MCA Nashville Chairman Bruce Hinton, who ran Music Row's top label of the 1990s, announced his retirement yesterday.

Luke Lewis, chairman of Mercury Nashville and president of the newer Lost Highway, will oversee operations of all three labels, announced Universal Music Group, the labels' parent company. Hinton will become chairman emeritus, assuming an advisory role.

Despite struggles in the music business and recent turmoil at UMG's parent company Vivendi Universal, Hinton said the retirement was voluntary.

''I know this feels right. I almost can't tell you why,'' Hinton said in an interview yesterday. ''The right time to leave is when things are optimistic and very bright. With the new artists that we've signed over the last several months, I think the next wave of superstars is here on the roster and ready to be launched.''

Hinton, 65, was with MCA for 19 years. During his 13 years as either president or chairman, he helped guide the careers of such major stars such Vince Gill, George Strait, Reba McEntire, Trisha Yearwood and Lee Ann Womack. MCA earned Billboard and R&R magazine honors as country label of the year each year in the 1990s.

Lewis said he envisions a more coordinated operation between MCA and Mercury, which have shared administrative services for many years but operated independently in the acquisition of artists and the marketing of records.

''It gives us more juice in a really competitive marketplace to be teamed up,'' Lewis said.

''I still expect the (labels) to compete, but like Joe Galante and Allen Butler, it gives me opportunity to use muscle on both sides to help each other out.''

Galante is chairman of the RCA Label Group, which consists of RCA, BNA and Arista. Butler, president and chief executive of Sony Music Nashville, oversees Columbia, Epic, Monument and Lucky Dog.

The past decade in Nashville has seen increasingly consolidated management of major labels, as well as closure of unprofitable record company divisions. Universal, in contrast, has expanded its Nashville presence, opening Lost Highway in 2000 and Universal South this year.

Overall, however, Vivendi, which acquired Universal two years ago, has suffered lately. Saddled with debt and falling stock prices, the Paris-based corporation ousted Chief Executive Jean-Marie Messier in July.

Hinton was widely praised yesterday as a master businessman and a refined figure on Music Row.

''Bruce Hinton was a statesman,'' said R&R magazine executive editor Jeff Green, a nine-year veteran of the Country Music Association who worked with Hinton on international market development issues.

''He is a generous, fair-minded and involved executive. He didn't personify the typical chairman's role — a corporate senior executive who wasn't involved day-to-day. He was a great leader and he is going to be missed very much.''

Hinton's music career began at Warner Bros. Records in New York in 1960, working through an executive training program from warehouse tasks to national promotion manager. In 1965, Hinton continued his promotion career with Columbia Records.

From 1967 to 1984, Hinton ran what is reported to be country music's first independent record promotion business, with Nashville label-chief-to-be Jimmy Bowen.

Hinton moved to Nashville in 1984 to work for Bowen at MCA, and when Bowen left for Capitol Records in 1989, Hinton assumed the helm of MCA.

Once installed, Hinton changed gears at the company by paring a roster of 46 artists to fewer than 20. He instituted a methodical and meticulous approach to signing and promoting artists.

''I think it's part of our culture,'' Hinton said of MCA. ''Even in this kind of climate, we're not looking to do one album with an artist to see if we get lucky. It's really believing in the artist and sticking with them and giving them the time to really develop. That has not historically been true of every company.''

Hinton said he plans to spend more time with his family (he has a son in college and a daughter and grandchildren in Los Angeles) and at his second home in Puerta Vallarta, Mexico; to more closely follow his musical idol, jazz pianist Oscar Peterson; and to take an immersion course in Spanish.