Roger Ames, the former chief executive of Warner Music, has been appointed Eric Nicoli’s right-hand man at EMI.

The former global chief of Warner Music and former Polygram executive vice-president will be responsible for the recorded music division in North America. He will report to Mr Nicoli, global chief executive of EMI, the world’s third-largest music group.

The appointment comes after a management shake-up in January left a vacancy for the North America post that Mr Nicoli had been looking after alongside his global responsibilities. Mr Ames has been an adviser to Mr Nicoli on EMI music for the past two years and was seen as the natural successor for the role, after the former global head, Alain Levy, and the former North America chief, David Munns, were fired.

In an internal memo sent to staff yesterday, Mr Nicoli said: “Roger is a very well-regarded music executive with extensive US experience. His leadership and guidance is exactly what our North American Music business needs right now.”

Mr Ames has a track record in developing global stars. At Warner, he was responsible for Madonna and for The Streets, while at Polygram he looked after Elton John, U2 and Sting.

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