John Mayer recently parted ways with longtime manager Michael McDonald of Mick Management and has apparently joined forces with Troy Carter, Lady Gaga's previous manager.
A source told Rolling Stone that Mayer knew Carter through mutual friends. "It's just getting started but great new things will be announced as the year progresses." McDonald had worked with Meyer since his debut album Room for Squares. It isn't clear what the reasoning was for the split.
Signing Mayer was an interesting choice for Carter, considering he primarily works with pop and hip-hop artists, not so much on the rock end of the industry. His management company Atom Factory manages John Legend, rapper K'Naan and violinist Lindsey Stirling. Carter has also worked with Eve, Nelly, and just recently ended the management relationship with Lady Gaga.
Carter started working with Gaga in 2007 before she released mega-hit The Fame. At the beginning of 2013 he told The Hollywood Reporter, "She was very specific about her vision, all of the music was there, and all she needed was someone to help her translate it to the rest of the world, which is where I came in."
But just days before Artpop was released, Carter and Gaga parted ways due to "creative differences."
Carter is the CEO of Atom Factory, the Los Angeles-based management company that he founded in 2010. Before that, he began his work in the early '90s in Philadelphia as an assistant to James Lassiter, Will Smith's longtime business partner. He worked with Lassiter at DJ Jazzy Jeff's studio. The then started an internship at Bad Boy Entertainment in 1995.
Carter has certainly made a name for himself since then, and we'll see how it all works out with Mayer.
