Bill Graham (promoter)

{{Short description|German-born American rock music impresario (1931–1991)}}
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{{Infobox person
| name               = Bill Graham
| alias              = Uncle Bobo
| image              = Bill Graham.jpg
| caption            = Bill Graham, circa 1990
| birth_date         = {{birth date|1931|1|8|mf=yes}}
| birth_place        = [[Berlin, Germany]]
| death_date         = {{death date and age|1991|10|25|1931|1|8|mf=yes}}
| death_place        = Near [[Vallejo, California]], U.S.
| death_cause        = [[Helicopter crash]]
| birth_name         = Wulf Wolodi Grajonca
| occupation         = Businessman, musical impresario
| organization       = '''Bill Graham Presents'''
| years_active       = 1960s–1991; his death
| spouse             = [[Bonnie MacLean]] (divorced)
| children           = 3, including 1 stepchild
}}

'''Bill Graham''' (born '''Wulf Wolodia Grajonca'''; January 8, 1931&nbsp;– October 25, 1991) was a [[German Americans|German-American]] [[impresario]] and rock [[concert promoter]].

In the early 1960s, Graham moved to [[San Francisco]], and in 1965, began to manage the [[San Francisco Mime Troupe]].<ref name="Chevy to the Levee">{{Cite magazine|url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/features/bill-graham-drives-his-chevy-to-the-levee-19720427|title=Bill Graham Drives His Chevy to the Levee|magazine=[[Rolling Stone]]|access-date=2017-08-15}}</ref> He had teamed up with local [[Haight Ashbury]] promoter [[Chet Helms]] to organize a [[benefit concert]], then promoted several free concerts. This eventually turned into a profitable full-time career and he assembled a talented staff. Graham had a profound influence around the world, sponsoring the musical renaissance of the 1960s from its epicenter in San Francisco.  [[Chet Helms]] and then Graham made famous [[the Fillmore]] and [[Winterland Ballroom]]; these turned out to be a proving grounds for rock bands and acts of the San Francisco Bay area including the [[Grateful Dead]], [[Jefferson Airplane]], and [[Big Brother and the Holding Company]] with [[Janis Joplin]],<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://www.chicagotribune.com/suburbs/skokie/community/chi-ugc-article-legacy-of-legendary-music-promoter-bill-graha-2017-06-12-story.html|title=Legacy of Legendary Music Promoter Bill Graham Showcased in New Illinois Holocaust Museum Exhibition|last=Community Contributor Creative Marketing Associates|work=[[Chicago Tribune]]|access-date=2017-08-16|language=en-US|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170816190914/http://www.chicagotribune.com/suburbs/skokie/community/chi-ugc-article-legacy-of-legendary-music-promoter-bill-graha-2017-06-12-story.html|archive-date=August 16, 2017|url-status=dead}}</ref> who were first managed, and in some cases developed, by Helms.

==Early life==
Graham was born on January 8, 1931, in [[Berlin]].<ref>[[Glatt, John]]. ''Rage & Roll: Bill Graham and the Selling of Rock''. Birch Lane Press, 1993. p. 3{{ISBN|1-5597-2205-3}}</ref> He was the youngest child and only son of Jewish lower middle-class parents, Frieda (''née'' Sass) and Jacob "Yankel" Grajonca,<ref>[https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/judaica/ejud_0002_0008_0_07786.html Bill Graham profile], Jewishvirtuallibrary.org; accessed February 10, 2014.</ref><ref name=":3">{{Cite book|last=Skolnik|first=Fred|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fEEOAQAAMAAJ|title=Encyclopaedia Judaica, Volume 8: GOS - HEP|date=2007|publisher=Thomson Gale|isbn=978-0-02-865936-7|pages=30|language=en}}</ref> who had emigrated from [[Russia]] before the rise of [[Nazism]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-1028677.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121023124839/http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-1028677.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=October 23, 2012|title=Bill Graham, Lead Act at Last|date=October 7, 1992|access-date=June 27, 2011}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://nl.newsbank.com/nl-search/we/Archives?p_product=SB&p_theme=sb&p_action=search&p_maxdocs=200&p_topdoc=1&p_text_direct-0=0EB0D9644100A6BC&p_field_direct-0=document_id&p_perpage=10&p_sort=YMD_date:D&s_trackval=GooglePM|title=Newsbank website|publisher=Nl.newsbank.com|date=May 6, 1991|access-date=June 27, 2011}}</ref> There were six children in the Grajonca family. His father died accidentally two days after Graham was born.<ref name=":0">{{Cite news|last=Lambert|first=Bruce|date=October 27, 1991|title=Bill Graham, Rock Impresario, Dies at 60 in Crash|page=34|work=[[The New York Times]]|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1991/10/27/us/bill-graham-rock-impresario-dies-at-60-in-crash.html|issn=1553-8095}}</ref><ref name=":3" /> Graham's family nicknamed him "Wolfgang" early in life.<ref name="grahamautobio" />

Due to the increasing [[History of the Jews in Germany|peril to Jews in Germany]] and the death of Jacob, Graham's mother placed her son and her youngest daughter, Tanya "Tolla", in a Berlin orphanage,<ref name=":3" /> which sent them to France in a pre-[[Holocaust]] exchange of Jewish children for Christian orphans. Graham's older sisters Sonja and Ester stayed behind with their mother.  On July 4, 1939, he was sent from Germany to France due to political uncertainty in his home country.

After the [[fall of France]], Graham was among a group of Jewish orphans spirited out of France, some of whom finally reached the United States. Tolla Grajonca came down with [[pneumonia]] and did not survive the difficult journey.<ref name=":2">{{Cite news|last=|first=|date=2016-03-11|title=A more personal Bill Graham on display at CJM|url=https://www.jweekly.com/2016/03/11/a-more-personal-bill-graham-on-display-at-cjm/|url-status=live|access-date=2021-04-19|newspaper=J|publisher=Jewish Community Federations|language=en-US|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170423071053/http://www.jweekly.com:80/2016/03/11/a-more-personal-bill-graham-on-display-at-cjm/ |archive-date=April 23, 2017 }}</ref> Graham was one of the [[One Thousand Children]] (OTC), mainly Jewish children who managed to flee Hitler and Europe and come directly to North America, but whose parents were forced to stay behind. Graham's mother was murdered in [[Auschwitz]].<ref name=":2" />

At age 10, he settled into a foster home in [[the Bronx, New York]].  After being taunted as an immigrant and being called a Nazi because of his German-accented English, Graham worked on his accent, eventually being able to speak in a perfect [[New York accent]]. He changed his name to sound more "American". (He found "Graham" in the phone book—it was the closest he could find to his birth surname, "Grajonca". According to Graham, both "Bill" and "Graham" were meaningless to him.) Graham graduated from [[DeWitt Clinton High School]] and then obtained a business degree from the [[City College of New York]].<ref name=":0" /><ref>{{cite news | first=David | last=Kipen | url=http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2001/08/29/DD141675.DTL | title=Flawed look at career of blacklisted director | work=[[San Francisco Chronicle]] | date=August 29, 2001 | access-date=September 14, 2009 | quote=The American 20th century went to high school at DeWitt Clinton High in the Bronx. Multicultural before there was a name for it – at least a polite one – Clinton nurtured such figures as Bill Graham, [[James Baldwin (writer)|James Baldwin]], [[George Cukor]], [[Neil Simon]] and [[Abraham Polonsky|Abraham Lincoln Polonsky]].}}</ref> He was later quoted as describing his training as that of an "[[Business efficiency expert|efficiency expert]]".{{citation needed|date=February 2014}}

Graham was [[conscription in the United States|drafted]] into the [[United States Army]] in 1951, and served in the [[Korean War]], where he was awarded both the [[Bronze Star Medal|Bronze Star]] and [[Purple Heart]]. Upon his return to the States he worked as a waiter/[[maître d']] in [[Catskill Mountains|Catskill Mountain]] resorts in upstate New York during their heyday. He was quoted saying that his experience as a maître d' and with the [[poker]] games he hosted behind the scenes was good training for his eventual career as a promoter. [[Tito Puente]], who played some of these resorts, went on record saying that Graham was avid to learn Spanish from him, but only cared about the [[profanity|curse words]].<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.billgrahamfoundation.org/interviews/titopuente.html | title=Tito Puente interview | publisher=Bill Graham Memorial Foundation (billgrahamfoundation.org) | access-date=February 10, 2014 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131112031356/http://www.billgrahamfoundation.org/interviews/titopuente.html | archive-date=November 12, 2013 | url-status=dead | df=mdy-all }}</ref> He also mentions in his bio-pic ''Last Days At The Fillmore'' working for Minnesota Mining.

==Career==
[[File:Bill Graham (1974).jpg|thumb|right|Graham in 1974]]

===Fillmore Auditorium (December 10, 1965 – July 4, 1968)===
Graham moved from New York to San Francisco in the early 1960s to be closer to his sister Rita. He was invited to attend a free concert in [[Golden Gate Park]], produced by [[Chet Helms]] and the [[Diggers (theater)|Diggers]], where he made contact with the [[San Francisco Mime Troupe]], a radical theater group.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.sfmuseum.org/hist1/rock.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120421100137/http://www.sfmuseum.org/hist1/rock.html|url-status=dead|title=Chronology of San Francisco Rock 1965-1969|archive-date=April 21, 2012|website=Sfmuseum.org}}</ref> After Mime Troupe leader R. G. Davis was arrested on obscenity charges during an outdoor performance, Graham organized a benefit concert to cover the troupe's legal fees. The concert was a success and Graham saw a business opportunity.

Graham began promoting more concerts with Chet Helms and [[Family Dog Productions|Family Dog]] projects, which provided a vital function of the 1960s, promoting concerts that provided a social meeting place to network, where many ideologies were given a forum, sometimes even on stage, such as peace movements, civil rights, farm workers and others.{{citation needed|date=June 2022}} Most of his shows were performed at rented venues, and Graham saw a need for more permanent locations of his own.

Charles Sullivan was a mid-20th-century entrepreneur and businessman in San Francisco who owned the master lease on the [[The Fillmore|Fillmore Auditorium]]. Graham approached Sullivan to put on the Second Mime Troupe appeals concert at the Fillmore Auditorium on December 10, 1965, using Sullivan's dance hall permit for the show. Graham later secured a contract from Sullivan for the open dates at the Fillmore Auditorium in 1966. Graham credits Sullivan with giving him his break in the music concert hall business.

The Fillmore trademark and franchise has defined music promotion in the United States for the last 50 years. From 2003 to 2013 auxiliary writers of the times surrounding the 1960s, and Graham family lawsuits,<ref name="ReferenceA">United States District Court Northern District of California Oakland Division Case No. CV 10-4877 CW</ref> tell the narrative of the Fillmore phenomena and how the Black community there was disenfranchised.<ref name="chroniclebooks.com">Pepin, Elizabeth. ''Harlem of the West: The San Francisco Fillmore Jazz Era'' (Chronicle Books, December 15, 2005).</ref> The best way to set the historic record straight concerning Charles Sullivan and Bill Graham is to review what Graham left in his own words. Historically the first time Graham mentioned Charles Sullivan, in print, was in a ''[[BAM (magazine)|Bay Area Music]]'' article from 1988:

{{blockquote|Bill Graham — and anyone who's even attended a show at San Francisco Fillmore — owes a big debt to Charles Sullivan... "If Mr. Sullivan, Charles, hadn't stood by me and allowed me to use his permit I wouldn't be sitting here."<ref>Moerer, Keith. "The Historic Fillmore's New Tradition," ''Bay Area Music'' (May 20, 1988).</ref>}}

Although Graham acknowledged Sullivan's part he historically has never revealed how he got the lease to the Fillmore Auditorium and how and when he trademarked the Fillmore brand, which by all historical accounts belonged to Sullivan.<ref name="chroniclebooks.com"/> In a handbill from Graham's first show at the Fillmore Auditorium, "The Mime Troupe is holding another appeal party Friday night, December 10th, at the Fillmore Auditorium", Bill Graham gives a general impression of the Fillmore neighborhood:

{{blockquote|The Fillmore Auditorium was located on Fillmore and Geary, which was like 125th Street and Lenox Avenue in Harlem.... In there, Charles Sullivan, a black businessman, had booked a lot of the best R&B acts.... Charles had put on [[James Brown]] and [[Duke Ellington]]. At the Fillmore, [[Bobby Bland]] and [[the Temptations]].... I met Charles Sullivan by appointment the second time I saw the ballroom.... We needed a dance permit but I didn't have one. Of course, he had one because he operated the place. So he allowed us to use his permit and didn't charge me for it.<ref name="grahamautobio"/>}}

Mime Troupe leader R. G. Davis states that, "Graham... got very excited about the success of the Fillmore Auditorium Show. He got a contract with the black guy who owned the Fillmore. He nails it. Closed." On pages 150–156 of his autobiography, Graham outlined his battles with City Hall in getting a dance hall permit. By schmoozing with merchants and having criminologists and sociologists from [[University of California, Berkeley|U.C. Berkeley]] and [[University of California, Santa Cruz|U.C. Santa Cruz]] giving merit to the shows Graham managed to obtain a second permit hearing, but was again denied. He reported that Sullivan came to him sometime in March or April and announced he had to pull his dance hall permit. The morning of the next day, when Graham was returning to move out of his office in the Fillmore Auditorium, Sullivan met him on the steps. Graham claimed Sullivan poured out his life story, concluding with a pledge of support to Graham to beat City Hall. Graham added, "He was the guy, Charles. He was it. I don't know if I could have ever found another place. Why would I have even tried? That was the place."<ref name="grahamautobio">Graham, Bill; Greenfield, Robert. ''Bill Graham Presents: My Life Inside Rock and Out'', Delta (1992), pp. 37, 128–129, 153–154, 156, 544. {{ISBN|9780306813498}}</ref>

Graham was denied by the Board of Permit Appeals who refused to overrule the first denial. Graham then stated, "Then on April 21, 1966, a Thursday, the ''Chronicle'' ran an editorial, 'The Fillmore Auditorium Case' ... [I]t was a big turning point for me. In more ways than one"; he secured his permit.<ref name="grahamautobio"/>

Charles Sullivan was found shot dead at 1:45 am on August 2, 1966, at 5th and Bluxome Streets, San Francisco ([[South of Market, San Francisco|South of Market]] industrial area near the train station). Sullivan had just returned from Los Angeles, where he had presented a weekend concert starring soul singer [[James Brown]]. The police have never determined whether Sullivan's death was suicide or homicide.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.pbs.org/kqed/fillmore/learning/time.html | title=The Fillmore: Timeline | publisher=PBS.org | access-date=June 27, 2011}}</ref><ref>''San Francisco Chronicle'' (August 3, 1966)<!-- page?? -->.</ref>

Sullivan was laid to rest on August 8, 1966, according to the ''Sun Reporter'', which reported that "Last respects were paid Charles Sullivan Monday, Aug. 8, when hundreds crowded into Jones Memorial Methodist Church, 1975 Post St. from 11:30 a.m. to view Sullivan for the last time. An enormous crowd had gathered by 1 p.m. to hear the eulogy for a friend."<ref name="sunreporter">''The Sun Reporter'' (August 13, 1966), pp. 8-9, 27.</ref> The funeral announcement is accompanied by photographs of the actual funeral covering two pages in which police are stopping traffic to assist the motorcade to the cemetery in [[Colma, California|Colma]].<ref name="sunreporter"/>  Graham later reported, "Charles Sullivan got himself killed. He had a bad habit of always carrying a roll of money with him. He was proud of his work and proud of the fact that he earned a good living and always carried a roll. He was jumped and stabbed to death. I went to his funeral in [[Colma, California]]. It was small, mostly family. Had that not happened, I think I would have done anything Charles wanted. Just out of gratitude."<ref name="grahamautobio"/>

After Graham's death on October 25, 1991, the description of his funeral procession states:
{{blockquote|Escorted by motorcycle police, more long black limousines than had ever before been seen at a private funeral in the city of San Francisco formed a phalanx for the procession to the cemetery. Bill was to be buried in [[Colma, California|Colma]], the same small town south of San Francisco filled with graveyards where so many years before Bill himself had gone to the funeral of Charles Sullivan, the black man who stood up for him when the Fillmore Auditorium was on the line.<ref name="grahamautobio"/>}}

''The Sun Reporter'' noted:
{{blockquote|He took over the Fillmore Auditorium at Geary and Fillmore Sts. and began to present different artists in dances and concerts. Some of the greatest names in the entertainment world, like [[Duke Ellington]], [[Lionel Hampton]], [[Count Basie]], [[Ray Charles]] and numerous others, have been presented all up and down the Pacific Coast by Sullivan. He always signed these artists for presentations not only in San Francisco, but in Oakland, Los Angeles, San Diego, Portland, and Seattle."<ref name="sunreporter"/>}}

According to the historical record, Sullivan also gave the Fillmore Auditorium its name.<ref name="chroniclebooks.com"/>

Graham's struggle to get his dance hall permit in 1966 was described in an article in ''[[Billboard Magazine]]'', July 11, 1966. San Francisco music critic [[Ralph Gleason]], in defense of Graham's Fillmore Auditorium scene, wrote that Graham got a three-year lease for the Fillmore Auditorium from Charles Sullivan and was still struggling to procure his dance hall permit,<ref>''Billboard Magazine'' (July 11, 1966).</ref> a fact never publicly revealed by Graham. Charles Sullivan's last show at the Fillmore Auditorium came a week before his death, on July 26, 1966, The Temptations Dance and Show. Graham must have gotten his permit in mid-July 1966, confirming his possession of the Fillmore brand.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Lefebvre |first=Sam |date=2017-06-14 |title=Without Charles Sullivan, There'd Be No Fillmore As We Know It {{!}} KQED |url=https://www.kqed.org/arts/13414955/without-charles-sullivan-thered-be-no-fillmore-as-we-know-it |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231209180518/https://www.kqed.org/arts/13414955/without-charles-sullivan-thered-be-no-fillmore-as-we-know-it |archive-date=December 9, 2023 |access-date=2024-03-11 |website=www.kqed.org |language=en}}</ref>

It was unknown how Graham had taken over the Fillmore lease until the 2004 publication of [[Hendrik Hertzberg]]'s ''Politics Observations & Arguments (1966-2004)''. It contains an article, "The San Francisco Sound, New music, new subculture", at the end of which it stated, "Unpublished file for ''Newsweek'', October 28, 1966". This article contains the only published account of how Graham acquired the Fillmore.<ref name=Hertzberg>{{Cite book|isbn = 1-59420-018-1|title = Politics: Observations and Arguments, 1966-2004|last1 = Hertzberg|first1 = Hendrik|year = 2004| publisher=Penguin Press }}</ref> In the beginning, Hertzberg recounts familiar territory with the Mime Troupe, reducing the Fillmore Auditorium to a run-down ballroom in "SF's biggest negro ghetto." After the success of the Fillmore Auditorium Mime Troupe shows, Graham parts ways with the Troupe: "He went back to the Fillmore and found that eleven other promoters had already put in bids for it. Graham got forty-one prominent citizens to write letters to the auditorium's owner, a [[haberdasher]] named Harry Shifs, and Shifs gave him a three-year lease at five hundred dollars a month.... [T]he hippie community ... has turned out to be something the man from Montgomery Street can point to with pride, in a left-handed way, and say 'these are our boys'"'', stated [[Jerry Garcia]].<ref name=Hertzberg />{{Rp|8–9}}

One of the early concerts Graham sponsored, with [[Chet Helms]] hired to promote it, featured the [[Paul Butterfield|Paul Butterfield Blues Band]]. The concert was an overwhelming success and Graham saw an opportunity with the band.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.wolfgangsvault.com/the-paul-butterfield-blues-band/concerts/fillmore-auditorium-october-14-1966.html|title=The Paul Butterfield Blues Band Concert|publisher=[[Wolfgang's Vault]]|access-date=June 27, 2011|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20110718074556/http://www.wolfgangsvault.com/the-paul-butterfield-blues-band/concerts/fillmore-auditorium-october-14-1966.html|archive-date=July 18, 2011|url-status=live}}</ref> Early the next morning, Graham's secretary called the band's manager, [[Albert Grossman]], and obtained exclusive rights to promote them. Shortly thereafter, [[Chet Helms]] arrived at Graham's office, asking how Graham could have cut him out of the deal. Graham pointed out that Helms would not have known about it unless he had tried to do the same thing to Graham. He advised Helms to "get up early" in the future. Graham produced shows attracting elements of America's now-legendary [[1960s counterculture]] such as the [[Jefferson Airplane]], [[Big Brother and the Holding Company]], [[Country Joe and the Fish]], [[Lawrence Ferlinghetti]], [[the Committee (improv_group)]], [[The Fugs]], [[Allen Ginsberg]], and a particular favorite of Graham's, the [[Grateful Dead]]. He was the [[talent manager|manager]] of the Jefferson Airplane during 1967 and 1968. His staff's amount of resourcefulness, success, popularity, and personal contacts with artists and fans alike was one reason Graham became the top rock concert promoter in the San Francisco Bay Area.

===Fillmore Records, West, East, and later===
Graham owned Fillmore Records, which was in operation from 1969 to 1976. Some of those who signed with Graham included [[Rod Stewart]], [[Elvin Bishop]], and [[Cold Blood (band)|Cold Blood]],<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.rockandrollroadmap.com/san-francisco-area-studios/fillmore-records/view-details.html|title=Fillmore Records|publisher=Rock and Roll Map|access-date=October 2, 2011|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111016091029/http://rockandrollroadmap.com/san-francisco-area-studios/fillmore-records/view-details.html|archive-date=October 16, 2011|df=mdy-all}}</ref> although of these it seems only Bishop actually issued albums on the Fillmore label. {{citation needed|date=May 2014}} [[Tower of Power]] was signed to Bill Graham's [[San Francisco Records]] and their first album, ''[[East Bay Grease]]'', was recorded in 1970.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://towerofpower.com/the-band|title=The Band|website=Towerofpower.com|access-date=October 11, 2019}}</ref>

By 1971, Graham citing financial reasons and changes he saw as unwelcome in the music industry,<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.americanradiohistory.com/Archive-Cash-Box/70s/1971/Cash-Box-1971-05-08.pdf|title=Cash Box Magazine|date=May 8, 1971|website=Americanradiohistory.com|access-date=October 11, 2019}}</ref> closed the [[Fillmore East]] and [[Fillmore West|West]], claiming a need to "find [himself]". The movie ''[[Fillmore (film)|Fillmore]]'' and the album ''[[Fillmore: The Last Days]]'' document the closing of the Fillmore West. Graham later returned to promoting. He began organizing concerts at smaller venues, like the [[Berkeley Community Theatre]] on the campus of [[Berkeley High School (Berkeley, California)|Berkeley High School]]. He then reopened the [[Winterland|Winterland Arena]] (San Francisco), along with the Fillmore West, and promoted shows at the [[Cow Palace]] Arena in [[Daly City]] and other venues. {{Citation needed|date=January 2010}}

In 1973 he did the staging for Jimmy Koplic and Shelly Finkle's promotion of the Summer Jam at Watkins Glen rock festival at [[Watkins Glen, New York]] with [[The Band]], [[Grateful Dead]], and [[The Allman Brothers Band]]. Over 600,000 paying ticket-holders were in attendance. He continued promoting stadium-sized concerts at Kezar Stadium in San Francisco with [[Led Zeppelin]] in 1973 and 1977 and started a series of outdoor stadium concerts at the [[Oakland Coliseum]] each billed as ''[[Day on the Green]]'' in 1973 until 1992. These concerts featured billings such as the Grateful Dead and [[The Who]] on October 9, 1976, and the Grateful Dead and [[Bob Dylan]] in 1987.

His first large-scale outdoor benefit concert, at [[Kezar Stadium]], on Sunday, March 23, 1975, "SF SNACK",<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.wolfgangsvault.com/tour-show/snack-concert.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140508023044/http://www.wolfgangsvault.com/tour-show/snack-concert.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=2014-05-08 |title= Snack concert |website=www.wolfgangsvault.com|access-date=2020-07-30}}</ref> was organized to replace funds<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://blog.sfgate.com/thebigevent/2012/03/12/the-colombo-files-bill-grahams-1975-concert-for-the-kids/|title=The Colombo Files: Bill Graham's 1975 concert for the kids|first1=Peter Hartlaub on|last1=March 12|first2=2012 at 4:17|last2=AM|date=March 12, 2012|website=The Big Event}}</ref> for after-school programs canceled by the [[San Francisco Unified School District]],<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://billgrahamfoundation.org/newsletters/snack.html|title=A Look Back At ...SNACK SUNDAY - Bill Graham Foundation|access-date=May 7, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140508024926/http://billgrahamfoundation.org/newsletters/snack.html|archive-date=May 8, 2014|url-status=dead}}</ref> with performances by [[Bob Dylan]], [[Neil Young]], members of [[The Band]] and [[Grateful Dead]],<ref name="bio">{{cite web|author=Robert Greenfield|url=http://www.billgrahamfoundation.org/bio.html|title=Bill Graham profile at|publisher=Billgrahamfoundation.org|access-date=June 27, 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110615154721/http://www.billgrahamfoundation.org/bio.html|archive-date=June 15, 2011|url-status=dead|df=mdy-all}}</ref> [[Jefferson Starship]], [[Mimi Fariña]], [[Joan Baez]], [[Santana (band)|Santana]], [[Tower of Power]], [[Jerry Garcia]] & Friends, [[The Doobie Brothers]], [[Eddie Palmieri]] & His Orchestra, [[The Miracles]], [[Graham Central Station]], and appearing : [[Marlon Brando]], [[Francis Ford Coppola]], [[Frankie Albert]], [[John Brodie]], [[Rosemary Casals|Rosie Casals]], [[Werner Erhard]], [[Cedrick Hardman|Cedric Hardman]], [[Willie Mays]], [[Jesse Owens]], [[Gene Washington (wide receiver, born 1947)|Gene Washington]], [[Cecil Williams (pastor)|Cecil Williams]]<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.wolfgangs.com/poster-art/snack-benefit/poster/KEZ750323.html|title=SNACK Benefit Vintage Concert Poster from Kezar Stadium, Mar 23, 1975 at Wolfgang's|website=Wolfgangs.com}}</ref>

Graham as ''Bill Graham Presents'' booked the 1982 [[US Festival]], funded by [[Steve Wozniak]] as ''Unuson''.<ref>[http://sohodojo.com/us-festival-softalk-story.html "US Festival '82"], ''Softalk'' magazine, Volume 3 No. 10, pp. 128–140. October 1982.</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://web.stpete.com/news/newsarticledisplay.aspx?ArticleID=2413|title=News – St. Petersburg, FL|website=St. Petersburg Area Chamber of Commerce - Saint Petersburg, FL|access-date=27 October 2018|archive-date=October 27, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181027185858/http://web.stpete.com/news/newsarticledisplay.aspx?ArticleID=2413|url-status=dead}}</ref> In the mid-1980s, in conjunction with the city of [[Mountain View, California]], and [[Apple Inc.]] cofounder [[Steve Wozniak]], he masterminded the creation of the [[Shoreline Amphitheatre]], which became the premier venue for outdoor concerts in [[Silicon Valley]], complementing his booking of the East Bay [[Concord Pavilion]]. Throughout his career, Graham promoted benefit concerts. He went on to set the standard for well-produced large-scale rock concerts, such as the U.S. portion of [[Live Aid]] at [[JFK Stadium|JFK Stadium, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania]] on July 13, 1985, as well as the 1986 [[Conspiracy of Hope Tour|A Conspiracy of Hope]] and 1988 [[Human Rights Now! Tour|Human Rights Now!]] tours for [[Amnesty International]].

Graham purchased comedy club [[Punch Line San Francisco|The Punch Line]] and The [[Old Waldorf]] on Battery Street in San Francisco from local promoter Jeffrey Pollack, with whom he remained close friends for the rest of his life,<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.setlist.fm/venue/the-old-waldorf-san-francisco-ca-usa-3d63d37.html|title=The Old Waldorf, San Francisco, CA, USA Concert Setlists - setlist.fm|website=Setlist.fm|access-date=27 October 2018}}</ref><ref name="rockandrollroadmap.com">{{cite web|url=http://rockandrollroadmap.com/places/where-they-played/san-francisco-area-venues/old-waldorf/|title=Old Waldorf - Former Venue On Battery Street In San Francisco, CA|date=18 December 2015|website=Rockandrollroadmap.com|access-date=27 October 2018}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.setlist.fm/venue/punch-line-comedy-club-san-francisco-ca-usa-43d5ffaf.html|title=Punch Line Comedy Club, San Francisco, CA, USA Concert Setlists - setlist.fm|website=Setlist.fm|access-date=27 October 2018}}</ref> then [[Cobb's Comedy Club|Wolfgang's]] on Columbus Ave in San Francisco.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://rockandrollroadmap.com/places/where-they-played/san-francisco-area-venues/wolfgangs/|title=Wolfgang's - Former Venue On Columbus Ave In San Francisco, CA|date=18 December 2015|website=Rockandrollroadmap.com|access-date=27 October 2018}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.discogs.com/label/389126-Wolfgangs-San-Francisco|title=Wolfgang's, San Francisco|website=Discogs.com|access-date=27 October 2018}}</ref><ref name="rockandrollroadmap.com"/><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.setlist.fm/venue/wolfgangs-san-francisco-ca-usa-4bd7a33a.html|title=Wolfgang's, San Francisco, CA, USA Concert Setlists - setlist.fm|website=Setlist.fm|access-date=27 October 2018}}</ref><!-- <ref>{{cite web|url=http://web.stpete.com/news/newsarticledisplay.aspx?ArticleID=2413|title=News – St. Petersburg, FL|website=St. Petersburg Area Chamber of Commerce - Saint Petersburg, FL|access-date=27 October 2018}}</ref> -->

==Personal life==

=== Family ===
Bill Graham had five sisters, Rita Rose; Evelyn (or "Echa") Udray; Sonja (or "Sonia") Szobel; Ester Chichinsky; and Tanya (or "Tolla") Grajonca, however his youngest sister Tolla died of pneumonia while fleeing the Holocaust.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":2" /><ref>{{Cite web|last1=Selvin|first1=Joel|date=April 6, 1995|title=Fallout From Estate Finally Settles / After disputes, heirs resigned, company strong|url=https://www.sfgate.com/entertainment/article/Fallout-From-Estate-Finally-Settles-After-3037961.php|website=SFGate}}</ref> Rita and Ester moved to the United States and were close to Graham in his later life. Evelyn and Sonja escaped the Holocaust, first to [[Shanghai]], and later, after the war, to Europe.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Bill Graham and the Rock & Roll Revolution |url=https://www.thefhm.org/exhibits/billgrahamrockrollrevolution/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230928041406/https://www.thefhm.org/exhibits/billgrahamrockrollrevolution/ |archive-date=September 28, 2023 |access-date=2024-03-11 |website=The Florida Holocaust Museum |language=en-US}}</ref> Graham's nephew and Sonia Szobel's son is musician [[Hermann Szobel]].<ref>{{Cite web|date=July 2016|title=37. Hermann Szobel, 'Szobel' (1976)|url=https://au.rollingstone.com/music/music-lists/-22108/37-hermann-szobel-szobel-1976-22113/|url-status=live|access-date=2021-04-19|website=Rolling Stone Australia|language=en-AU|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210419143011/https://au.rollingstone.com/music/music-lists/-22108/37-hermann-szobel-szobel-1976-22113/ |archive-date=April 19, 2021 }}</ref>

Graham married [[Bonnie MacLean]] on June 11, 1967, and they had one child, David (born 1968); after many years of not living together the couple divorced in 1975.<ref>{{Cite web|date=2020-02-26|title=Bonnie MacLean|url=https://art.famsf.org/bonnie-maclean|access-date=2021-04-19|website=FAMSF Search the Collections|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.sfgate.com/entertainment/article/Dividing-a-Lifetime-s-Bounty-Long-painful-3038231.php|title=Dividing a Lifetime's Bounty / Long, painful negotiations over fate of promoter's estate|first1=Joel|last1=Selvin|date=April 5, 1995|website=SFGate}}</ref> With Marcia Sult Godinez, Graham had another son; Alex Graham-Sult and a stepson, Thomas Sult.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":1">{{Cite web|url=https://www.sfgate.com/news/article/BILL-GRAHAM-S-TANGLED-LEGACY-Battle-Over-Rock-3038566.php|title=BILL GRAHAM'S TANGLED LEGACY / Battle Over Rock Impressario's [sic&#93; Riches|first1=Joel|last1=Selvin|date=April 4, 1995|website=SFGate}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|date=2016-04-03|title=Bill Graham Retrospective Headlines At The Contemporary Jewish Museum|url=https://hoodline.com/2016/04/bill-graham-retrospective-headlines-at-the-contemporary-jewish-museum/|access-date=2021-04-19|website=hoodline.com|language=en}}</ref>

=== Home estate ===
For many years Graham lived in [[Mill Valley, California|Mill Valley]], [[California]], on an 11-acre estate with a [[ranch-style house]] he named "Masada"<ref name=":1" /><ref>{{Cite web|date=2015-06-16|title=Interview: DJ Alex Graham|url=https://coolhunting.com/culture/interview-dj-alex-graham-bill-graham/|access-date=2021-04-19|website=COOL HUNTING®|language=en-US}}</ref> which he named after the ancient mountain fort in [[Israel]] with the same name, [[Masada]].<ref>{{Cite web |last=Marc |date=2015-12-18 |title=Bill Graham's Last Home In Corte Madera, California |url=https://rockandrollroadmap.com/places/homes-of-rock-and-roll-stars/san-francisco-area-homes-of-rock-and-roll-stars/bill-grahams-home/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231206200804/https://rockandrollroadmap.com/places/homes-of-rock-and-roll-stars/san-francisco-area-homes-of-rock-and-roll-stars/bill-grahams-home/ |archive-date=December 6, 2023 |access-date=2024-03-11 |website=History Of Rock Music |language=en-US}}</ref> The house was replaced in the early 2000s, and later occupied by WeWork CEO, [[Adam Neumann]].<ref>{{Cite web|date=2020-08-04|title=Photos: Marin property once owned by Bill Graham selling for $27.5 million|url=https://www.mercurynews.com/2020/08/04/photos-marin-mansion-owned-by-bill-graham-and-former-wework-ceo-selling-for-27-5m-2|access-date=2021-04-19|website=Marin Independent Journal|language=en-US}}{{Dead link|date=September 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|last=Erwert|first=Anna Marie|date=2020-09-21|title=$9M Mill Valley compound with a Bill Graham connection is for sale|url=https://www.sfgate.com/realestate/slideshow/9M-Mill-Valley-compound-for-sale-bill-graham-208889.php|access-date=2021-04-19|website=SFGATE|language=en-US}}</ref>

=== Bitburg controversy ===
{{Main|Bitburg controversy}}
Graham's status as a [[Holocaust]] survivor came into play in 1985, during the presidency of [[Ronald Reagan]].<ref name=":2" /> When Graham learned that Reagan intended to lay a wreath at [[Bitburg|Bitburg's World War II cemetery]] where [[SS]] soldiers were also buried, he took out a full-page ad in the San Francisco Chronicle newspaper in protest.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Meline|first=Gabe|date=March 16, 2016|title=Bill Graham: The Personality No Museum Could Possibly Contain|url=https://www.kqed.org/arts/11409279/bill-graham-the-personality-no-museum-could-possibly-contain|url-status=live|access-date=2021-04-19|website=KQED|language=en-us|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190728171624/https://www.kqed.org/arts/11409279/bill-graham-the-personality-no-museum-could-possibly-contain |archive-date=July 28, 2019 }}</ref> During the same month that Reagan visited the cemetery, Graham's San Francisco office was firebombed by [[Neo-Nazi]]s.<ref name=":2" /> Graham was in France at the time, meeting with [[Bob Geldof]] to organize the first [[Live Aid]] concert. Graham eventually led an effort to build a large [[Menorah (Hanukkah)|menorah]] which is lit during every [[Hanukkah]] in downtown San Francisco.

=== Acting ===
Graham had long dreamed of being a [[character actor]]. He appeared in ''[[Apocalypse Now]]'' in a small role as a promoter. In 1990, he was cast as [[Lucky Luciano|Charles "Lucky" Luciano]] in the film ''[[Bugsy]]''.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0101516/|title=Bugsy|website=IMDb.com|access-date=October 11, 2019}}</ref> During one scene, he is shown in a Latin dance number, a style of dancing Graham had embraced as a teenager in New York. He also appears as a promoter in the 1991 [[Oliver Stone]] film ''[[The Doors (film)|The Doors]]'', which he also co-produced.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0101761/|title=The Doors|website=IMDb.com|access-date=October 11, 2019}}</ref> He had a small part in ''[[Gardens of Stone]]'' as Don Brubaker, a hippie anti-war protester.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0093073/|title=Gardens of Stone|website=IMDb.com|access-date=October 11, 2019}}</ref>

==Death==
{{Main article|1991 Vallejo helicopter crash}}

Graham died in a [[helicopter]] crash<ref name=ntsb>{{cite web |url=https://www.ntsb.gov/_layouts/ntsb.aviation/brief.aspx?ev_id=20001212X18336&key=1&queryId=b34d69b9-68ea-4f08-b92b-3a981b73f098&pgno=3&pgsize=50 |title=NTSB Identification: LAX92LA029 |author=NTSB |date=April 27, 1993 |website=ntsb.gov |publisher=NTSB |access-date=June 16, 2015}}</ref> west of [[Vallejo, California]], on October 25, 1991, while returning home from a [[Huey Lewis and the News]] concert at the [[Concord Pavilion]].<ref name="Obituary">{{cite news |last=Lambert |first=Bruce |date=October 27, 1991 |title=Bill Graham, Rock Impresario, Dies at 60 in Crash |work=The New York Times |url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9D0CE5D61131F934A15753C1A967958260&sec=&spon=&partner=permalink&exprod=permalink |access-date=April 17, 2008}}</ref> He had attended the event to discuss promoting a benefit concert for the victims of the 1991 [[Oakland hills firestorm]].<ref name=ck6>{{cite web |url=http://www.check-six.com/Crash_Sites/Graham-N3456M.htm|title=Bill Graham's Stairway to Heaven|author=Check Six|date=November 22, 2014 |website=check-six.com|publisher=|access-date=June 16, 2015}}</ref> Once he had obtained a commitment from [[Huey Lewis]] to perform, he departed by helicopter, which collided with a high-voltage tower in [[Marin County, California]]. Fatalities included Graham, pilot and advance man Steve "Killer" Kahn,<ref name="moscow concert">{{cite news |last1=Simons |first1=Jamie |last2=Lapidese |first2=Jon |title=Rock in a Hard Place |url=http://articles.latimes.com/1987-07-05/magazine/tm-2027_1_rock-concert |access-date=June 26, 2016 |work=Los Angeles Times |date=July 5, 1987}}</ref> and Graham's girlfriend, Melissa Gold (née Dilworth), ex-wife of author [[Herbert Gold]].<ref>{{Cite news |date=October 28, 1991 |title=Melissa Gold, 47, Aide For California Causes |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1991/10/28/obituaries/melissa-gold-47-aide-for-california-causes.html |access-date=April 19, 2021 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref>

==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.

==See also==
* ''[[Bill Graham Archives v. Dorling Kindersley, Ltd.]]'', 448 F.3d 605 (2d Cir. 2006)—[[fair use]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Further reading==
* ''Rage & Roll: Bill Graham and the Selling of Rock'' (1993) by [[John Glatt]]; {{ISBN|1-55972-205-3}}
* ''Tito Puente: When the Drums are Dreaming'' (2007) by Josephine Powell; {{ISBN|978-1425981587}}

==External links==
{{Commons category|Bill Graham (promoter)}}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20140702155748/http://www.billgrahamfoundation.org/ Bill Graham Foundation]
* [http://www.billgrahamcivic.com/ Bill Graham Civic Auditorium]
* {{Discogs artist|Bill Graham (2)|Bill Graham}}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20070927223056/http://www.famousinterview.ca/interviews/bill_graham.htm Bill Graham interview with Robert Greenfield], famousinterview.ca/interviews/bill_graham.htm; accessed May 7, 2014.
* [http://www.mp3newswire.net/stories/6002/wolfgang.html "Concert Archive Draws Digital Suit"], December 2006 [[MP3 Newswire]] article about the fight over "Wolfgang's Vault" and the digital rights to the Bill Graham concert legacy
* [http://www.check-six.com/Crash_Sites/Graham-N3456M.htm Bill Graham's Stairway to Heaven...], check-six.com; accessed May 7, 2014.
* [http://www.houstonfreeburgcollection.com/BG0_to_BG289.php The Houston Freeburg Collection website] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110205005822/http://www.houstonfreeburgcollection.com/BG0_to_BG289.php |date=February 5, 2011 }}; accessed May 7, 2014.
* [http://www.wolfgangsvault.com Wolfgang's Vault]—contains live music audio/video
* [http://www.kmelforever.com/the-kamel-interviews-bill-graham.html Kenny Wardell of 106 KMEL Interviews Bill Graham], kmelforever.com; accessed May 7, 2014.
* [http://www.kmelforever.com/the-kamel-bill-graham-broadcast-january-6-1984.html A Video of 106 KMEL Broadcasting Live from Bill Graham's House], kmelforever.com; accessed May 7, 2014

{{American Music Award of Merit}}
{{1992 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame}}
{{Historic rock festival}}
{{Rock festival}}
{{Portal bar|Biography}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Graham, Bill}}
[[Category:1931 births]]
[[Category:1991 deaths]]
[[Category:20th-century American businesspeople]]
[[Category:Accidental deaths in California]]
[[Category:United States Army personnel of the Korean War]]
[[Category:American music industry executives]]
[[Category:American music managers]]
[[Category:Businesspeople from the San Francisco Bay Area]]
[[Category:Deaths from fire in the United States]]
[[Category:DeWitt Clinton High School alumni]]
[[Category:Impresarios]]
[[Category:Jewish American military personnel]]
[[Category:Music of the San Francisco Bay Area]]
[[Category:Music promoters]]
[[Category:People from Mount Pleasant, New York]]
[[Category:United States Army soldiers]]
[[Category:Victims of aviation accidents or incidents in 1991]]
[[Category:Victims of helicopter accidents or incidents in the United States]]
[[Category:People from Berlin]]
[[Category:20th-century American Jews]]