Hailey Whitters Inks Co-Management Deal With Chris Kappy, Matt Graham
Pictured: Chris Kappy, Hailey Whitters, Matt Graham. Photo credit: Kurt Ozan
Hailey Whitters has signed a co-management deal with BRND MGMT’s Matt Graham and Chris Kappy of Make Wake Artists.
“As an admirer of both Matt & Kappy’s approach, I couldn’t have found a more complimentary management partnership to execute my vision and deliver my music to fans,” Whitters says. “I’m thrilled to embark on this next chapter and see the places we’ll go.”
Whitters’ songs have been recorded by Martina McBride (“Low All Afternoon” & “The Real Thing”), Alan Jackson (“The Older I Get”) and Little Big Town (“Happy People”). Beginning this summer, Whitters will open select tour dates for Lori McKenna, Brent Cobb and Maren Morris.
Kappy said, “When I first heard Hailey’s new album, I knew I wanted to be part of the team. The songwriting is second to none, but the delivery and production of the entire work was so well thought out and arranged, that I knew her heart and soul was in this project. When you find that sort of combination, you do everything you can to be a part of it. Matt is a ground up manager, like myself, and when the opportunity presented itself for us to work together on Hailey, I felt we could bring her a team that knows what passionate fans, strategic touring, and great music can do for an artist’s career. Can’t wait to dig into this next adventure with Matt and Hailey.”
Matt says, “Kappy and I plan to continue executing the rollout that Hailey has so brilliantly begun on her own. While we recognize the extreme importance of having a record label partner in country music, we have no intention of slowing her incredible momentum. We want to make sure whoever we choose as a label partner is the perfect fit. In the meantime, we will continue to roll out new music, and are excited to use our relationships and experience to continue to fan the flames of excitement with her fans and wider music industry.”
Kappy worked at Sixthman for 15 years with Artist and Partner relations for their cruise events such as Florida Georgia Line’s “”This is How We Cruise” and Kid Rock’s “Chillin the Most” Cruise, and has been in the business of passionate fan bases for a very long time. After meeting Luke Combs at the 40 Watt in Athens, GA, Kappy packed up his life and relocated to Nashville, TN in 2015 to navigate the managerial waters for Luke’s career. Since then, Luke Combs has released his double platinum-certified debut album This One’s for You in 2017, which has spent a totally of 35 non-consecutive weeks at No.1 on the Billboard Country Albums charts, scored five No. 1 Country radio hits, and is a CMA, CMT, iHeartRadio and ACM Award-winning artist.
Graham got his start with long-time friend Scooter Braun, as SB Projects Senior Manager, before stepping out in 2015 to launch his company, BRND MGMT. BRND has built an impressively diverse roster including country music’s fastest rising stars, Midland. The trio had a huge 2018 with two Grammy nominations, three CMA nominations and won an ACM for New Vocal Group as well as multiple sold-out headline tours. In addition, his roster spans genres including country, dance, alt, pop and hip-hop landing record deals with Big Machine, Atlantic, Republic, Fueled by Ramen and AWAL.
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