BREAKING: PEARSON ESCAPES FROM HITS

Mark Pearson, who served as HITS Retail Editor from its inception in 1986—and has worked with the company’s founders since even before that dark date—has announced that he will be retiring, effective immediately.

Mark looks forward to spending quality time with his family, as well as tearing around Pasadena in a golf cart, becoming an armchair sommelier and yelling at the TV. He is rumored to be in consideration to replace Jim Harbaugh as coach of the Niners and has been instrumental in the Giants’ World Series wins over the last five years.

Pearson has not only served as HITS’ emissary to the retail community, penned the Re-Rap column and represented at every NARM and Music Biz convention since 1991, but has also amassed the largest collection of headshots of guys named Morty in the Western Hemisphere.

In a true Re-Rap moment, Pearson is flanked by veteran sales guy David Miller (now at Capitol) and legendary retail buyer Bob Bell.

He’s also been a good and loyal friend, a devoted family man and a genuinely benign presence in our lives. We wish him nothing but the best, now that he’s escaped the cesspool.

You can reach Mark at [email protected].