He has worked with artists including Pentatonix, Kesha, Whitney Houston, Kelly Clarkson, Luther Vandross, Sia and Christina Aguilera.
[7]: 301 Although Naftaly studied classical piano as a child, he also took interest in popular music, especially R&B played on local radio station KDIA.
[7]: 302–303 After graduating from Lowell High School in 1980, Naftaly attended the University of California, Berkeley and briefly worked for student station KALX.
[7]: 303–304 While a student at UC Berkeley, Naftaly took a night shift job answering request lines at San Francisco top-40 station KFRC after dissatisfaction with KALX.
[8] He programmed rap and hip hop records, breaking the "segregated institution" of American radio, and moved KMEL from a general top-40 to a rhythmic format.
[7]: 308 KMEL was the top rated radio station in San Francisco for the five years that Naftaly served as its program director.
[11][12] Focused on finding songs and picking singles for the label's artists, Naftaly's credits at Arista included the Waiting to Exhale soundtrack album and Santana's Supernatural, and hit records by artists such as Monica (Miss Thang), Deborah Cox ("Nobody's Supposed to Be Here"), Next ("Too Close"), Brandy and Monica ("The Boy is Mine").