Charlie Brusco
Red Light Artist Management
Charlie Brusco’s early love of rock and roll music has led to one of the industry’s most successful careers in artist management. In the early 70s, Brusco discovered and managed The Outlaws, who were the first act signed to Clive Davis’ Arista Records in 1973. His work with this multi-platinum southern rock giant paved the way for his relationship with classic rock radio legend Lynyrd Skynyrd. His successful revival of Skynyrd’s career brought other classic rock acts to his door such as Bad Company, Peter Frampton, Survivor, Tesla, John Waite, Thin Lizzie and Styx. Charlie was born in Pittsburgh, PA and at 14 formed his own band which won a recording session with RCA Records. After college he moved to Tampa, FL and founded Southern Bay Productions. After discovering The Outlaws he moved to Macon, GA and then to Atlanta, GA in 1976. He created High Tide Management, Inc. The company was wildly successful and in 1979 The Outlaws sold out Madison Square Garden. During Jimmy Carter’s victorious run for the White House in 1976, Charlie arranged and produced many concerts for the benefit of Carter’s campaign. He began to promote concerts in addition to his managerial duties. During that time he promoted the benefit Amnesty International Concert at the Omni in 1986 with Bill Graham and Alex Cooley. Stars such as U2, The Police and Bryan Adams appeared. Ten years after the tragic 1977 plane crash, Charlie reunited the survivors of Lynyrd Skynyrd and they have successfully toured up to the present day. In 1996 he also reunited the members of Styx and they had the most successful tour of their 20+ year career. At present, they are even hotter, selling out venues all over the country. They appeared at the Super Bowl twice in recent years. The day after the heartbreaking events of 9/11/2001 Charlie and Styx decided they could not just stand by and do nothing. During one phone call “Volunteers for America” was conceived. Charlie and his staff put together, in only 3 weeks, two benefit concerts. Appearing at the Atlanta and Dallas concerts were Styx, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Bad Company, Journey, REO Speedwagon, Kansas, Peter Frampton, Eddie Money, John Waite, Survivor, Mark Farner and was MC’d by Drew Carey. Charlie got hotels to donate rooms, airlines to give him lower prices, buses, trucks, sound and lights all donated or did the job at rock bottom prices. The artists and all the crew took no money for their efforts. These concerts netted $575,000 and in November 2001, Charlie, members of his staff, members of Styx, Journey and REO Speedwagon stood at the ruins of The World Trade Center and presented a check for $550,000 to the Port Authority Police World Trade Survivor Fund. $25,000 was given straight to 2 individuals which included Kelly Lee, widow of well-known tour carpenter Danny Lee who was killed on the flight from Boston going home for the birth of his second child. In 2002 two concerts were done at the Meadowlands in New Jersey and in Cleveland. Participating in the proceeds that year was the Port Authority Police and The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Educational Fund. Charlie was honored in 2005 with NARAS’ prestigious Hero’s Award along with Coretta Scott King and Usher. His good friend, Jon Bon Jovi presented him to the audience and Styx was his musical guest. In 2010 he was inducted into the Georgia Music Hall of Fame as a non-performer with Styx James “JY” Young and Tommy Shaw doing the honors. In January 2012 Charlie joined the prestigious Red Light Management that manages artists such as The Dave Matthews Band, Phish, Alicia Keyes, Tim McGraw and many, many more. His office became the Atlanta Red Light Office. RLM has offices in NYC, Nashville, Los Angeles, Denver, London and is headquartered in Charlottesville, VA. He sits on the Board of TJ Martell Cancer Organization and NARAS. Charlie has been active in Grammys in the Schools and sat on the Board of Directors of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame and Museum in Cleveland.