Tributes have been paid to Bella Figura co-founder and CEO Alexi Cory-Smith, who has died suddenly at the age of 58.
Music Week extends our deepest sympathies to the family and friends of Alexi Cory-Smith, who was a key player and a popular figure in the UK music industry. She regularly appeared in Music Week over the course of her highly successful career at BMG and Bella Figura, a new venture which made major acquisitions in recordings and publishing.
“We are devastated to announce the sudden and unexpected passing of our co-founder and CEO, Alexi Cory-Smith,” said a statement from Bella Figura on social media. “Alexi built Bella Figura Music from the ground up, bringing the vision and passion from a successful career in the music industry.
“Her leadership, creativity, and unwavering commitment to our team and our work leaves a lasting legacy. Our thoughts are with Alexi’s family and loved ones during this incredibly difficult time. We ask that their privacy be respected.”
The statement continued: “We are committed to honouring Alexi’s vision and achievements and will share further updates when we are able. In the meantime, our focus is on supporting one another and remembering an extraordinary leader who meant so much to all of us.”
“RIP Alexi. Our thoughts are with her family and friends during this difficult time,” her former employer BMG posted on social media.
Her leadership, creativity, and unwavering commitment to our team and our work leaves a lasting legacy
Bella Figura
Dr Jo Twist OBE, BPI CEO, said: “We are profoundly saddened to learn of the passing of Alexi Cory-Smith. She made a highly valued contribution as a leading figure in our music industry, including as BPI Council member when representing BMG, and we extend our sincere condolences to her family, friends and colleagues on their great loss.”
Following her seven years as EVP and, latterly, president, repertoire & marketing, of BMG UK – a period of significant growth for their recording and publishing businesses – she launched Bella Figura in 2022 (alongside Neelesh Prabhu) as a major new force in acquiring catalogues.
In her first interview the following year to unveil Bella Figura, Alexi Cory-Smith outlined her vision for the company.
“I use an analogy of a Ferrari garage,” she told Music Week. “We’re a high net worth, boutique place for high-performance artists. Ferraris are the best and they need really great mechanics to manage them and look after them.”
Bella Figura has struck major deals including the RAK Publishing acquisition and catalogue deals with Human League co-founder Adrian Wright, David Gray, Guy Chambers and, most recently, Paul Epworth. It signed a global admin deal with Sony Music Publishing as part of a US expansion last year.
The company is also focused on cleaning up and managing metadata to maximise collections for clients.
Alexi Cory-Smith reflected on her career in her Aftershow interview with Music Week last year, in which she recalled her first label job at IRS Records, her decision to retrain as a lawyer and ending up helping to advise One Direction in a legal role.
She named her industry inspiration as Virgin Records lawyer Shelagh MacLeod, who died aged 53 in 2005.
While admitting to nerves about accepting the BMG role from then CEO Hartwig Masuch in 2011, she added: “It was the steepest, greatest learning curve of my life, but it gave me the foundation I needed.”
Further industry tributes are coming in for Alexi Cory-Smith.
In a joint statement, Tim Major, president and co-managing director, UK, Sony Music Publishing, and David Ventura, president & co-managing director, UK & SVP International, Sony Music Publishing, shared a tribute to the Bella Figura co-founder and CEO.
"We consider ourselves very fortunate to have worked closely with her and the Bella Figura team in recent times and to get to know the person that we had admired from afar for so many years," said Major and Ventura. "Alexi was undeniably one of the very best - an incredibly smart and accomplished executive with genuine charisma who could bring unrivalled business acumen alongside her wonderful sense of humour to any situation. All of us at Sony Music Publishing will miss her and our thoughts are with her loved ones and everyone at Bella Figura at this time.”
Sarah Williams, CEO at IMPEL, said: "There’s nothing more important in this world than being yourself, in all aspects of life. I had the pleasure of working with Alexi when Bella Figura joined IMPEL and it was clear to me that she was entirely her own person, injecting her own character into this growing business and steering it according to the principles in which she believed. In my book, that authenticity is the hallmark of a good life. Rest in power, Alexi."
"IMPF is deeply saddened to learn of the sudden and unexpected passing of Alexi Cory-Smith, founder and CEO of Bella Figura and a valued member of the music publishing community," said statement from IMPF (Independent Music Publishers International Forum). "A principled and passionate entrepreneur she was deeply connected to the art of the business. Our thoughts are with her family, friends and the entire Bella Figura team."
Dan Chalmers, head Of music EMEA, YouTube, paid a personal tribute.
"To know Alexi was to know a rare kind of strength—the kind that is quiet, understated, and quintessentially British. If you were lucky enough to call her a friend, you knew she was one of the best anyone could wish for," he said. "Our friendship was forged in the heat of the music business, marked by the BMG and ADA deal that defined so much of our professional journey. But for me, those milestones pale in comparison to the personal sanctuary she provided. During the turbulent transition of my divorce, Alexi was my anchor. She hosted me at her mews in Notting Hill, turning evenings into nights of laughter and connection that were, quite frankly, my lifeline.
"She saw me through the times I was a mess, yet she never judged. Instead, she offered the kind of advice only someone who had walked through the fire could provide. We bonded over the shared pressures of our lives – the politics of the industry, and the ongoing search for personal contentment. Alexi knew the high-profile life well, but she also understood the quiet, often isolating reality that shadowed it. We spoke plainly about our respective struggles, and in that, we found a genuine, grounded friendship.
"Alexi possessed a stoic grace that is increasingly rare. She never complained. She embodied the philosophy that life is rarely fair, and that when the going gets tough, you simply get your head down and crack on.
"It was a joy to watch her build her own company – a testament to that quiet, indomitable determination. After everything she navigated, she got back on the pitch and built something extraordinary, a legacy valued at 200 million. She didn’t shout, she didn’t bluster, in a World where everyone is obsessed with the next post, she didn’t go crazy on social media. It was deeply heartening to see everything falling into place for her, finally reaping the rewards of that grit.
"She became a fixture in my family’s life, becoming as much a part of them as she was of me. She formed a special bond with Rochelle, my mother, who coached her, and she became a true friend to my brothers, Tom and Oli, and their partners. She was a constant at our table – from Boxing Day dinners to my 40th in Ibiza, and finally, my 48th just last Sunday. Seeing her there, glass of Pauillac in hand, amidst Rochelle, the children, and our closest friends, is a memory I will hold onto for my life.
"We spoke recently about the future, and in a quiet moment last week, I told her it was finally time for her to find a great love of her own. To lose her just as she had built this life – and was truly beginning to enjoy it – is a cruel blow.
"Alexi, you left a mark on all of us that will not fade. You taught me about resilience, about the importance of showing up for one another, and about how to carry yourself with dignity, no matter what. You will be missed more than I can say, but you will never be forgotten. With love."
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