Music Executive Slain in Malibu; Woman Held

One of the music industry’s more colorful executives was shot to death Sunday at his Malibu home, and an ex-girlfriend was tracked down and arrested in Santa Monica, authorities said.

Charles Minor, 46, an executive at Hits magazine and former president of Giant Records,was found dead at his rented Malibu home after an argument with Suzette McClure, 27. Two witnesses reportedly heard gunshots. McClure was booked on suspicion of murder after authorities found her driver’s license in Minor’s house, Los Angeles County sheriff’s investigators said.

Witnesses reportedly told investigators that McClure went to Minor’s Malibu home about 11:30 a.m. Sunday and asked to speak to him. Moments after she went upstairs, a friend of Minor’s and a housekeeper heard several gunshots, deputies said. Authorities said they later discovered Minor’s body on the second-floor landing.

McClure left, deputies said, but was tracked down after investigators found her driver’s license.

Minor lived in Beverly Hills but spent most weekends in the Malibu home on Pacific Coast Highway.

Known as a promoter who would go to any extreme to get a record played on the air, Minor spent the last two years as president of the business division of Sherman Oaks-based Hits magazine, a weekly music industry trade publication.

For two years before that, he was president of Giant Records, which has handled such artists as the R & B vocal group Jade and country singer Clay Walker. The label is also known for producing “Common Thread,” a collection of Eagles hits recorded by country artists.

But Minor gained his colorful reputation in the industry during his 17 years with A & M Records as the label’s promotion chief. He was known for getting radio programmers to play his label’s hits after plying them with expensive meals and fine wine.

A & M co-founder Herb Albert once nicknamed Minor “Jaws” for his ability to talk nonstop on the telephone to radio stations and industry executives.

“He was just a working-class boy from Marietta, Ga., who hit it big,” said Mike Bone, a longtime music industry promoter and executive. “He was probably the best Top 40 promotion person there was in his day.”