Live Nation Executive Brian O’Connell Honored With Bob Kingsley Living Legend Award

Brian O'Connell, president of Country Music Touring and Festivals at Live Nation, received the Bob Kingsley Living Legend Award on March 9 at a sold-out ceremony at the Grand Ole Opry House in Nashville. The annual event benefits the Grand Ole Opry Trust Fund, established in 1965 to provide financial assistance to country music industry professionals facing medical hardship or other emergencies.

Over his more than 30-year career, O'Connell has shaped the lives of some of country music's biggest names, including Morgan Wallen, Lainey Wilson, Tim McGraw, Keith Urban, Dierks Bentley, Miranda Lambert, Jason Aldean, and Rascal Flatts, among many others. He has earned the CMA Touring Lifetime Achievement Award, is a 10-time ACM Promoter of the Year winner, a six-time CMA Talent Buyer/Promoter of the Year winner, and currently serves on the CMA Board of Directors.

O'Connell developed the Country Megaticket and built a festival portfolio that includes Watershed, Faster Horses, Route 91 Harvest, and Seven Peaks. His Live Nation Country Nation division acquired the Tortuga Music Festival in Fort Lauderdale in 2018.

The tribute evening featured performances by Lauren Alaina, Dierks Bentley, Clint Black, Rascal Flatts, Tyler Hubbard, Tim McGraw, Darius Rucker, and Keith Urban. Remarks were delivered by Dan Rogers of the Grand Ole Opry, Bob Roux of Live Nation, T.K. Kimbrell of TKO Artist Management, Joey Lee of William Morris Agency, Rod Essig of Creative Artists Agency, and Curt Motley of United Talent Agency.

The Bob Kingsley Living Legend Award was established in 2014 to honor the career of veteran country radio broadcaster Bob Kingsley, who hosted American Country Countdown for decades before he died in 2019. Past honorees include Joe Galante, Jim Ed Norman, Lorianne Crook and Charlie Chase, Clarence Spalding, Lon Helton, Bart Herbison, Erika Wollam Nichols, Sarah Trahern, and Scott Borchetta.