Rock music promoter Don Kirshner dies

US promoter also worked with The Rolling Stones, The Eagles and Ramones

Veteran US rock promoter Don Kirshner has died aged 76.

Kirshner suffered heart failure in Boca Raton, Florida on Monday (January 17), reports Billboard.

He helped launch the careers of a number of notable acts including Prince, Kansas and The Eagles, and also hosted the television show Don Kirshner's Rock Concert from 1973 until 1981.

Kirshner insisted to bosses that acts on the show, who ranged from The Rolling Stones to ABBA and the Ramones, should play completely live.

Kansas drummer Phil Ehart paid tribute to Kirshner, who signed them in 1973, by saying that the band "owes its 38-year career" to him.

Kirshner's wide-ranging success in the music business earned him the nickname 'The Man With The Golden Ear' from contemporaries.

Donald Kirshner was born in the Bronx on April 17, 1934, the son of a tailor. He had hopes of being a songwriter, and got his start in the music business when he met a brash young singer named Robert Cassotto at a candy store in Washington Heights. They became partners, working on jingles and pop ditties (their first: ?Bubblegum Pop?), but their collaboration ended after Mr. Cassotto ? under his new stage name, Bobby Darin ? scored a hit in 1958 with ?Splish Splash,? which he wrote without Mr. Kirshner.

That year Mr. Kirshner founded Aldon with Al Nevins, who had played in a successful instrumental group, the Three Suns. Mr. Kirshner and Mr. Nevins opened an office at 1650 Broadway ? a block away from 1619 Broadway, the Brill Building ? and soon signed two struggling songwriters, Neil Sedaka and Howard Greenfield. By 1962 they had 18 writers on staff.

The list of Aldon alumni includes Barry Mann, Cynthia Weil, Neil Diamond, Doc Pomus, Mort Shuman, Tommy Boyce and Bobby Hart. To some degree the company operated as an assembly line: teams of writers in piano cubicles churned out songs that would be recorded immediately, as demos or sometimes as finished productions.

In 1972 Mr. Kirshner began to work with ABC on a live performance show, ?In Concert?; he left that show the next year to begin ?Don Kirshner?s Rock Concert,? which had its premiere in September 1973 with the Rolling Stones. In the 1970s Mr. Kirshner also continued his work as a music executive, signing the band Kansas (?Carry On Wayward Son,? ?Dust in the Wind?) to his CBS-affiliated Kirshner label, but by the early 1980s he had retired.

He is survived by his wife, Sheila; his son, Ricky Kirshner, a producer of the Tony Awards show; his daughter, Daryn Lewis; and five grandchildren.

---

The Rock Doctor.

http://travellingunderground.blogspot.com/

http://www.therockdoctor.co.uk/

http://www.myspace.com/travellingunderground

Source: http://travellingunderground.blogspot.com/2011/01/rock-music-promoter-don-kirshner-dies.html

Lauren Conrad Lauren Graham LeAnn Rimes Leelee Sobieski Leonardo DiCaprio