Tom Willett

Tom Willett (born 1950) is an American musician, author and entertainment industry executive. He toured and recorded extensively as a bass player during the 1960s and 1970s, served as booking agent and manager for numerous artists in the 1980s, and worked as an artist and repertoire and marketing executive in the 1990s. In the 2000s he co-founded a fully accredited music school for college-aged musicians and entrepreneurs.

Born in Portsmouth, Virginia, Willett moved with his family to the Washington, DC suburbs in the mid-1960s. While attending Thomas Jefferson High School in Fairfax County, VA, he played bass with DC-area Garage Rockers the Keggs, the Uncalled Four, and the Nightcrawlers, which also featured Gerry Beckley, later of the best-selling British ex-pat band, America.

While completing coursework for a B.A. in Psychology at Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, NC, Willett toured with Brit Rock-Psychedelic outfit Orange, featuring Danny Brubeck, son of legendary Jazz pianist Dave Brubeck, on drums.

After graduation in 1972, Willett recorded and toured with the Sons of Thunder, founded by Blaine Smith in 1968 and the first U.S. Rock act to record a contemporary Gospel album for a major label (Till the Whole World Knows, Zondervan). He also played bass for D.C. Folk-Rocker Scott Wesley Brown.

While pursuing post-graduate studies in the mid-1970s at a commune in the Maryland suburbs, Willett helped launch both the Cornerstone Study Center (Jim and Lorraine Hiskey) and the C.S. Lewis Institute (James Houston, John R.W. Stott, J. I. Packer).[1] He and Santa Rosa, CA-native Julie Atterbury where married in 1978.

Willett returned to the music industry in 1979 when he launched the Chanan Agency to handle booking and management for DC-area talent including musician/author Brian McLaren [2] and college-circuit favorites, Jim and Kim Thomas (the Carpenter’s Tools, Say-So).[3]

In 1980, Willett joined Dharma Artist Agency [4] in Nashville, TN where he served as booking agent for a number of leading artists, including Leon Patillo (Santana), Maria Muldaur, and Richie Furay (Buffalo Springfield, Poco). He later formed Tom Willett Artist Management to provide career direction for John Fischer (Word/A&M), Scott Wesley Brown (Sparrow/EMI), and Marty McCall (MCA Songbird).

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