Scholes worked for a time in RCA Victor's radio division, but his experience playing saxophone and clarinet in dance bands led him to the record division. During World War II, he worked in the Army's V-disc operation, which made records for radio broadcast and for personal use by army personnel.[3]
In 1957, Sholes convinced RCA to build its own recording studio in Nashville on Seventeenth Avenue South; this would become RCA Studio B. The same year, he became the company's popsinglesmanager, then pop singles and albums manager in 1958, and West Coast manager in 1961. The latter promotion took him to Los Angeles, California. In 1963, Sholes became RCA Victor vice president for pop A&R and returned to New York.
Sholes died in Nashville of a heart attack at the age of 57.[3] At the time of his death he was visiting to see his longtime friends, Homer and Jethro, record a live album at Vanderbilt University. He was driving to the school when he was stricken.
Sholes was portrayed by actor Bart Hansard in the CBS mini-series Elvis (2005).
^Cusic, Don. Discovering Country Music, p. 62. ABC-CLIO, 2008. ISBN0313352453. Accessed July 3, 2012. "Sholes was born in Washington, DC, on February 12, 1911, and lived there until he was nine when the family moved to Merchantville, New Jersey. After high school, he attended Rutgers University and continued to work at RCA Victor part time."