Wednesday, January 26, 2011

Dead Page: The Man With the Golden Ear

DON KIRSHNER, 76

Rock Promoter

Time Magazine dubbed him "The Man With the Golden Ear," died Jan. 17th in Florida.

Promoter Jack Wishna said Kirshner "would take a kid off the street, bring him up to his office in the Brill Building and turn him into Neil Diamond, Carole King, James Taylor, on and on. I haven't spoken to anyone in the music business that Donny hasn't either discovered, promoted, or touched in some way."

That may be a bit overstated, but Mr. Kirshner certainly had an impact on the music business (and since I love my music, even me). He started the careers of Diamond, King and Bobby Darin and even the rock group Kansas.

In the days before MTV (back when it was about the videos), he started his "Don Kirshner's Rock Concert Show" in 1972 which gave great exposure to musicians including Billy Joel and the Police.

He'll Be Missed.

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