Hosh Gureli

Career

Hosh Gureli grew up in Middletown, New York. At age 16, he began his career in music as a record clerk for Record World. After a year at Syracuse University, Gureli transferred to Emerson College in Boston. In 1982, Hosh created and hosted WERS’s Boston Mastermix program.

After college, Gureli remained in Boston throughout the mid-1980's. During this time, he worked as a DJ in Boston at several of city's clubs. His work eventually led to an internship at popular music station, Kiss 108, in 1987 under the leadership of program director, Sunny Joe White, and music director, Jerry McKenna. It was during this time that he met up with the program director of KMEL, Keith Naftaly, at a radio conference. Several months later in 1988, Naftaly appointed Gureli as the music director of the San Francisco radio station. Together, Naftaly and Gureli spread a newly engineered rhythm-crossover format, with a heavy blend of urban, hip hop, pop and dance records. Additionally, Gureli created and hosted KMEL Underground, a mixshow featuring a myriad of EDM acts.

In 1993, Gureli was recruited by Clive Davis as a senior director of A&R at Arista. Later, he became the Vice President of A&R at J Records / RCA Music Group. Coinciding with his time working with Clive, Gureli continued work in underground mix shows spinning for New York’s Hot 97 in 1993.

In the 90's, Gureli also produced a number of remixes for larger acts like Toni Braxton's "Un-Break My Heart" and Whitney Houston’s “It’s Not Right…But It’s Ok". He continued his work into the next decade.