Best friends and Coalition Music co-founders Rob Lanni and Eric Lawrence started out their music industry careers in the 1980s, operating as artist managers for Rob’s older brothers’ band, out of Rob’s childhood home. Both were passionate music lovers who wanted to work in the industry. Slowly, their management business expanded as they took on more artists, including noteworthy Canadian bands like Our Lady Peace, Finger Eleven, Simple Plan, and more recently USS.
Today, the ever-expanding music business is housed in an impressive former schoolhouse and nunnery built by Senator Frank O’Connor. The office building is often mistaken for a church from the outside, but inside the walls are adorned with gold and multi-platinum records from all the aforementioned artists and other music memorabilia.
“We fell into the business because of Rob’s brother,” Eric recalls. “We didn’t realize we could have a career in music, but here we are over 25 years later.”
