All About Elliot Grainge’s Parents, Music Executive Lucian Grainge and Samantha Berg

Elliot Grainge is the son of music executive Lucian Grainge and Samantha Berg.

Lucian and Berg welcomed Elliot in November 1993. While giving birth to Elliot, Berg suffered an amniotic fluid embolism, which put her into a coma. She later died in 2007.

Growing up in north London, Elliot was exposed to the music industry at a young age, as his father has held high-level roles at Universal Music Group since 1986. Elliot followed in his father’s footsteps, establishing his own indie record label in 2016, but he says he doesn’t tune into the discourse of being a nepo baby.

“I try not to think about it, to be honest with you,” Elliot told The Los Angeles Times in April 2023. “But I’ll take the bait: I understand that because of my name there’s a target on my back. If we do well, it’s because of the connections. And if we don’t do well — if we fail — then you could go, ‘Well, they’re not as good as so-and-so.’ ”

He added that his label has had several hit records and explained that you can’t “fake that in business,” so “repeated success should dispel any notion that we’ve only been successful because of this reason.”

Here’s everything to know about Elliot Grainge’s parents, Lucian Grainge and Samantha Berg.

They share one child together

Lucian and Berg welcomed their only child, son Elliot, on Nov. 6, 1993.

When Berg was giving birth to Elliot, she suffered an amniotic fluid embolism, which put her into a years-long coma, per The Financial Times.

Berg died in 2007

After 14 years in a coma, Berg died in 2007. Speaking with The Financial Times in September 2021, Lucian opened up about raising Elliot on his own and how it was “fighting in a different way.”

“Fighting for survival, fighting for him, fighting the competition. It was extremely hard,” he said, adding that juggling his career with being a single parent set him back “probably about three years.”

When Elliot was 8, Lucian got remarried to his wife Caroline Grainge. She had a daughter, Betsy, from a previous marriage, and the pair later welcomed a daughter together named Alice.

“My wife and that family gave me the cover and the support to be able to do emotional what I do,” Lucian told The Financial Times.

Berg’s death shaped Elliot and Lucian’s relationship

Lucian raised Elliot on his own for the beginning of his childhood, which brought the pair closer. During an interview with The Los Angeles Times in April 2023, Elliot said that he counts his aunt Stephanie and his father’s second wife Caroline as maternal figures in his life, though the death of Berg really shaped his relationship with his father.

“I’ve yet to meet someone in my life who’s had a similar experience with their childhood, so it’s difficult to self-analyze,” he said. “But I can tell you that we have a very unique relationship.”

Lucian echoed the sentiment, telling The Los Angeles Times“Considering what we’ve been through together personally, in some ways he’s like the twin brother I never had.”

Lucian moved Elliot from London to Los Angeles

Lucian raised Elliot in north London, but eventually moved him and the rest of their family to Los Angeles in 2009, per The Los Angeles Times. During his 2021 interview with The Financial TimesLucian said that when he and Elliot lived in London, he took him to Arsenal matches every other Saturday as a bonding experience.

“To go with your son or daughter for that, you know, hour in the journey, two hours at the game, have a hot dog or a bag of Maltesers, and without telling anyone that you’re giving them a Coca-Cola or 7-Up,” he said. “Talking about (the game) together. It’s one of the greatest things ever.”

Lucian is the CEO and chairman of Universal Music Group

Lucian had roots in the music business from a young age. His father was a record shop owner and his half-brother, Nigel Grainge, founded the indie label Ensign, according to The Los Angeles Times.

Lucian first joined Universal Music Group in 1986 when he launched PolyGram Music Publishing UK, per Universal Music. He has held several roles at the company from Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Universal Music UK to Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Universal Music Group International.

In 2010, Lucian was promoted to global CEO of Universal Music Group. He’s worked with plenty of high-profile artists throughout his career, including The Rolling Stones, Amy Winehouse, Rihanna, Katy Perry and Elton John.

“I’d been at the company for over 20 years, and I was coming from being the head of international. When you’ve been in an organization for 22 or 23 years, managing 60 or 70 countries, you have deep relationships on both the creative side and the business side,” Lucian told Billboard about his promotion to global CEO.

In 2020, Lucian was named Billboard‘s first-ever Executive of the Decade and received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. He’s also been placed at No. 1 he Billboard‘s “Power 100” list four times.

Elliot and Lucian don’t discuss business together

Elliot also works in the music business — he founded the 10K Projects record label in 2016 — but he and Lucian typically refrain from discussing their work together. Speaking with The Los Angeles TimesElliot shared that he and his father prefer to keep family life and business separate.

“We separate it like church and state,” he said. “Otherwise, we’d be agreeing or disagreeing on too much. We’ll talk about where the market is, but never anything in detail of his business or my business. We’ve never crossed that line.”

However, Elliot has previously mentioned that he learned some valuable lessons from watching his father work in the music business. During a 2019 interview with VarietyElliot told the outlet that he was a “weird kid who used to read the music trades” and took note of his father’s negotiation tactics.

“What I noticed about my father’s negotiating style was how transparent, honest and sensible he was,” he said. “When you put your cards on the table like that, negotiating is less competitive and more about teamwork.”

Elliot named his daughter after Berg

Elliot’s daughter with his wife Sofia Richie is named after Berg.

The couple announced their happy news in May 2024, revealing in an Instagram post that their daughter’s name is Eloise Samantha Grainge, with her middle name honoring Elliot’s mother.