Biography

Kenny "Tick" Salcido is a member of The Latch Brothers production group with Mike D. of Beastie Boys and Wag (Chris Wagner, bassist of Mary's Danish), Remixer/Beat Maker/Producer (Beastie Boys, Matt & Kim, Entrance (musician), Local Natives), Music Supervisor Single Ladies (TV series), Disconnected), and has held positions at several music record labels as A&R and Promotions/Marketing (Warner Bros. Records, Epic Records, DreamWorks Records, and Grand Royal Records). He is currently Head of A&R/SVP for Red Bull Records. Over the last 10 years, Salcido has built a competitive team of talented professionals and oversees the Red Bull Records artist roster.

Credited for helping cast Mac Miller on his first on screen role for VH1 show "Single Ladies". Credited for helping cast artist Yelawolf and producer Bangladesh.

"Tick" is also a credited Composer for several Film/TV projects and credited Journalist having been a former columnist for Grand Royal Magazine. The Grand Royal website gave him his own column entitled "Tick's Corner", and he had articles published in The Fader, Mean (magazine), and Yellow Rat Bastard.

Kenny "Tick" Salcido is also credited with VP of A&R Craig Aaronson for signing Wiz Khalifa to his first major label record deal to Warner Bros. Records. As an A&R, "Tick" released several Wiz Khalifa singles including the certified Gold single Say Yeah. "Tick" brought the Wiz Khalifa deal to the record label a he reported to Warner Bros. Records VP of A&R Craig Aaronson and they are both listed and credited as Co- A&R for Wiz Khalifa's tenure at Warner Bros. Records. The deal was signed through the Pittsburgh based indie label Rostrum Records founded and run by Benjy Grinberg.

While at Grand Royal Records, "Tick" named the Grand Royal Hip Hop 12" Series "The Blow Up Factor" and helped A&R the series early in his career along with naming the Beastie Boys 12" release from that series, Scientists of Sound (The Blow Up Factor Vol. 1), which came from a lyric from the Beastie Boys album Hello Nasty.

"Tick" also named the Beastie Boys Anthology: The Sounds of Science based off a song featured on the band's release Paul's Boutique. Kenny "Tick" Salcido is also credited as Associate Producer on Beastie Boys Video Anthology.

"Tick" is also associated with acts such as Beastie Boys, Wiz Khalifa, Sean Lennon, Jimmy Eat World, A.F.I., At the Drive-In, De Facto, Luscious Jackson, Scapegoat Wax, J Davey, Hockey, Ben Lee, Bis, Atari Teenage Riot, BS 2000, Shizuo, Terrace Martin, Buffalo Daughter, Money Mark, Prozack Turner, Self, Rye Coalition, Ec8or, Grand Royal Records artist roster, and more, all of whom he worked with in either College Radio/Commercial Specialty Radio Promotions, A&R, or Marketing.

"Tick" has worked with and commissioned production/remixes from producer/artists Ad-rock, Dave Grohl, Mike D, Peanut Butter Wolf, J Dilla, Mario C, Kut Masta Kurt, Egon, Madlib, Pete Rock, Organized Noize, Evidence, The Alchemist (producer), and more.
- IMDb mini biography by: Kurt Nardone

When considering the remarkable music industry trajectory of groundbreaking A&R executive Kenny "Tick" Salcido, it's no coincidence both his grandfathers were huge boxing fans because his personal philosophy comes from picking himself off the canvas after getting knocked down. His signings over the course of his impressive 25+ year career include hip-hop superstar Wiz Khalifa, three-time GRAMMY-nominated producer and multi-instrumentalist Terrace Martin, GRAMMY-nominated rapper Blxst, Platinum rockers Beartooth, The Aces and The Strokes' Albert Hammond Jr. Salcido, currently the Senior Vice President/Head of A&R for Red Bull Records, has been tirelessly hustling and fighting the good fight since growing up in a Catholic middle-class family in the East Los Angeles valley at the multicultural Armenian-Mexican-Asian melting pot of Montebello, Monterey Park and San Gabriel. Maybe a half hour from Hollywood & Vine, but a world away. His late father, a military man, grocery store manager, and his mother worked in a bank while Tick grew up surrounded by music unbound by genres. His dad collected reel-to-reel tapes representing a variety of styles and his older brother was in a heavy metal band, but Tick's early musical passions, which remained with him throughout his professional life, were his generation's cultural touchstones -- hip-hop and punk. Taking to English class while a junior in high school, the one-time altar boy's dream was to be a music journalist writing for The Source, Thrasher, SPIN and Rolling Stone, but getting introduced to the Beastie Boys' Mike Diamond by Grand Royal Magazine editor Bob Mack and being offered a job as an intern at their Atwater Village offices changed his life. "I was just obsessed with music," he said. "But I never imagined I could actually make a living doing it." Dubbed "Tick" by Mike D. for his nervous energy and non-stop activity running up and down the stairs of the studio, Salcido's duties grew to include college radio promotion and becoming part of the Latch Brothers remix team (with Diamond and Mary's Danish member Chris "Wag" Wagner), working on records by the Beastie Boys as well as Grand Royal label acts like At the Drive-In and Bran van 3000, along with Q-Tip, Lykke Li and Nelly Furtado. He also maintained his passion for the kind of cultural narratives he'd look for in the artists he wanted to sign, contributing to both Grand Royal and The FADER magazines. "Mike D. was like an older brother to me," said Kenny. "He gave me an identity, a persona which I still wear proudly. That name gave me a chance to reinvent myself at an early age. The Beastie Boys raised the bar for me, as to what's possible to accomplish as artists." When the Beastie Boys folded Grand Royal, Salcido spent the first decade of the 21st century on the major label roller coaster, starting as a street-level talent scout at DreamWorks under A&R legends Michael Ostin and Lenny Waronker, where he commissioned production work for Dave Grohl and Madlib for his signings Rye Coalition and Prozack Turner, respectively along with J Dilla, Organized Noize. As part of the Latch Brothers, Tick also continued remixing tracks for label artists A.I. and Nelly Furtado along with a video game and a Tamra Davis-directed indie film Keep Your Eyes Open until the label was absorbed into Interscope when David Geffen left the record business. Sony Music's Don Lenner and Ben Goldman then recruited Salcido as an A&R Director for Epic Records, where he spent the next two years splitting his time between Los Angeles and New York. Tick's ability to bounce back from disappointment was tested when he entered a bidding war to sign rapper Tru Life - someone he discovered through his relationship with street-savvy talent spotter DJ Sickamore (Travis Scott) -- only to lose out to Def Jam's Jay Z, though his tenacity was applauded by the hard-driving Lenner on a company-wide conference call shortly before the veteran parted ways with the label. By the time he was recruited by label head Tom Whalley and A&R chief Craig Aronson to the Burbank ski lodge to join Warner Bros. Records, Salcido was ready to make his mark. Upon arriving, Tick immediately brought into the fold multi-Grammy-nominated producer and multi-instrumentalist jazz musician Terrace Martin who had worked with Kendrick Lamar, Snoop Dogg, The Game, Busta Rhymes, Stevie Wonder, Charlie Wilson and Raphael Saadiq, giving him his own label imprint at Warners. Through Terrace, he signed rap duo J*Davey, whose bassist was Thundercat, which helped draw Doja Cat, a fan, to the label. "I needed someone who would give me credibility, keep me relevant and feed me artists," said Tick about his decision to bring Martin to the company. Utilizing a longtime relationship with Pittsburgh-based Rostrum Records founder Benji Grinberg, a former assistant to L.A. Reid at Arista Records, Tick then brought in a local rapper named Wiz Khalifa, signing him to a three-single deal which ended just before "Black and Yellow" broke him wide-open on sister label Atlantic Records. "It was a real disappointment riding down the street hearing 'Black and Yellow' on the radio," acknowledged Tick. "This was a kid I believed in from the beginning when no one else did." Once again, Tick had to recover his bearings and forge ahead after parting ways with Warners to become a senior A&R consultant, music supervisor, producer and remixer for several clients, including working on Tamra Davis' VH1 series Single Ladies, casting Wiz' Rostrum Records labelmate Mac Miller in his first onscreen role, making beats and remixing records for Childish Gambino, Local Natives, Matt & Kim and the Beastie Boys, among others. In 2012, Tick received a call from Red Bull Records Managing Director Greg Hammer to recruit him to the label, part of the expanding energy drink company's portfolio, which includes a pair of Formula One racing and two European football teams. "I was impressed with the commitment to artist development in breaking AWOLNATION," said Tick, overcoming his own misgivings for working at a company that specialized in energy drinks, not music. "They understand branding. Younger people today don't even care what label an act is on. Being here has opened my eyes to a brand-new world and made me even more nimble." In a dozen years at Red Bull, distributed worldwide by the Orchard, Tick has assembled an eclectic, multi-genre roster that includes exploding rock bands Beartooth and The Aces, GRAMMY-nominated rapper Blxst and The Strokes' Albert Hammond Jr., among others. He has orchestrated several label partnerships, including Wonderchild, the imprint from GRAMMY-nominated producer WondaGurl (Chris LaRocca, JUGGER), EVGLE (Blxst, Jay Millian, Joony) and Mind of a Genius (Peter $un). His team includes VP A&R Charles "CB" Burks III and Director of Publishing Creative Chukwudi "Ob8i" Obi at Red Bull Records Publishing (Eric Aukoustics, Kofi, LordQuest). Said Tick: "I believe in empowering the artists and executives across the A&R team and the roster. Our motto in A&R must be to amplify the artist to the best of our ability. This is an independent, boutique label, with the global reach and the infrastructure of a major looking to make a cultural impact. Red Bull is a multimedia entertainment company." Salcido is preparing for whatever comes next, a pugilist intent on his next battle. "I still believe in a healthy combination of metrics and gut in discovering talent," he said, indicating a desire to move more into record production, having built a home studio. "I've been hired and fired off my gut. Technology dictates how we listen and process music. We use those tools here to justify our decisions, but I still look at myself as a curator who asks himself, 'What would Mike do?' to this day."
- IMDb mini biography by: Roy Trakin

Music industry veteran Kenny "Tick" Salcido announced the launch of Renaissance Entertainment Company, "a creative services company that is focused on providing A&R services, Artist Development & Strategic Support to artists, managers, labels, publishers and related companies throughout the creative community."

"Renaissance was inspired by some of the early A&R deals I did in the business with Wiz Kalifa (through Rostrum Records) and Terrace Martin (through his former company Jakai Music Group). Beginning at the early stages of my career, I learned that empowering artists and working with executives as a partnership was truly key. At Renaissance, I am focused on building a company that represents a true revival of the core of A&R which is the lost art of record making. I look forward to applying my skill set to help clients achieve their goals, working together to obtain maximum success on all sides of their new chapter." Kenny "Tick" Salcido.

"Building on this foundation, Salcido's vision for Renaissance Entertainment Company is deeply rooted in his belief that true artist development is a collaborative process, one that thrives on authentic relationships and a commitment to fostering creativity." a statement reads. "By bringing together his wealth of industry experience and his passion for nurturing talent, Salcido is poised to offer unparalleled support to artists and industry partners alike, ensuring that each project receives the individualized attention it deserves. This approach not only utilizes the legacy of his early successes, but also signals a new era where the art of record making and genuine advocacy for artists remain at the heart of the company's mission."

"With decades of experience in the entertainment industry and most recently holding the position of Senior Vice President/Head of A&R for Red Bull Records, Kenny 'Tick' Salcido was responsible for all A&R at the label including artist signings, launching new initiatives and helping to build a strong presence in the industry."

"Looking over a roster that was built on culturally impactful artists including the platinum-certified band Beartooth, Grammy-nominated and platinum certified rapper Blxst, Albert Hammond Jr. (The Strokes), The Aces, James Vickery, Morgan, House Of Protection, Joony, etc. Salcido also initiated a number of label partnerships for a select group of artists while building a strong and effective A&R team to further drive the company's success during his tenure for both the record and publishing divisions of the company."

"Salcido began his career in his late teens working at the Beastie Boys' imprint, Grand Royal Records, where he started as an intern before becoming College Radio Promotions Manager. At Grand Royal he was also an A&R coordinator, commissioning remixes for the multi-platinum trio and the label roster, while writing for the band's critically acclaimed Grand Royal Magazine and a member of the Mike D production group The Latch Brothers. He later explored his passion for story telling as a music journalist, but returned to A&R, spending time at DreamWorks, Epic and Warner Records where he signed multi-platinum artist Wiz Khalifa and 3x Grammy-nominated artist, producer, and multi-instrumentalist, Terrace Martin."

"Artist friendly means being fair, respectful, and professional. To be a champion of the arts and artists is a lifestyle where you must advocate for a vision and do everything you can to make that vision become reality. My love for the craft has always focused on the creation of music and one of the most cherished components that I have built is a private studio space filled with vintage and current gear that I have collected over the years. This is something that I am proud to offer clients, an opportunity to share what has been my dream while helping them create one of their own." Kenny "Tick" Salcido
- IMDb mini biography by: Deborah Radel @DRPR