About

Tom Sturges is a music executive, author, mentor, educator, inventor, and public speaker.  He served as president of Chrysalis Music, EVP and Head of Creative for Universal Music Publishing Group, and VP/GM of Shaquille O’Neals TWIsM Records.

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Tom’s signings include Smashing Pumpkins, 50 Cent & G Unit, Foo Fighters, Outkast & Goodie Mob, Jack Johnson, 3 Doors Down, Slaughter, Green Jelly and Chris Brown, as well as Baby Bash, Katrina & The Waves, Vanessa Carlton, Owl City, and Afroman. Additionally, Tom signed several hit writer/producers including Mark Batson, Troy Taylor, Sean Garrett and Jason Epperson (aka Jay-E) among many others.  Selling a combined 195M albums and 32M singles, in addition to registering over a billion views and streams, the writers and artists signed by Tom have composed twenty-two  #1 singles and have received nineteen Grammy awards. 

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A published author, Tom’s books include Parking Lot Rules & Other Ideas for Raising Amazing Children (Random House), Grow the Tree You Got (Tarcher/Penguin), Every Idea Is A Good Idea (Tarcher/Penguin), and Preston Sturges – The Last Years of Hollywood’s First Writer Director (Intellect).  His latest, A Good Divorce Begins Here (Newman Springs), comes out in June 2021.

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With fellow professors Jeff Jampol, Steve Berman and Lenny Beer, Tom created The Music Business Now at UCLA, a required class in the Music Business degree program.  Over 1200 students have taken the class through the years.  Tom has been invited to speak at numerous universities including USC, Stanford, Princeton, NYU and UCLA, in addition to his presentations at both the Aspen Ideas Festival and the Aspen Challenge.   

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An oft-recognized mentor in the Los Angeles area, Tom has provided guidance and leadership and taught creativity to thousands of students in both LAUSD and MBUSD over the course of the last twenty years.  Additionally, he is the subject of the award-winning documentary film WITNESS TO A DREAM, which tells the story of Tom’s efforts to help 235 at-risk inner-city students from South Los Angeles graduate high school and enter four-year colleges.  Using music, creativity and live performances, the student choirs performed at over fifty events, including the Democratic Convention, The Governor’s Mentoring Partnership, and twice for President Barack Obama.  Tom has received over forty commendations from mayors, senators, governors, presidents and other public officials for these efforts. 

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Tom studied music composition and conducting at UC Davis, where he received his B.A., and continued his education at UCLA. He is the father of three sons.