When a musician rockets to stardom, much of the hype focuses on the artist, from their songwriting abilities to their live performances. The producer is usually the next person who gets their roses. But many fans may not know the musician’s manager, unless it’s for less-than-stellar reasons, as in the case of Scooter Braun and Taylor Swift.

But it’s worth knowing Drew Simmons. Simmons, who works as a manager at Foundations Music, has been essential to musicians like Noah Kahan. Simmons attended Northeastern in the early 2000s, splitting his time between the music industry program, working gigs around the city to see live performances and, according to Music Business Worldwide, managing artists from his dorm room.

It seems that Simmons always had the drive to be part of the music industry. Simmons’ career, which has brought him from New York to Nashville, started at Ani DiFranco’s Righteous Babe Records in Buffalo, New York. After college, he moved onto New York City, where he worked with James Brown. According to Music Connection, he would also go on to work with O.A.R. and Young the Giant.

In 2016, just a few years after joining Foundations Music, he heard a few songs from Kahan on Soundcloud, Simmons sent the artist a message wanting to represent him. He even went to Kahan’s town in Vermont to make his case, according to Music Business Worldwide. He’s been with Kahan through several albums, including Stick Season, which has become inescapable, especially on platforms like Tiktok. You can read more about Kahan’s album Stick Season on NGN.