Don Kirshner Remembered

Music mogul Don Kirshner, whom Time magazine once called "the man with the golden ear," had expressed disappointment over not having been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. (Joshua Prezant / Washington Post)


It always amazes me that the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame has not recognized his contributions to the industry (shame on the Hall). Heck, he brought some cool TV shows back then, something that we don't have right now (sans videos). Could you imagine some of the brightest stars doing this today? I can't......

Don Kirshner dies at 76; music mogul

Don Kirshner guided the careers of songwriters, launched the Monkees and introduced TV audiences to an array of musicians and comics through his show in the 1970s.

Don Kirshner, the veteran music mogul who shepherded songs from a monstrously talented stable of young writers to the top of the pop charts in the 1960s, launched the career of the Monkees and then became a familiar face to millions of rock fans as impresario of his late-night music TV series in the 1970s, died Monday of heart failure in Boca Raton, Fla., where he had lived for the last decade, a family spokeswoman said Tuesday. He was 76.

"Don Kirshner's Rock Concert" brought the biggest names in rock and pop music to television in live performances instead of the lip-synced sessions that often characterized rock music on television.

Read the rest of this LA Times write up HERE









 
Black Sabbath: "War Pigs" (Live on "Don Kirshner's Rock Concert", 1975)