Died On This Date (November 13, 2009) Maurice Jones / Artist Manager & Promoter Of Live Aid

Maurice Jones
DOB Unknown – November 13, 2009

Maurice Jones began his career as an artist manager, overseeing the career of English rock band, Slade.  He eventually started his own promotion company, helping popularize such bands as Def Leppard, the Eurythmics, AC/DC, and Simple Minds.  In 1984, Jones joined forces with Bob Geldolf and Midge Ure to promote Live Aid, the massive fund raising concerts that were held in Philadelphia and London and seen by an estimated 400 million people world wide.  The concerts featured the biggest acts in popular music at the time.   After the success of Live Aid, Jones went on to create the Monsters Of Rock festival that ran for many years outside of England’s Castle Donnington and other locations from time to time.  The festivals featured the biggest names in hard rock music.  Maurice Jones was 64 when he died of cancer on November 13, 2009.



Died On This Date (November 4, 2008) Byron Lee / Ska Pioneer

Byron Lee
June 27, 1935 – November 4, 2008

ByronLee102906wf32Byron Lee was a Jamaican musician, band leader and producer who has been credited for introducing the electric bass to Jamaica.  He formed the Dragonaires in the early ’50s.  They went on to become one of the most successful and influential ska bands Jamaica has ever known.  As a producer, Lee worked with the likes of the Maytals.  He later bought a recording studio and turned it into the best of it’s kind in Jamaican, hosting the Rolling Stones and Paul Simon among other major acts.  In 2007, it became known that Lee was being treated for bladder cancer.  Although he was no longer able to perform with the Dragonaires, he continued on in a management capacity.  Byron Lee died of cancer at the age of 73.

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Byron Lee & The Dragonaires

Died On This Date (October 25, 1991) Bill Graham / Legendary Concert Promoter

Bill Graham (Born Wolodia Grajonca)
January 8, 1931 – October 25, 1991

Bill Graham was a world famous concert promoter who played a key part in the growth of ’60s American rock ‘n roll.  As a Jewish child born in Berlin, Graham barely escaped the Nazis by being placed in an orphanage by his mother.  Fortunately, that orphanage relocated him to France before the Halocaust.  Graham moved to New York City where he received his schooling after which he served in the Korean War and eventually ended up in San Francisco.  In 1965, he landed his first show businees job, managing the San Francisco Mime Troupe which lead to him booking and promoting shows at the Fillmore Auditorium.  Graham had a knack for finding acts that appealed to the city’s growing counter-culture scene and in doing so helped the scene itself grow.  Some of the acts he featured in those early years were Janis Joplin, Country Joe & the Fish, the Fugs, Jefferson Airplane and of course, the Grateful Dead.   By the late ’60s, Graham was the most popular rock concert promoter in the country.  Besides the Fillmore and Winterland in San Francisco, he was booking the Fillmore East in New York City.  He also promoted tours by the Rolling Stones as well as such concert events as Live Aid and Human Rights Now tour for Amnesty Now.  On October 25, 1991, 60-year-old Bill Graham was flying home after a Huey Lewis concert in nearby Concord, California.  The helicopter he was in crashed shortly after takeoff, killing Graham, his girlfriend, and the pilot.  Reports indicate that less-than-ideal weather caused the pilot to crash into an electrical tower.



Died On This Date (October 25, 2009) Dee Anthony / Managed Peter Frampton, Tony Bennett

Dee Anthony
April 9, 1926 – October 25, 2009

Dee Anthony was a legendary artist manager who helped develop the young careers of such artists as Traffic, J. Geils Band, Ten Years After, Jethro Tull, Joe Cocker, Devo and Peter Allen.  His career started in the mid ’40s when he began representing his friend, Jerry Vale.  In 1954, he picked up Tony Bennett who he managed for over ten years.  During the ’70s, he managed Humble Pie, and when Peter Frampton went solo, it was Anthony that helped guide him through the massive success of his Frampton Comes Alive era.  Anthony retired from the music business during the ’90s.  He was 83 when he died of pneumonia on October 25, 2009.



Died On This Date (October 20, 1977) Dean Kilpatrick / Lynyrd Skynyrd Road Manager

Dean Kilpatrick
May 30, 1949 – October 20, 1977

Just three days after the release of Street Survivors, several members of Lynyrd Skynyrd, including Ronnie Van Zant and Steve Gaines, his sister, Cassie Gaines and road manager, Dean Kilpatrick boarded a small plane in Greenville, SC to Baton Rouge, LA.  For unknown reasons, the plane ran out of fuel just outside of Gillsburg, MS and crashed in the woods.  Van Zant, Cassie and Steve Gaines, and Kilpatrick were killed instantly.  Although other band members survived and the group’s popularity had grown significantly in recent months, Lynyrd Skynyrd was over until their much welcomed reformation in 1987.