RHONE REIGNS ON

Trailblazing industry icon and Epic boss Sylvia Rhone has been collecting all manner of laurels lately, most recently the Bible's Women in Music Executive of the Year. In honor of her inspiring career—and as a token of our abiding affection—we present this selection of photos from our archives. We understand if Sylvia would prefer to keep this particular tribute quiet.

In this vintage pic from the Elektra days, which is also relevant to hip-hop’s 50th, Black History Month and Women’s History Month, the following people wondered how long HITS would continue to exist: (l-r) Brian Cohen, Greg Thompson, Richard Nash, Mona Scott, Louise West, Missy Elliott, Rhone and Merlin Bobb.

If you needed a visual representation of what the music-biz "room" looked like just a little while ago, you could do worse than this shot of Rhone with Bob Morgado, Doug Morris, Gerald Levin and Ahmet Ertegun.

At the International Achievement in Arts Awards in 1997—which resembles the NBC Mystery Movie of our dreams—Rhone joined a starry slate of honorees including (back, l-r) Gregory Peck, Veronique Peck, Smokey Robinson, Erika Slezak, Celine Dion, Robert Wagner and (front, l-r) Diane Warren, Dolores Hope and Anthony Quinn. Later, everyone enjoyed a refreshing Tom Collins and exchanged anecdotes about Randolph Scott.

Rhone gained renown in the industry as the only executive fluent in both Busta Rhymes and Richard Parsons.

The celebrated Epic boss brandishes her City of Hope Spirit of Life award with former Attorney General Eric Holder, who confirmed that since his tenure, D.C. has gone from 85% batshit to 110%.

Two legends, no waiting: Rhone, amid her City of Hope revels, with another industry giant, mentor and change agent, Clarence Avant.

Rhone asks Future if the title of his smash album I NEVER LIKED YOU was inspired by us, while the RIAA's Michele Ballantyne and Epic EVP, Head of A&R Zeke Lewis and GM Rick Sackheim wish this photo were appearing literally anywhere else.