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For Lisa Roth, CMH Label Group Vice President and Creative Director, a career in the music industry was circuitous, but in the cards. She was a nutritionist for 20 years, with private practices in Los Angeles and New York. During this period, she began advising recording artists, often going out on tour with them, as well as executives at EMI Records. After transitioning into television production for Discovery Channel and National Geographic, Roth was asked to join the CMH team and began working side-by-side with owner David Haerle in overseeing and being involved with everything from new business development and the creative, to setting policies, hiring and administrative. But Roth has truly excelled in helping to create and grow brands that have become tent poles for CMH. She and former CMH Art Director Valerie Aiello came up with the idea for what would become Rockabye Baby. Lisa’s inspiration came about after looking for baby shower gifts and failing to find anything that would bring pleasure to both newborns and parents. In 2006, she helped launch the highly successful Rockabye Baby franchise, which has now spawned close to 80 studio albums packed with Lullaby versions of songs by artists ranging from The Beatles and Jay-Z to Bob Marley and Metallica to Rihanna and Adele. How Does Roth select artists for the Rockabye Baby series, and what makes for a great Rockabye Baby? "The greater the irony an artist’s name brings, the better!" Roth told People Magazine in an interview on the the series. Rockabye Baby, which produces approximately eight albums annually, has since earned critical praise from outlets including The New York Times, Entertainment Weekly, NPR Music, Pitchfork, The Los Angeles Times, and more. Roth’s creative talents can be traced to her background. Born in Indianapolis, Indiana, she grew up on a healthy diet of musical theater, studied ballet from the age of 6, and made childhood visits to the Café Wha? in New York’s Greenwich Village. Café Wha?, owned by her uncle Manny Roth, was the original stomping ground for up and coming artists like Bob Dylan, Jimi Hendrix, Richard Pryor and many more in the 1960s. Additionally, her brother David Lee Roth struck mainstream success as lead singer of Van Halen. More recently, the siblings joined forces in 2006 when David lent his talents to CMH’s Strummin’ With the Devil: The Southern Side of Van Halen. In addition to overseeing the Rockabye Baby music line and being involved in almost every aspect of the label’s creative and development process, Roth and her team are expanding Rockabye Baby beyond albums into merchandising. She is also involved with CMH’s foray into the live music arena with the label’s Vitamin String Quartet, a collective that has spawned more than 200 albums featuring string renditions of pop and rock hits. But for now, Roth intends to continue the approach that’s already resulted in label-wide success: big picture thinking, going with her instincts and an eye for detail and quality.
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