Veteran business manager and Co-Founder of Flood, Bumstead, McCready & McCarthy, Inc. (FBMM), Chuck Flood, passed away Friday morning (July 21) in Nashville with his family by his side. He was 78.

Born Charles Martin Flood Jr. on Sept. 12, 1944, in Waco, Texas, his parents were Charles Martin Flood Sr. and Maida Tull Flood.

Flood attended Baylor University in Waco, which is where he met his wife Beth. The two spent most of their lives in Nashville, raised two daughters and were known not only for their affection and love for each other, but also for their epic parties hosted at their home with friends and family. They shared more than five decades of deep love and friendship. Beth passed away in 2021.

Flood was a prominent figure in the entertainment industry for more than four decades. His career included time at Capitol and Warner Bros. Records in the A&R and national promotion departments. He was also a Partner at Hayes Street Music.

In 1986, Flood founded Chuck Flood & Associates at his dining room table with the help of John Sayles and Betty Sanders.

He later joined forces with Frank Bumstead, Mary Ann McCready and John McCarthy forming what would become FBMM today. Flood was incredibly proud of his career at FBMM and saw his employees and clients as an extension of his family.

Chuck Flood is preceded in death by his parents; Hattie Robinson; his sister, Cecile Marie; and his wife, Beth.

He is survived by his beloved sister, Catherine Flood Weiss of Austin, Texas; daughter Sarah Flood and husband Robert Ryland of Elgin, Texas; and daughter Rachel Flood and husband Kristian Vatalaro, of New York, New York. He is also survived by three grandchildren: Martha Zo Ryland of New York, New York.; Henry Ryland of Elgin, Texas; and Joe Vatalaro of Atlanta, Georgia.

A celebration of life to share memories and honor Chuck and Beth will be held in Nashville. Details will be forthcoming. In lieu of flowers, the family asks and appreciates that donations be made in Chuck’s name to the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF) or to Doctors Without Borders.

Music industry titan and Country Music Hall of Fame member Jerry Bradley has passed away at age 83. He died peacefully on Monday (July 17) in Mt. Juliet, Tennessee.

His 40 years of success in the record and publishing industries are unique in the Nashville music business community.

As part of what is known as “The First Family of Music Row,” Jerry was the son of Nashville sound architect Owen Bradley as well as the nephew of the renowned A-Team guitarist Harold Bradley, who were both in the Hall of Fame. His late wife was the iconic Connie Bradley, who led ASCAP for three decades.

Other members of the Bradley dynasty include Jerry’s sister, longtime BMI executive Patsy Bradley, and his son, current BMI Nashville VP of Creative Clay Bradley, as well as other family members who made an impact on the music business.

Jerry Owen Bradley was born in Nashville on January 30, 1940. He was a practical jokester in his youth. When he decided to follow his dad and uncle Harold’s footsteps into the music business, after two years in the army, Jerry started working with his family’s music publishing company, Forrest Hills Music. He also started learning to engineer and produce records in his dad’s studio, Bradley’s Barn, after it was built in 1965.

Learning from his father, Jerry watched and often contributed to sessions with artists like Webb Pierce, Loretta Lynn, Brenda Lee, Gordon Lightfoot and more.

Coming up in the music business as Owen Bradley’s son made Jerry ache for a shot at building his own reputation. In order to make a name for himself, Jerry asked Head of RCA Nashville Chet Atkins—who was ironically Owen’s competition at the time—for a job.

Jerry came on as an assistant for Atkins in 1970, but soon found himself behind the sound board as a staff producer. A few short years later Jerry became Head of RCA Nashville in 1973.

If making a mark for himself was what Jerry yearned for, he did that and more. With Jerry at the helm from 1973 to 1983, RCA Nashville experienced its famed success with country hitmakers Alabama, Ronnie Milsap, Dolly Parton, Charley Pride and many more. The label was heralded Label of the Year by Billboard for ten consecutive years, and launched the careers of some of country music’s most legendary stars.

“When my daddy died, my mother told me he was proud of me. He never said that but he told her that. That touches me,” Jerry told MusicRow in a 2021 interview about his family’s legacy.

One of Jerry’s early signings was Alabama, a family band from Fort Payne, Alabama. Jerry helped design the artwork for their first RCA Nashville album My Home’s in Alabama, and started their iconic trademark of Alabama spelled with a capital “A” at both the beginning and ending of the word. The now Country Music Hall of Fame members would go on to celebrate multiple Platinum and multi-Platinum albums.

Another stunning success of Jerry’s was his work with Ronnie Milsap, who recorded 35 No. 1 hits for RCA Nashville. Jerry produced many of Milsap’s hits, with publisher Tom Collins co-producing some as well.

He made history while working with Charley Pride, who became one of country music’s first Black superstars. Pride recorded hits such as “Someone Loves You Honey,” “Burgers and Fries” and “Where Do I Put Her Memory” under Jerry’s supervision.

During his time at RCA, Jerry was also the force behind the renowned 1976 album, Wanted: The Outlaws, from Waylon Jennings, Willie Nelson, Jessi Colter and Tompall Glaser. He was meticulously involved in the imagery for the project, modeling the cover after a vintage, western wanted poster. The album became the very first country album to achieve Platinum status.

Like his father and uncle Harold, Jerry was very involved in the success of the Music Row community. He was President of the Country Music Association in 1974-1975, and was heavily involved in CMA’s annual Fan Fair (now CMA Fest).

Jerry was also known as a prankster on Music Row. Some of the many pranks he pulled were sticking spoons to his face during formal industry events while speeches were being given, and sneakily planting corn in the yards of his colleagues’ offices.

“When country music was taking off in the Garth Brooks era, Soundscan came out and all of the sudden country music was selling more than anything else, dad grabbed me one day on a Sunday and we went and planted corn in everybody’s front lot,” Jerry’s son Clay remembers. “In about three weeks they all had corn stalks growing.”

“I took Kenny Chesney on his first ride up 16th Avenue going the wrong way telling him I was checking the corn stalks. He didn’t know what the hell I was talking about until we got up the street,” Jerry admitted.

Jerry married the late ASCAP executive, Connie Bradley, in 1979. The two were married for nearly 43 years, until Connie unexpectedly died in March of 2021. There’s no doubt the two were the ultimate Music Row power couple.

From another marriage, Jerry had two children, Leigh Jankiv and Clay Bradley, who also went on to work in the business. Jerry’s cousin Bobby Bradley Jr. is also a noted recording-studio engineer. Bobby got his start at Bradley’s Barn, and went on to work with Johnny Cash, George Jones, Loretta Lynn, Dolly Parton, Marty Stuart, Tammy Wynette, Trisha Yearwood and more at many different studios.

Jerry left RCA Nashville in 1983 and stepped into leading Opryland Music Group, which owned all the Acuff-Rose publishing catalogs. Opryland Music Group became the first Nashville publishing company to win ASCAP and BMI Song of the Year honors in 1990. Acuff-Rose has been a steady earner because of its catalog of old songs, which included the classics of Hank Williams, Roy Orbison, Don Gibson, John D. Loudermilk, the Everly Brothers and Dallas Frazier. With a fire in his belly to elevate the company, Jerry went to work acquiring new staff, song pluggers and hit songwriters such as Dean Dillon, Casey Beathard and Kenny Chesney. Soon the Opryland Music Group was battling with the multinational corporate giants like Warner Chappell, EMI, Polygram Music and BMG.

Jerry retired from the music business in 2003. He was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2019 for his incredible impact on Music Row. Jerry has mentored such successful music industry professionals as his son Clay Bradley, Troy Tomlinson and Joe Galante.

“I never lost the fact that it was fun,” Jerry shared. “I had fun.”

Jerry Bradley is predeceased by his parents Owen Bradley and Katherine Bradley; his uncles Harold Bradley, Charlie Bradley and Bobby Bradley; his aunt Ruby Strange; his wife Connie Bradley; and the mother of his two children, Gwynn Hastings Kellam.

He is survived by his sister Patsy Bradley; his children Leigh Jankiv (Rob LeBlanc) and Clay Bradley (Sara); his grandchildren Josh Jankiv (Ashley), Eli Jankiv, Emma Jankiv (Matt Acott), John Bradley and Lillian Grace Bradley; and his five great grandchildren.

A Celebration of Life will be held at Cedar Creek Yacht Club on Sept. 10 at 4 p.m. This is the place Jerry enjoyed the most. He was a 60-year member and he spent his time on Old Hickory Lake with his family and friends on the “STUDIO A” houseboat.

In lieu of flowers, the family asks that you please make a donation to Music Health Alliance.

Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame and Grand Ole Opry member Bobby Osborne died today (June 27) at age 91.

The Opry confirmed his death. Opry VP/Executive Producer, Dan Rogers, shared, “Bobby Osborne was among the last of his generation of bluegrass pioneers. What a profound loss for the Opry family and bluegrass music fans around the world. Mr. Osborne’s legacy will live forever on this stage we love and wherever his style is emulated. Thank you to Bobby Osborne for more than 70 years of music and memories.”

Even into his 90s, the tenor singer and mandolin player performed regularly on the Grand Ole Opry with his band The Rocky Top X-Press.

Robert Van Osborne Jr. was born in Kentucky in 1931 and grew up in the Dayton, Ohio area. He was inspired to become a bluegrass singer after seeing a show by Bill Monroe & The Blue Grass Boys in 1947. He began performing on WPFB in Middletown, Ohio two years later.

He spent several seasons with The Lonesome Pine Fiddlers, then graduated to Jimmy Martin’s band. Following a brief stint with The Stanley Brothers, Bobby Osborne joined the Marines for combat duty in Korea. He was wounded and was discharged in 1953.

At this point, he joined forces with younger brother Sonny Osborne (1937-2021). They honed their skills working for Jimmy Martin, Charlie Bailey and Red Allen. The bluegrass classic “Once More” was recorded by Allen with the Osbornes in 1958.

The Osborne Brothers recorded on their own for RCA and MGM during this period. From the start, the act’s calling card was Bobby’s sky-high tenor lead singing. In fact, Monroe once said that there were only three great tenors in country music — himself, Ira Louvin and Bobby Osborne.

Brother Sonny soon garnered industry recognition for his cutting-edge approach to banjo playing and for arranging the group’s complex harmony vocals. Around 1963, Sonny made contact with Doyle Wilburn of Nashville’s hit-making Wilburn Brothers. Wilburn got the brothers a contract with Decca Records, arranged for them to join the Grand Ole Opry (1964) and signed them for publishing and booking.

This coincided with the modernization of the band. Sonny electrified his banjo, and the act added drums and electric bass to The Osborne Brothers sound. As a result, the group scored hits on the country hit parade and toured with mainstream pop and country acts.

Their charted favorites included “Roll Muddy River” (1967), “Rocky Top” (1968), “Tennessee Hound Dog” (1969), “Ruby Are You Mad” (1970), “Midnight Flyer” (1973), “Blue Heartache” (1973) and “I Can Hear Kentucky Calling Me” (1980).

“Rocky Top” was named one of the state songs of Tennessee in 1982. It is performed in Knoxville every time the University of Tennessee Vols score a football touchdown. In 1992, the Osbornes’ rendition of the Karl & Harty classic “Kentucky” led to a similar honor from the Blue Grass State.

By then, the Osbornes had ditched electrified instruments and reverted to acoustic bluegrass. They recorded for labels such as CMH, Sugar Hill and Pinecastle.

The Osbornes were also recruited to play on records by others. They have backed Conway Twitty, Carl Smith, Charley Pride, Wade Ray, Jethro Burns and Mac Wiseman. They also collaborated with jazz vibraphonist Gary Burton.

The brothers mentored such future stars as The Grascals and Dale Ann Bradley. They also performed with the 1997 bluegrass/hip-hop fusion act The GrooveGrass Boyz.

Bobby’s mandolin performance of “Ashokan Farewell” appeared on the all-star Bluegrass Mandolin Extravaganza album, which won the IBMA Instrumental Album and Recorded Event awards in 2000.

The Osborne Brothers are believed to be the first bluegrass act to play on a college campus (1960) and to be invited to perform at The White House (1973). They were elected to the Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame in 1994 and were presented with a National Heritage award by the National Endowment for the Arts in 1997.

Brother Sonny Osborne underwent rotator-cuff surgery, which caused him to quit playing and to retire from the road in 2004. This is when Bobby formed The Rocky Top X-Press and became a solo Opry star. He was joined in the new group by his guitarist son Bobby Osborne III.

The new band recorded for Rounder and Compass. In 2021, Osborne had a late-career bluegrass hit with a version of Merle Haggard’s “White Line Fever.”

Sonny Osborne passed away in October of 2021 at age 83.

Funeral arrangements have not been announced.