Paul Geary Managing Partner

Paul Geary grew up in Boston MA, and as a kid had been obsessed with the rock music of the 70’s i.e. Led Zeppelin, Aerosmith, Pink Floyd, Deep Purple etc.… He began playing drums in local groups as a teenager, and did so for several years around New England until finally forming his first commercially successful band called Extreme with bandmates Gary Cherone, Nuno Bettencourt & Pat Badger.

Extreme signed a recording contract with A&M records in 1987 and subsequently released 4 albums over the following 7 years (collectively selling over 10 Million records world-wide).  Although the band was primarily a guitar-driven rock band with several Active Rock hits under their belts, they were best known for their #1 Billboard acoustic smash hit “More Than Words” and the chart topping follow up “Hole Hearted”.  Geary toured with Extreme in over 35 countries between 1989 & 1994, during which years they earned many Gold and Platinum sales certifications, and were nominated for a Grammy in 1992. He was trusted by his bandmates to handle the primary business decisions for the group, which gave him his first real life experience as a professional artist manager.

Geary left Extreme in 1994 to pursue a full-time career in management. He felt strongly that having been a successful recording and touring artist himself, that he understood the challenges of being a professional musician more-so than any other artist manager he had come into contact with over the years.

In 1995, Geary formed an artist management company in Boston called Global Artist Management.  One of the first groups that had caught his attention (through friend and frontman Sully Erna) was a local Boston band called Godsmack.  Geary eventually signed Godsmack to a personal management agreement, but the group was soon passed on by several major record companies (despite the night time airplay the band had been enjoying on Boston radio station “WAAF”).

Fortunes changed when Geary’s long-time friend and supporter “Ron Valeri” took over as Program Director at “WAAF” and agreed to officially add and report what would become the band’s first hit single called “Whatever”. Through the support of “Mike Dreese”, owner of a chain of 21 New England retail stores called “Newbury Comics”, Geary was successful in having the groups independent record moved from the local store bins to the traditional Soundscan reported racks with heavy in-store advertising and promotion. Through growing airplay, self-funded radio commercials and retail support, the records gained sales momentum steadily from 60-80 units to more than 1000 units per-week. Soon came the support of surrounding radio stations “WGIR/WHEB” in NH, “WHJY” in Providence, and “WCCC” in Hartford. It wasn’t very long after that the phones began to ring with interest from major label executives (including a call Erna received directly from Co-President of Republic Records “Avery Lipman”).

The group eventually signed their first recording contract with Republic/Universal Records in June of 1998 and released their self-titled debut album soon after to remarkable success. Godsmack has sold over 15 Million records to date, have had 4 Grammy nominations, worldwide headline tours, and more top 10 Active Rock hits than any other group in the history of the format.

Following the success of Godsmack, Global Artist Management signed the Multi-Platinum Rock group “FUEL”, had three Gold album certifications with the rock band “COLD”, and another Billboard #1 hit called “Because I Got High” with Rap artist “AFROMAN”.

In 2005, legendary music mogul “IRVING AZOFF” absorbed Global Artist Management into Azoff Music Mgmt, and relocated he and his team (along with their artist roster) to LA. There they formed a new division under parent company “LIVE NATION ENTERTAINMENT” called “AGP” (Azoff, Geary, Paul Mgmt.).  AGP grew considerably over the next several years with an artist management roster that included such major acts as “SMASHING PUMPKINS”, “CREED”, “GODSMACK”, “ALTER BRIDGE”, “HOOBASTANK”, “NEW KIDS ON THE BLOCK”, and ran the touring production for the massively successful hit TV series “GLEE”.

AGP was dissolved in Jan of 2013 when Azoff resigned as CEO of Live Nation Entertainment. Several acts (and AGP’s touring director “Steve Wood”) joined Geary in the re-formation of Global Artist Management in Century City LA. The first signing to the new management company was Country music singer/actor “Billy Ray Cyrus”. Cyrus had created a pilot reel for a fully scripted comedy series called “STILL THE KING” with a Nashville based production company called “Hideout Pictures”. Cyrus presented that reel to Geary in the hopes that he may be successful in finding a home for it. The Global Artist Management team was in fact successful in pitching and closing a major deal for a 13-episode series with media giant “VIACOM” which debuted in 2016 on two of their network’s platforms “CMT” & “TV LAND”, as well as HULU (Geary is credited as a “Producer” of the series). The 2nd season of “STILL THE KING” was picked up and premiered on CMT in July 2017.

Geary announced Steve Wood as his new partner in Global Artist Management in 2018. The Global Artist Management roster includes: GODSMACK/SULLY ERNA, STEEL PANTHER, HOOBASTANK, JOE PERRY, HOLLWOOD VAMPIRES (with Shep Gordon) and up-and-comers LIKE A STORM.

Steve Wood Touring Director/Partner

Steve Wood began his long, illustrious career in the music business during the 1980’s. It was during that time as an independent tour manager that he realized the music business would become his life. While tour managing hard rock icons Cinderella, who were opening for David Lee Roth, he first met Paul Geary. Paul Geary was the drummer for Boston rock band Extreme who were also on the tour.

Through the years, Wood went onto work with various artists as a tour manager. Wood found himself ingrained in the touring careers of artist such as Godsmack, Megadeth, Nine Inch Nails, Scorpions, Soundgarden, Bette Midler, Peter Frampton, Robert Plant, Dave Edmunds, Stone Temple Pilots, and Audioslave to name a few. In 2002, Geary and Wood began working closely together as Steve took on the role as tour manager for Godsmack who were managed by Geary.

In 2007 Geary formed AGP with Irving Azoff and Jared Paul. Geary enlisted Wood to be in charge of the touring division of AGP coordinating blockbuster nationwide tours for the likes of Glee, New Kids on The Block/Backstreet Boys, Godsmack, Creed, Jason Bonham & The Smashing Pumpkins among numerous others.

AGP disbanded in 2013 leading Geary to resurrect Global Artist Management with a roster that would include Alter Bridge, Steel Panther, Hoobastank, Glenn Hughes, Kings Of Chaos and others. Wood joined Geary at Global Artist Management overseeing all the touring logistics for the roster while expanding his daily management foundation.

In 2018, Wood partnered with Geary with the mission of servicing every artist’s complete needs in this current climate of the music business. This ideal is the cornerstone for Global Artist Management, which enhances the careers of Godsmack, Hoobastank, Like A Storm, Joe Perry of Aerosmith, and Hollywood Vampires (with Shep Gordon).