's entry point into the music industry came when, at the age of 17, he approached John Houston, father of Whitney, and asked to be part of his management team. Houston hired Anokute as an apprentice.

Shortly started his own management company together with Stephen Chukumba, managing writers and producers in the New Jersey area. Acts they signed included J.U.S. and Alkatraz. At the same time he secured an internship in A&R administration at Def Jam Records, working under A&R executive Rob Mitchell. Once promoted to A&R assistant, he worked on projects including Sum 41, Ashanti, Foxy Brown and Jay Z's The Blueprint.

Anokute discovered the songwriter Alisha Brooks and introduced her to Vada Nobles. Nobles provided a selection of instrumentals to write to, and from one track Brooks created "Pon de Replay". Soon afterwards the song was recorded by the then unknown Rihanna and helped land the 16-year-old a deal with Def Jam Universal. Three months later the song reached number 1 on the Billboard 200.

Justin Drew Bieber ( /ˈbiːbər/ BEE-bər, born March 1, 1994) is a Canadian Pop/R&B singer-songwriter, musician, and actor. Bieber was discovered in 2008 by Scooter Braun, who came across Bieber's videos on YouTube and later became his manager. Braun arranged for him to meet with Usher in Atlanta, Georgia, and Bieber was soon signed to Raymond Braun Media Group (RBMG), a joint venture between Braun and Usher, and then to a recording contract with Island Records offered by L.A. Reid. Bieber's debut single, "One Time", was released in 2009 and peaked in the top twenty in Canada and charted in the top thirty in several international markets. His debut album, the seven-track EP My World, followed in November 2009, and was soon certified platinum in the United States. He became the first artist to have seven songs from a debut album chart on the Billboard Hot 100.

Katheryn Elizabeth Hudson (born October 25, 1984), known by her stage name Katy Perry, is an American singer, songwriter and actress. Perry grew up with gospel music, and during her first year of high school she pursued a music career as Katy Hudson, releasing her first studio album called Katy Hudson which failed to chart. She recorded a solo album later, which was never released. After signing with Capitol Music Group in 2007, her fourth record label in seven years, she adopted the stage name Katy Perry.

She first gained recognition with the release of her first mainstream album, One of the Boys in 2008, which spawned three Billboard Hot 100 top-ten songs—"I Kissed A Girl", "Hot n Cold" and "Waking Up In Vegas". Perry supported the album with her Hello Katy Tour. In 2010, her third studio album, Teenage Dream (2010), which topped the Billboard 200 chart, and spawned five number one singles—"California Gurls", "Teenage Dream", "Firework", "E.T." and "Last Friday Night (T.G.I.F.)"—Teenage Dream was the only album (after Michael Jackson's Bad)—to do so, and the first female in history to achieve this milestone. She embarked on the California Dreams Tour, which grossed nearly $60 million worldwide. Perry re-released the album under the name of Teenage Dream: The Complete Confection on March 26, 2012, and the re-release has already spawned the number-one single "Part of Me".