Jack Stapp

Jack Stapp (born December 8, 1912 in Nashville , † December 20, 1980 ) was an influential American manager in country music and founder of the Tree Publishing music company.

Life

Stapp grew up in Atlanta and started working as a radio host as a teenager. At the age of seventeen he was America's youngest programmer. After several years as a manager at the New York CBS headquarters, he returned to his native Nashville in 1939. Here he became program director of the national WSM broadcaster , which broadcast the Grand Ole Opry Show every week . In this capacity he made significant contributions to the careful modernization of the Opry.

In 1951 he founded Tree Publishing with Lou Cowan . Since his activities at WSM and the Opry gave him little time, he hired Buddy Killen to manage the company. After just a few years, Tree rose to become the most important music publisher in Nashville. In 1964, Stapp gave up his other duties in order to concentrate fully on his flourishing company. After the purchase of the competitor Pamper Music in 1967 and the opening of several foreign offices in 1969, Tree Publishing finally rose to become the undisputed most important music publisher for country music. Since 1965 Stapp was a board member of the Country Music Association .

Jack Stapp died on December 20th, 1980. His company Tree Publishing was successfully continued by Buddy Killen. In 1989 Stapp received the highest honor in country music: He was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame .

Web links

• Jack Stapp in the Country Music Hall of Fame