Bill Graham (promoter)

==Aftermath and tributes==
Following his death, his company, Bill Graham Presents (BGP), was taken over by a group of employees. Graham's sons remained a core part of the new management team. The new owners sold the company to SFX Promotions,<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.sfgate.com/news/article/PAGE-ONE-N-Y-Firm-Pays-65-Million-For-Bill-2790308.php|title=N.Y. Firm Pays $65 Million For Bill Graham's Company|date=13 December 1997|website=Sfgate.com|access-date=27 October 2018}}</ref> which in turn sold the company to [[Clear Channel Entertainment]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/clear-channel-music-group-splits-bill-graham-presents-into-two-entities-54594327.html|title=Clear Channel Music Group Splits Bill Graham Presents Into Two Entities|location=California, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Oregon, Utah, Washington, Wyoming|publisher=Prnewswire.com|access-date=June 27, 2011}}</ref> The BGP staff did not embrace the Clear Channel name, and several members of the Graham staff eventually left the company. Former BGP President/CEO Gregg Perloff and former Senior Vice President Sherry Wasserman left and started their own company, Another Planet Entertainment. Eventually Clear Channel separated itself from concert promotion and formed [[Live Nation]], which is managed by many former Clear Channel executives.

[[Live Nation]] is now the world's largest concert production/promotion company and is no longer legally affiliated with Clear Channel or the names Winterland or [[Winterland Productions]].<ref>{{cite web|last=Sloan|first=Paul|url=https://money.cnn.com/2007/11/30/news/companies/live_nation.fortune/index.htm|title=Live Nation rocks the music industry|publisher=CNN|date=November 30, 2007|access-date=June 27, 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110606085617/https://money.cnn.com/2007/11/30/news/companies/live_nation.fortune/index.htm|archive-date=June 6, 2011|url-status=live}}</ref>

In tribute, the [[San Francisco Civic Auditorium]] was renamed the Bill Graham Civic Auditorium. On November 3, 1991, a free concert called "Laughter, Love and Music" was held at [[Golden Gate Park]] to honor Graham, Gold and Kahn.<ref name="concertimage">{{cite web|url=http://www.dead.net/archives/1991/photos/benefit-laughter-love-and-music-memorial-bill-graham|title=Laughter, Love and Music|date=November 2, 1991 |publisher=Dead.net|access-date=April 17, 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080525113428/http://www.dead.net/archives/1991/photos/benefit-laughter-love-and-music-memorial-bill-graham|archive-date=May 25, 2008|url-status=live}}</ref> An estimated 300,000 people attended to view many of the entertainment acts Graham had supported including [[Santana (band)|Santana]], the [[Grateful Dead]], [[John Fogerty]], [[Robin Williams]], [[Journey (band)|Journey]] (reunited), and [[Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young]] (reunited).<ref name="concert">{{cite web|url=http://www.silentway.com/tony/articles/1991review.html|title=California Whirls|publisher=The Vid|access-date=April 17, 2008|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20080418045011/http://www.silentway.com/tony/articles/1991review.html|archive-date= April 18, 2008|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name=memorial>{{cite web |url=http://articles.latimes.com/1991-11-04/news/mn-715_1_golden-gate-park |title=Bay Area Plays Tribute to Graham : Memorial: About 300,000 gather for free concert at Golden Gate Park honoring the rock promoter who died 10 days ago in a helicopter crash |last1=Weber |first1=Jonathan |date=November 4, 1991 |website=L.A. Times |publisher=Austin Beutner |location=Los Angeles |issn=0458-3035 |oclc=363823 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141023095145/http://articles.latimes.com/1991-11-04/news/mn-715_1_golden-gate-park |archive-date=2014-10-23 |access-date=2014-10-23 |quote=In an exuberant civic celebration that served as a salve for the disaster-wreaked Bay Area, about 300,000 rock music fans flooded Golden Gate Park on Sunday for a free concert dedicated to the late impresario and local icon, Bill Graham. Many of the bands that Graham helped catapult from the city's psychedelic music scene to international stardom volunteered to play at the celebration, which invoked a 1960s ethos that in San Francisco has never entirely disappeared. The Grateful Dead, Santana, Joan Baez and Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, Jackson Browne and John Fogerty all turned out for "Laughter, Love and Music", a tribute to the brass-tacks rock promoter with a social conscience who died at age 60 in a helicopter crash 10 days ago. }}</ref> The video for "[[I'll Get By (song)|I'll Get By]]" from [[Eddie Money]]'s album ''[[Right Here (Eddie Money album)|Right Here]]'' was dedicated to Graham. Graham's images and poster artwork still adorn the office walls at Live Nation's new San Francisco office. With the band [[Hardline (band)|Hardline]], [[Neal Schon]] of [[Journey (band)|Journey]] composed a piece entitled "31–91" in 1992 in Graham's honor. {{citation needed|date=May 2014}}

Bill Graham was inducted into the "[[Rock and Roll Hall of Fame]]" in 1992 in the "Non-Performer" category.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.rockhall.com/inductees/bill-graham | title=Bill Graham | publisher=Rock & Roll Hall of Fame | access-date=October 26, 2017}}</ref> Graham was inducted into the Rock Radio Hall of Fame in the "Without Whom" category in 2014.  It would be impossible to overstate Graham's manifold positive contributions to Bay Area music and culture.