Tommy Boy Entertainment (formerly known as Tommy Boy Records) is an independent record label started in 1981 by Tom Silverman.

After borrowing $5,000 from his parents, the label was an outgrowth of Tom Silverman's Disco News bi-weekly publication (later titled Dance Music Report), which spanned 14 years, beginning in September 1978.

In 1985, Warner Bros. Records bought 50% of the label, eventually buying all of it in 1990. Silverman and Monica Lynch became Vice Presidents of Warner as well. Warner allowed Tommy Boy to use independent distribution as it saw fit, with the option to put artists through the major-label channel through Warner Bros. Records or its sister label Reprise Records. Silverman bought 50% back from Warner Bros. in 1995. Also the same year, the first incarnation of Penalty Recordings, a joint venture with Neil Levine, was created, but it was absorbed by Tommy Boy in 1999. The imprint Tommy Boy Gospel was launched in 1998 under the direction of Max Siegel and Marvie Wright—and Tommy Boy Black Label (specializing in underground hip hop music) and Tommy Boy Silver Label (specializing in dance music) were founded as well. Tommy Boy, as part of Warner, also provided independent distribution to sister imprints that already had label deals with WEA, including American Recordings’ Ill Labels, Mute Records’ NovaMute, and Cold Chillin' Records’ Livin’ Large. During this time, label had distribution deals with labels such as Timber Records, Outcaste Records, and 75 Ark Records as well.

Tommy Boy is a 1995 road comedy film directed by Peter Segal, written by Bonnie and Terry Turner, and starring former Saturday Night Live colleagues Chris Farley and David Spade. The film tells the story of a socially and emotionally immature man (portrayed by Farley) who learns lessons about friendship and self-worth following the sudden death of his industrialist father. The film did well commercially, but received mixed reviews from critics.

After seven years, Thomas R. "Tommy" Callahan III (Chris Farley) barely graduates from Marquette University and returns home to Sandusky, Ohio. His proud father, industrialist and widower Thomas "Big Tom" Callahan, Jr. (Brian Dennehy), gives him an executive job at the family's auto parts plant, Callahan Auto. In addition to the new job and office, Big Tom reveals another set of surprises for his son: He plans to marry Beverly Barrish-Burns (Bo Derek), a woman he had met at a fat farm, and her son Paul (Rob Lowe in an uncredited role), will become Tommy's new stepbrother.

James Joseph Brown (May 3, 1933 – December 25, 2006) was an American singer, songwriter, musician, and recording artist. He is the originator of funk music and is a major figure of 20th century popular music and dance.

In a career that spanned decades, Brown profoundly influenced the development of many different musical genres. Brown moved on a continuum of blues and gospel-based forms and styles to a profoundly "Africanized" approach to music making. Brown performed in concerts, first making his rounds across the Chitlin' Circuit, and then across the country and later around the world, along with appearing in shows on television and in movies. Although he contributed much to the music world through his hitmaking, Brown holds the record as the artist who charted the most singles on the Billboard Hot 100 without ever hitting number one on that chart.

For many years, Brown's touring show was one of the most extravagant productions in American popular music. At the time of Brown's death, his band included three guitarists, two bass guitar players, two drummers, three horns and a percussionist. The bands that he maintained during the late 1960s and 1970s were of comparable size, and the bands also included a three-piece amplified string section that played during ballads. Brown employed between 40 and 50 people for the James Brown Revue, and members of the revue traveled with him in a bus to cities and towns all over the country, performing upwards of 330 shows a year with almost all of the shows as one-nighters. In 1986, he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and in 1990 into the Songwriters Hall of Fame.

Tom Silverman is the founder, chairman and CEO of the record label Tommy Boy Records (established 1981), and he is co-founder of the independent film and television company Tommy Boy Films. Silverman co-founded Dance Music Report magazine, which ran from 1978 to 1992, and he co-founded the Dance Music Hall of Fame, which existed from 2003 to 2005. Silverman also co-founded and co-organized the annual New Music Seminar, which ran from 1980 to 1995 and which he relaunched in 2009 as a more frequent, touring event.

Mr. Silverman serves on the boards of RIAA, SoundExchange, the American Association of Independent Music (A2IM and its predecessors NAIRD/AFIM), and Merlin Network. He previously served on the boards of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and the Dance Music Hall of Fame, plus the NARM Manufacturer’s Advisory Board.

Silverman received the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences Heroes Award in 2000.

He has a degree in environmental science from Colby College, and attended Graduate School at Western Michigan University in Environmental Geology.

Christopher Emmanuel Paul Sr. (born May 6, 1985) is an American professional basketball point guard for the Los Angeles Clippers. Paul was born and raised in North Carolina. Despite only playing two varsity basketball seasons in high school, he was a McDonald's All-American and accepted a scholarship with nearby Wake Forest University. After his sophomore year with the Demon Deacons, he declared for the draft. Since being selected 4th overall in the 2005 NBA Draft by the New Orleans Hornets, Paul has been a NBA Rookie of the Year (2006), a five-time All-Star, and a multiple All-NBA and All-Defensive team honoree. He led the Hornets to the second round of the 2008 NBA Playoffs. He has also won an Olympic Gold Medal with the United States national basketball team.

Off the court, Paul has also achieved success in the sport of bowling and is a sponsored spokesperson for the United States Bowling Congress (USBC). He has participated in numerous celebrity and youth bowling events as the head of the CP3 Foundation to benefit programs in Louisiana after Hurricane Katrina, and charities in Winston-Salem.