ABOUT AMS
About Anna M. Sala
Anna M. Sala is the founder of AMS Artists Management. She possesses over twenty years experience as a multi-disciplinary Performing Arts professional spanning the fields of music, dance, theatre and music production.
Collectively, the artists Anna has managed or promoted have made hundreds of recordings, earning three Grammys, three Grammy nominations, three Junos and a Tony in the process.
Today, the AMS Artists roster includes Grammy nominees singer/composer Karrin Allyson and saxophonist/composer Ravi Coltrane, Tony nominee actress/singer-songwriter Ann Hampton Callaway, multi-award winning trombonist and composer, Robin Eubanks, piano phenomenon, Benny Green, and internationally celebrated guitarist, Jim Hall.
Born and raised in Miami, Anna spent her formative years studying classical dance. While still a teenager, she joined the cast of Pennsylvania Ballet, and later became a member of American Ballet Theatre (under the direction of Mikhail Baryshnikov). She also performed major leading roles with the Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre and was chosen as a representative of the USA for the International Dance Competition (the Olympics of Dance) in Moscow, Russia. A broken ankle would prevent her from competing.
In her late twenties, Anna retired from ballet in order to pursue another passion, music. In 1991, she joined the staff of Elias Arts, a renowned audio production company serving the broadcast, advertising and entertainment industries. Determined to learn the business, Anna established herself in several key facets of the firm's operations, including marketing and production. The experience also helped clarify exactly what Anna wanted to do within the music business, which was to serve as an artist's advocate.
Soon thereafter, Anna accepted an opportunity to work with legendary jazz manager, Mary Ann Topper, of The Jazz Tree. Though still an apprentice, she became an immediate believer in the then unknown artist, Diana Krall. After acting as the singer's booking agent for several years, she secured the chanteuse a record deal with GRP/Verve.
During this time she also had the privilege of working with Joshua Redman, Christian McBride, Geoffrey Keezer, J.J. Johnson, Ray Brown, Cedar Walton, Ron Carter, Billy Higgins, and many other notable artists.
In 1998, Anna left The Jazz Tree to start her own booking and management company. Sala Creative Enterprises was folded into a joint venture with colleague Louise Holland, and together they formed ANLU Productions.
While at ANLU, Anna served as the booking agent for Grammy winner, the Dave Holland Quintet, and signed Tony nominated singer/songwriter Ann Hampton Callaway, among many others on their expanding roster.
Anna's producer skills were further honed when she was hand picked by Ray Brown to co-produce five recordings for a Japanese imprint featuring new, up-coming jazz artists. These included Ron Blake, JD Allen, Sean Connoly, Rodney Whitaker, Eric Harlan, Aaron Goldberg, Eric Alexander, Willy Jones, Donald Edwards, Ruben Rodgers, and Marcus Strickland.
In 2003, Anna shifted away from booking in order to devote herself exclusively to personal management. She and Louise amicably divided the ANLU client roster and went their separate ways, and thus was born AMS Artists Management.
Now a voting member of the Grammys, Anna's NARAS credentials include: Executive Producer (with Tommy LiPuma) for Claudia Acuña's RHYTHM OF LIFE; Associate producer for Ann Hampton Callaway's SLOW, BLUES IN THE NIGHT and AT LAST; Associate Producer for Robin Eubanks LIVE VOL 1; Production Coordinator for JJ Johnson's THE BRASS ORCHESTRA and Coordinator for Benny Green's GREEN'S BLUES, and most recently Associate producer for Ravi Coltrane's BLENDING TIMES, among other projects.
While dedicated to promoting an exclusive roster as a dedicated personal manager, Anna also provides support services to non-exclusive clients under the umbrella of AMS Artists Client Services division.
A champion of the arts, a dedicated student of Eastern Philosophy and Yoga, Anna continues to further her education, while simultaneously running the management firm. She recently graduated summa cum laude, from New York University, with a degree in International Studies and Political Science, and is currently pursuing a certificate from NYU in Intellectual Property law.
About Terry O'Gara
A multi-disciplined music and advertising professional, Terry O’Gara is Director of Branding and Content Management for AMS Artists.
Long before the phrase ‘sonic branding’ evolved as a buzzword, Terry O’Gara evangelized the practice, and published Branding With Audio, one of the first widely read articles promoting the concept.
A creative executive with nearly twenty years experience, O’Gara has produced hundreds of commercial scores in every imaginable style and genre. Along the way his aesthetic has earned the projects he produced the highest honors awarded by the advertising, broadcast promotions, game and interactive design industries.
Past clients include The Walt Disney Company, Viacom, Time Warner, every leading national advertising agency and every major cable channel and Television network.
He is also a founder of the pioneering Silicon Alley Interactive audio shop, Blister Media, where he directed a PR strategy that earned the boutique national press. Mix Magazine suggested Blister’s holistic practices were a portent to “the future of music production”.
In 1996, Machine Head, the nation’s leading sound design company tapped O'Gara to assume simultaneous duties as Executive Producer and Creative Director for all projects produced by the New York studio.
Before that he was Head of Production for Elias Arts, where he recruited a creative team that quadrupled billings and swept award shows.
Graphic Design USA identified O’Gara as one in a select group of American creative professionals that “display a special mix of design talent, strategic capabilities, business acumen, joy of creation, and a commitment to professional and public service.”
In 2003 O’Gara repositioned himself as a new breed of creative consultant possessing a broad talent for transforming business objectives into effective creative strategies. In 2005 he formed a strategic alliance with AMS Artists Management and has since provided brand identity, marketing solutions and communication strategies on behalf of internationally touring artists, talent agencies, artist management and a number of post-production ventures.
The son of an American expat, O'Gara grew up in the developing Third World before arriving in the States for high school. People who spend a significant portion of their childhood abroad are sometimes referred to as ‘Third Culture Kids’. Whatever one calls it, Terry O’Gara stands squarely among a unique class of creative professionals who act and think with a global perspective.
