Charlie Walk Biography

Charlie Walk is an American music executive and entrepreneur. He is the president of Republic Records, a division of Universal Music Group. From 2005-2008, he was the president of Epic Records, a division of Sony Music.

Early life

Walk said he first wanted to work in the music industry when he was eight years old, when he listened to the Boston pop music station WRKO on an old transistor radio. Walk started out as a college marketing representative for Sony Music while he was attending Boston University's School of Management.

Columbia Records

Charlie Walk worked at Columbia Records in 1990 as a marketing and promotion manager. His first job was to work with the New Kids on the Block over their first days on their local promotion, trying to break them into the mainstream. During his time at Columbia he became vice president for promotion at the label, and was profiled by The New York Times as one of the music industry's "young guns" in 1998. At Columbia he worked with Destiny's Child and Beyonc Knowles,Will Smith, Maxwell, John Legend, Mariah Carey, The Fugees, Lauryn Hill, Wyclef Jean, John Mayer, Bruce Springsteen, and Aerosmith.

He was named executive vice president, promotion, in 2000 from the position of senior vice president of pop promotion. In 2004, he was promoted to executive vice president of creative marketing and promotion at Columbia where he was in charge of developing strategies in non-traditional marketing areas, along with licensing.

Epic Records

In December 2005, Walk became president of Epic Records.Jessica Simpson moved from Columbia to Epic to follow Walk. He also worked with the label"?s established artists, including RedOne.

Walk conceived of the first "personalized pop song," for Jessica Simpson and the first user-generated single for Shakira's "Hips Don't Lie." "Hips Don't Lie" was first #1 hit for both Shakira and Wyclef Jean, who rapped on the track. He also created a partnership with ABC to integrate Epic artists with their programming, which enabled viewers to purchase songs they heard on ABC television shows. Walk also broke new artists at Epic including The Script, Sean Kingston, The Fray, Sara Bareilles and Natasha Bedingfield. He left the position in 2009.

JWALK

In 2009, Walk co-founded RJW Collective, later known as JWALK. The company's clients include the retailer Lacoste and the television broadcaster ABC. Walk also partnered Endemol USA to produce TV, music and online content, with Walk executive producing the television content developed by the company.

Republic Records

In 2013 Walk joined Republic Records as its executive vice president. His position involves overseeing the marketing, PR and promotion teams for the label. On July 2, 2014, Walk produced a one-off revival episode of Total Request Live on MTV entitled "Total Ariana Live". He has also helped bring in John Varvatos Records.

In 2014, Walk led Enrique Iglesias"? "Bailando" single campaign, which crossed the song over from Latin radio to Top 40 radio. The song has a blend of English and Spanish lyrics, and became the highest charting bilingual single since "The Macarena" in 1996. Walk spearheaded Taylor Swift"?s "Shake It Off" campaign which led Swift to become the first artist to have a single debut at number one on the pop music radio charts. Additionally, Walk led the promotion for Lorde's quadruple platinum single "Royals". The Wall Street Journal wrote that Walk "is working on creating partnerships with radio stations, concert venues and music publications or blogs that will circulate her music without catapulting it into the mainstream. Instead of sending her music to KIIS, a famous top-40 Los Angeles radio station, they've turned to San Francisco's Live105 and Chicago's Q101, alternative stations." Walk also signed Hailee Steinfeld to Republic.

In February 2016, Walk was named president of the Republic Group, a newly formed grouping under the Universal Music Group, where he is charged with developing strategic partnerships with sister labels in addition to his role in charge of promotions and artist development. In 2016 Walk co-founded Guess Music, after approaching Paul Marciano to discuss his expanding their partnership into a full fledged label. He also signed DNCE.

Philanthropy and recognition

In July 2014, Walk was honored at the VH1 Save the Music foundation gala for his work in returning music programs to American public schools. At the event, Walk stated that music education is not just an arts class, but also a complement and enhancer of other more traditional studies a student takes while in school. In 2015, Walk was the co-chair of the June VH1 Save the Music event, which raised $800,000. Walk is a member of the board of directors of the Phoenix House, that "helps families who have loved ones struggling with substance abuse and addiction", and is on the board of directors for he charity City of Hope, on which he sits on the board of directors. Walk co-founded the Barclays Center"?s Brooklyn Sports & Entertainment Advisory Board in December 2014 with the CEO of Baclays Centre Brett Yormark. On November 18, 2014, Walk was honored at the Musicians on Call charity event with a video tribute to his work with the organization.

In 2015, Walk was named one of Billboards Power 100, citing his taking the lead on the campaigns for Ariana Grande, Lorde and Enrique Iglesias. He also appeared on the Power 100 in 2016 and 2017.