At TEG, our passion is driven by the truth in a great song and the heart of a great singer. Chuck Thompson began his 35 plus years in the entertainment industry while attending Nashville’s prestigious Belmont College. A posting for an internship caught his eye, and that internship turned into his first job when publicist Woody Bowles hired him during his final year of study at the college to drive
the media campaigns for David Allen Coe, Frizzell & West, Ricky Skaggs, The Flying Burrito Brothers and George Strait. While at the firm, he cut his artist management teeth with acts Baillie and the Boys and comedy duo Pinkard and Bowden. Transitioning to the management firm The Ken Stilts Company where he would rise to the position of Vice President, Thompson and his team guided the careers of The Judds, Billy Dean, McBride and The Ride, The Pirates of the Mississippi, Carl Perkins, Skip Ewing, Wynonna and others. He worked alongside principles Ken Stilts and Steve Pritchard to build an integrated corporate sponsorship/artist booking agency to work within the corporate and country music communities. While serving as Vice President/Director Of Public Relations for Pro Tours, the company launched co-branded country music tours for corporate clients GMC Trucks, Liberty Optical, The Sara Lee Corporation, and Sun Country Wine Coolers. In 1995, Thompson accepted the position of Director, Media Relations & Artist Development with the newly reorganized RCA Label Group Nashville. Working with the established RCA roster and with the BNA staff to launch the careers of recently signed artists Kenny Chesney, Lonestar and Mindy McCready he also created the media and sales opportunities for the label’s extensive catalog of masters. While leading the label’s NASCAR efforts, working with the Kranefuss-Haus Racing Team, he developed marketing and events for RCA and BNA artists and the race team’s co-sponsors Little Caesar’s Pizza and Kmart at some of the .” racing events around the country. In the spring of 1997, Chuck returned to the ranks of artist management to co-manage Decca recording artist Danni Leigh, opening the offices of the Thompson Entertainment Group under the banner “Where music still has A Heart and A Soul.” “My goal has always been to develop long term strategies for each of our artists,” says Thompson. “In a world of broadening entertainment options, music is the thread that runs through it all impacting every part of our lives. My passion is driven by the truth in a great song and the heart of a great singer.” That business philosophy and his very hands-on style have steered the careers of Eric Durrance, Pear, Ricochet, Michelle Wright, Thom Shepherd, Brownsville Station, Wings Of Apollo, Maiden Dixie, Mutual Groove and mixer/producer Jay Tooke. Harley Davidson, Coca-Cola, Panoptix, and Conagra Foods have partnered with TEG to reach their customers through music. In 2016 indie label Navigator Records was added to the TEG umbrella as the latest evolution in the company’s growth. In the fall of 2018, Navigator Records released new studio recordings from Canadian Country Music Hall Of Fame artist Michelle Wright, her first new music since the 2013 release of Strong. Other Navigator releases have included Wright’s recording of the Christmas classic “Silver Bells,” released to coincide with A Wright Christmas: 2019 tour across the Alberta and Ontario provinces of Canada.
