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Europe Team



SERGE ERMOLL

 
New Content Acquisitions - Blue Pie www.bluepierecords.com
 
Serge is the son of Sergei Ermolaeff, a Manchurian born, Russian jazz orchestra leader. In China, Sergei worked as a drummer/musician, building a reputation as one of Shanghai's more notable orchestra leaders during the 1930's and 1940's. While experiencing the onset of the communist revolution in China, Sergei and his wife Xenia (singer/dancer) and son Serge Jr, won passage on the Chan Sha ship migrating to Australia in 1951. For nearly forty years, jazz pianist Serge Ermoll has been renowned for his exceptional skills, constantly pushing boundaries, while defying the marketplaces demands to conform. His group, Free Kata, formed in the 1970s, "...ripped open the heart of music aesthetics in Australia." (John Shand, Sydney Morning Herald, August 2003). Serge Ermoll now heads up the Blue Pie Europe Team for New Content Acquisitions for Europe. Serge is fluent in Russian and has a global network that reaches the four corners of the worlds music markets. We are very honoured to have Serge on the team and look forward to massive success with Serge steering the European team with Damien Reilly as his wingman. Check out his website for more information www.jazzsergery.com




PAVEL STEPANOVSKY

LinkedIn Profile

Business Development Director - Russia - Blue Pie Productions USA LLC www.bluepierecords.com
 
Pavel Stepanovsky is located in St. Petersburg, Russia. He graduated from St. Petersburg University and is a highly experienced entertainment industry sales executive working for German and Scandinavian industrial companies.
 
He has been involved in music production, music business, and being a musician and composer for over 20 years. He is an accomplished bass player and has performed with many leading artists including David Bowie,  Faith No More, The Foo Fighters and the Cardigans to name a few. He is credited with multiple CD releases being a member and composer of live rock bands Kolybel and Mars (an EP of the latter was released in Japan in 2009). He has produced 6 CD's and produces regular music and loops for Sony Pictures Digital, Big Fish Audio and Samplecraze UK.
 
Pavel is in constant demand and his work is now requested by some of the largest production houses in the world. As a composer and leading instrumental music producer his talents are constantly in demand with clients including Sony Pictures, Sony Digital and Big Fish Audio. In this decade he founded and participated in "Mirny Atom" project, whose V-Spot CD, after being presented to the public by Big Fish Audio at NAMM 2007, gained wide attention of music media and was a massive success for Pavel in 2007 and 2008 breaking him and his production services world wide. Fast Forward to 2009 and Pavel has joined forces with Blue Pie's " Mr Hellmut Wolf AKA The Wolfman " to create and instrumental project called "Rebus and The Wolfman". The first album is being released now by Blue Pie for the world. We are honoured to have Pavel on the team to head up the Russian contingency for Blue Pie. 
 

As head of Blue Pie Russia, Pavel is responsible for A&R, content acquisition and business development for all of Russia. You can find out more about Pavel at his website at www.myspace.com/pavel933





SHACHI ESTLER

Business Development Manager – Middle East - Blue Pie Productions USA LLC www.bluepierecords.com
Development Manager – Australia - Globalev www.globalev.co.il

Shachi Estler is our resident Business Development Manager for the Middle East. With over a decade of experience in the music business Shachi brings a new level of dedication to perfection to the Blue Pie European Team.

Working with Globalev World Music for the past few years has made Shachi an expert in World Music with an acute sense of known great acts from all over the world. Having worked with the most of the roster on the Globalev Label, she has developed fantastic connections that allows Shachi to develop strong pipelines of music that generate real results for her clients. As one of the founders and owners of Global Groove Studios and Records in Byron Bay, Shachi has an abundant access to some of the best world and new age musicians that Australia has to offer and that are on tour passing through either Byron Bay or visiting the studio.

As part of the business development team for Europe, Shachi is responsible for the growth of the Blue Pie catalogue and services into the Middle East and surrounding European markets. We are honoured to have Shachi on the team.





ALEXANDER VEITH

Development Team Member – Blue Pie Productions USA LLC www.bluepierecords.com

Alex has a vast experience in the fields of securities and derivatives. He is an excellent project manager, working with conceptual architecture and in progress systems. Alex worked for the Financial Market Service Bank, a subsidiary company of UniCredit Group and gained invaluable experience in the European banking sector. Alex is an experienced programmer in JAVA and in equevilanent.net language, VB or C#. Alex has been instrumental in creating new relationships in the European music industry, and he is now working to be involved on a broader level with Blue Pie Europe’s development. Alex works directly with Mr Hellmut Wolf and the team in Europe. We are very happy and honoured to have Alex on the Blue Pie Europe Team.





JOHN SWAN

Business Development Team – Blue Pie www.bluepie.com.au

John Swan as also known as Swanee was born in Glasgow, Scotland. His family emigrated to Australia when he was still a child and settled in Elizabeth, South Australia. Apart from a stint in the Army, where he gained the title of South Australian Amateur Boxing Champion, John's career has always revolved around music.He has been on the Australian music scene since he was 14 years old. He has become part of this country's musical backbone playing first as a drummer, then as a singer with many of the countries top rock and roll outfits. In 1978 he released his first album "Into The Night" with WEA Records. Swanee's first major chart success was a great rendition of Tim Hardin's "If I Were A Carpenter" from the album "This Time It's Different".

Success with the next 2 singles from the album immediately followed. "Lady What's Your Name" and "Temporary Heartache" both screamed straight up the charts. Swanee played all over the country, winning new fans wherever he went. He built a reputation as one of the best and most respected rock'n'roll singers in the country. "Live In The Snow" was recorded for all his fans who constantly requested songs that Swanee performed but hadn't recorded. You have no doubt caught John on many international support tours like:- AC/DC, Tina Turner, Joe Cocker, Bad Company, Deep Purple, Robin Trower, 10CC and Johnny Winter. Also by invitation on the big Australian tours of INXS, John Farnham, Marcia Hines, Tommy Emmanuel, Midnight Oil, Renee Geyer, Jimmy Barnes and many others. Swanee enjoyed continued success working live around the country until a phone call came from Party Boy Paul Christie. Christie was considering a new front man and he needed, by his admission, "the best rock'n'roll voice in the country". John Swan was asked and he accepted.

We are all truly honoured to have a legend of Rock like Swanee working with the team at Blue Pie. For more information on Swanee you can check out his My Space page at www.myspace.com/johnswanmusician





RALPH EHMANN

CEO - Wind of Change Records / Management - St. Maarten www.windsofchangerecords.com 
Global Head of New Content Acquisition - for Heavy Metal and Rock for Blue Pie Europe www.bluepie.com.au 
Bachelor Degree Civil Engineer - Germany

Ralph has had a life of involvement and passion for the music industry. He has worked as a Sound/Monitor engineer, Tour manager, Stage manager, Logistic manager on worldwide tours for artists including Motoerhead, Lee Aaron, Jennifer Rush, Bad English, Foreigner, Jethro Tull, Manowar, Autograph, Scorpions, Ron Wood & Bo Didley, Night of Guitars, Wishbone Ash, Uriah Heep, Fela Kuti, Ziggy Marley, Black Uhuru, Linton Kwesi Johnson, Dire Straits, Jefferson Starship, Placido Domingo, Berlin Symphonic Orchestra, King Diamond, Anthrax, Slayer, The Wailors, Roger Chapman, Eric Burdon, Gianna Nannini, Bobby Womack, Dennis Brown, Meat Loaf, Metallica, Molly Hatchet, Victory and a lot more German bands. Ralph has also collaborated with producers like: Chris Tsangarides, Dieter Dirks, Jeff Glixman, Russ Titelman, Jerry Lynn Williams.

Toward the end of the 80’s Ralph created the idea of ‘The World of Art’. The idea was to re-open the fantastic Montserrat Air Studios in an amazing environment. At the beginning of 2000 he found the perfect island -St. Maarten - the Friendly Island. Infrastructure, international Airport, Caribbean flair, nightlife, good restaurants, it was all there. Over the years several well-known producers and musicians joined the team and the idea grow into not only a record studio, but an Art City and an University for Media and Arts.

In 2010 Ralph and his team found the perfect property in Dawn Beach, a 10 acre beautiful landscape. Ralph is a man that understands the creative genius process and for this reason he is building one of the worlds best recording and production facilities. Together with Blue Pie and the Blue Pie labels we will see a new era in music productions and recording. The new Montserrat Studios will be completely refurbished with a multimillion dollar make over. The studio is set to reopen in 2011. The “sleeping beauty” will awake to produce new music like never before. This will be music that will change the world forever. The Winds of Change Record label and the new Winds of Change Music Production house will be a hub of musical production, talent development and film sound track develop.

Ralph and his team work with the Blue Pie Team in Sydney. As part of the Global Business Development Team, Ralph works with Damien Reilly, Terry Nails and Stephen Wrench to develop and expand Blue Pie's roster of metal and heavy metal artists globally. We are very honoured to have Ralph and his label as a part of the team.





MARK CHRISTOPHER MERRITT

CEO & Founder - Castle Road Records www.castleroadrecords.com

Blue Pie Europe Country Music Team www.bluepie.com.au

Mark was born in Virginia, raised in North Carolina and finished high school in Tennessee--a true "wild-eyed southern boy". His musical background started when he was twelve years old, playing clarinet and saxophone in school bands. At the age of fifteen, Mark started playing guitar and singing. After high school, Mark spent twelve years playing with military bands in Korea, Japan, Germany and the United States. Mark has also played several concerts backing "The Temptations" and working with many iconic acts over the years.

Mark has enjoyed a very successful career playing in Bands and performing solo for the last 28 years. Mark has worked with (and also led his own) big-bands, Jazz combos, country and rock bands covering almost all genres of music. In 1996, Mark started his publishing company, Choo-Choo Seven Musik u. Verlag. Besides recording and marketing his own songs and cds, Mark has also helped several bands and artists in securing P & D deals to release their own cds. Mark has also helped songwriters find co-writers and has helped in placing songs with other artists.

In 2009, Mark took over four independent labels: Amazing Records (Country), Castle Road Records (Jazz, Pop, Schlager, Singer/Songwriter), Blade Records (Rock, Hard Rock, Metal) and Country Lane Records (German Country and Bluegrass). Mark has been able to keep his artists in the European Country Charts as well as in the German and Austrian Independent Schlager Charts. Mark is constantly looking for new talent and new songs to work with and promote. As part of the Blue Pie Country Music Team for Europe, Mark works with Damien Reilly and Stephen Wrench to develop and now joins the Blue Pie Europe Team to help grow and develop his label " Castle Road Records " with the help of the Blue Pie Global Partner Network. Castle Road Records is a Blue Pie Label Partner. Mark is a keen fisherman and when he is not working on music you will find him working with the family playing tennis, skiing or just sitting back and chillaxing out to some great Country Music from Castle Road Records. For more information on Mark you can visit his label website at www.castleroadrecords.com