Chuck Flood, Longtime Nashville Business Manager and FBMM Co-Founder, Dies at 78

Charles “Chuck” Martin Flood Jr., a longtime Nashville business manager who served as a founding owner at FBMM, has died, Billboard has learned. He was 78.

Flood was a prominent figure in Nashville for more than 40 years. Early in his career, Flood worked on the label side of the business, serving in A&R and national promotion roles at Capitol and Warner Bros. Records. In 1986, he founded Chuck Flood & Associates at his dining room table with the help of John Sayles and Betty Sanders. Just four years later, he teamed up with Frank Bumstead, Mary Ann McCready and John McCarthy to form the company that would become Flood, Bumstead, McCready & McCarthy (FBMM). The top-tier firm boasted a laundry list of A-list clients over the years, including such big names as Taylor Swift, Blake Shelton, Keith Urban, Kelly Clarkson, Pearl Jam, Miranda Lambert, Mac Miller and Diplo.

Flood was a recurring honoree on Billboard‘s Top Business Managers list.

Born Sept. 12, 1944, in Waco, Texas, Flood attended Baylor University, where he met his wife of over five decades, Elizabeth “Beth” Flood, who preceded him in death in 2021. He spent the majority of his life in Nashville, where he and Elizabeth lived in the same home for more than 35 years.

Flood is survived by his sister, Catherine Flood Weiss of Austin; daughter Sarah Flood and husband Robert Ryland of Elgin, Texas; daughter Rachel Flood and husband Kristian Vatalaro of New York; and three grandchildren.

A celebration of life for both Chuck and Beth will be held in Nashville at a yet-to-be-determined date. In lieu of flowers, the family asks that donations be made in Chuck’s name to the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF) or Doctors Without Borders.