JAY WALKS FROM MCA

Said UMG Chairman/CEO Doug Morris: "I want to thank him for his dedication and many contributions to the company over the years. I truly respect Jay as a person and record executive and will miss him."

Morris went on to announce that Sr. VP Promotion Craig Lambert will serve as the interim head of MCA, which will remain as a "full-service, free-standing" label. Lambert will report to Interscope Geffen A&M chief Jimmy Iovine on the day-to-day activities of the label. A new head of MCA Records will be named in the next few months.

The 44-year-old seven-year label vet, who was named to his current post in Nov. 1995 by UMG chiefs Morris and Zach Horowitz a year after being tapped as MCA Music Publishing President, told his staff this morning he’s leaving the company, effective immediately.

Boberg enumerated the high points of his regime in an e-mail to the staff, thanking Doug Morris for being "a tremendous mentor" and "allowing me to run MCA as if it were my own... Few of my peers at major labels have enjoyed a tenure as long as mine at MCA. Arriving from IRS Records, I came in with a reputation as a maverick, as a champion of groundbreaking artistry and a person with a true love of music. As I walk out of here today, all those attributes remain intact."

The UCLA/Harvard Business School grad was just 25 years old, when Miles Copeland named him President of IRS Records, the label the two co-founded in 1979. The pioneering new wave company, distributed first by A&M and then later by MCA and EMI, was the home of such hits acts as R.E.M., the Go-Go’s, Fine Young Cannibals, Oingo Boingo and English Beat. While there, he established a film production arm, I.R.S. Media.

At MCA, Boberg oversaw the successes of an eclectic roster that included Mary J. Blige, Blink-182, New Edition, Sublime, K-Ci and JoJo, Bobby Brown, the Roots, Common, Shaggy and New Found Glory.

He’s also a longtime Clipper season ticket holder and would-be golfer, so take it easy on the guy.