Paul Geary

When speaking to Paul Geary, there’s is no doubt that his Boston-based musical heritage brings him a source of great pride. Growing up in Medford, a child of modest means and great potential, he was ecstatic to find himself managing artists that he’d idolized in his youth such as Brad Delp, Joe Perry and Johnny Depp. Here’s how it happened.

MUSICAL BEGINNINGS, THE DREAM, CBS TELEVISION SHOW

Geary grew up listening to the classic bands of his youth, such as Led Zeppelin,  Aerosmith, Pink Floyd, Boston and Deep Purple. His love of music and his innately outgoing spirit drove him towards percussion and he soon became a drummer, playing in several local bands. It was through one of those groups that he met Gary Cherone and in 1981and together they formed The Dream. The group was successful on the Boston club scene and the name became their trademark, essentially, so much so that when CBS heard about them, they instantly knew they had a problem.

During that same time period, CBS had been hard at work creating a television series around actor/singer/guitarist/drummer John Stamos. The series was based on an up-and-coming rock band making their way through the music business in search of a recording deal. Sound familiar? It sure does – and it sounded familiar to CBS as well.

Enter Paul Geary’s first brush with the business side of entertainment. CBS wanted the trademark and they wanted to make a deal: $25,000 up front and a $500 royalty for every episode aired. The band accepted the offer right away and the 12-episode syndicated series Dreams was scheduled to air between October and December 1984 (though CBS ended up broadcasting just five episodes, all in October).

EXTREME, SBX MANAGEMENT, “MORE THAN WORDS”

All told, Geary had been managing The Dream all along, knocking on doors and scoring gigs. Now, the band had bank and a brand new name, Extreme. They came up through the ranks fast and hard. With Cherone’s poetic verse, Nuno Bettencourt’s six-string virtuosity and Geary’s percussive prowess, the group caught the attention of A&M Records and signed with the label in 1987.

With mounting responsibilities towards their label, Geary reached out to Arma Andon of SBK Management, who had been managing Roger Waters and Wilson Phillips, and recruited his services. In the seven years that followed, Extreme gained massive commercial success, starting when their single “More Than Words” went into heavy rotation on MTV. They released four albums over the next several years, appeared in over 35 countries, sold more than 10 million albums and were nominated for a Grammy.

GLOBAL ARTS MANAGEMENT, GODSMACK, FUEL, COLD AFROMAN

In 1994, Geary walked away from Extreme to seek out broader horizons. After several consults with Tim Collins, then Aerosmith’s manager, he founded his own artist management group, Global Artist Management. By this time, Geary had purchased a home in New Hampshire. Not far from his new place lived none other than Sully Erna newly formed band Godsmack. From time to time, Erna would bring demos to Geary for critiquing and Geary became so enamored with the project, that he signed Godsmack to a management contract.

Because of Geary’s dogged persistence and his many connections in the music industry, he was able to not only promote the band and increase record sales but to also pen a great recording contract for the band with Universal/Republic Records. With the success of that first artist management contract, Geary’s credibility in the industry flourished. Global Artist Management then signed multi-platinum rock group Fuel, garnered three gold certifications with the rock band Cold and had a #1 one Billboard hit with Afroman’s “Because I Got High”.

AGP MANAGEMENT, STEVE WOOD BUSINESS PARTNERSHIP

In 2005, Geary partnered with entertainment mogul and Rock & Roll Hall of Famer Irving Azoff to establish AGP Management (initialized for “Azoff,” “Geary” and ”Paul”), a division of Front Line Management Group. The company moved to Los Angeles that same year and grew considerably as they picked up The Smashing Pumpkins, Creed, The Scorpions, Hoobastank, Alter Bridge, New Kids on The Block, Earth, Wind and Fire, Jennifer Hudson, Steel Panther, a touring production contract for the TV show Glee and many more top acts of the day.

In 2013 Geary reorganized and once again promoted himself as Global Artist Management as Irving Azoff stepped down as CEO of Live Nation to pursue other ventures. Geary relocated to Century City, Los Angeles along with several of his acts and tour manager Steve Wood. Together they went on to sign Joe Perry and The Hollywood Vampires. When Geary and Wood first met in 1991, Geary was still with Extreme, Wood was the tour manager for Cinderella and both bands were on tour with David Lee Roth. The two became fast friends and were full business partners by 2018.

STILL THE KING, SHELTER MUSIC GROUP

The first major score for the newly reformed Global Artist Management came when Geary and his team pitched a 13-episode television series to Viacom, which debuted in 2016 on CMT, TV Land and Hulu. The series was a fully scripted comedy called Still the King. It was created by Billy Ray Cyrus, who’d filmed the pilot reel with a Nashville production company called Hideout Pictures. In 2017, Still the King was picked up for a second season, with Geary credited as producer.

By 2020, Carl Stubner of Shelter Music Group (a BMG company) made a bid for Geary‘s Global Artist Management. With BMG’s funding and substantial acts to their merit including Fleetwood Mac, ZZ Top, Crowded House, Bare Naked Ladies and A Perfect Circle, Geary made the jump to executive artist management for Shelter Music Group and merged his company with an industry giant.

These days, Geary still has his finger on the pulse of the global entertainment business – from artist management to tour and television production – and positioned himself and his company for success for decades to come.

(by John Cappello)