Don Kirshner, Legendary Music Exec, Dead at 77

[TheGuy]

http://www.billboard.com/news/don-ki...758e587318%2C0

Legendary music publisher Don Kirshner died Monday in Boca Raton, Florida. The cause was heart failure, according to a statement from his publicist. Kirshner was 77.

Over a career that spanned several decades, Kirshner is best known for fostering the "Brill Building" hitmaking team of the late 1950s and early 1960s, which included such classic songwriters as Carole King, Gerry Goffin, Neil Sedaka, Howard Greenfield, Cynthia Weil, Barry Mann, Neil Diamond and many others working under the umbrella of Kirshner and Al Nevin's Aldon Music.

As a producer/promoter, Kirshner was influential in launching the careers of artists such as Diamond, Bobby Darin and Tony Orlando as well as rock acts such as Kansas; the latter group was signed to his Kirshner label. He was also responsible for managing the songwriting talent behind the first seasons of the 1960s television show "The Monkees," as well as "The Archies" cartoon and, later, his weekly live-performance show "Don Kirshner's Rock Concert."


Kirshner was inducted into the Songwriters' Hall of Fame in 2007, among many other accolades.

He is survived by his wife of 50 years, Sheila, his children Ricky and Daryn and their spouses Rina and Arthur, and his grandchildren Alexandra, Shelby, Jillian, Matthew and Jaden.

Services are being arranged in Florida. The family asks that in lieu of flowers, donations can be made to the Don Kirshner Scholarship Fund, which is being established by his family for emerging songwriters (70 West 36 Street, Suite 701, New York, NY 10018 - 212.239.0777).

[SkullOrchard]

I loved Don Kirshner's Rock Concert when I was a kid. RIP.

[Pizza]

Sorry to see you go Donnie. I loved the Monkees and the Archies. There, I said it.

[cungar]

The forerunner to MTV News:

[Ginwen]

Originally Posted by SkullOrchard

I loved Don Kirshner's Rock Concert when I was a kid. RIP.

I used to love this and Midnight Special back when they were pretty much the only way to see music on TV (and I too love the Monkees although the Archies not so much).

RIP Don.

[wm lopez]

I liked what he did with THE MONKEES.
Check out the VH-1 BEHIND THE MUSIC: THE MONKEES

[JAA]

Originally Posted by Pizza

. . . I loved the Monkees and the Archies. There, I said it.

You're certainly not alone. There were many of us. I lived for Rock Concert back in the day. Seemed it was the only way to actually see our heros back then. Rock on, Don.

[Lastdaysofrain]

I think Mike Nesmith will shed no tears about this one.

[HUG-H]

Originally Posted by Lastdaysofrain

I think Mike Nesmith will shed no tears about this one.

I was thinking the same thing!
Long story short: Kirshner (The music supervisor for The Monkees TV show) was the one that stood in the way for them to finally make a recording of the band playing in the studio for the first time (even though he didn't seem to have a problem with the fact that they were already doing that on stage). The pop records that their name was on sounded good regardless, but when they finally did after he was fired, they made a single and an album (That featured just them) that have always been my favorites.

[Deadman31]

I think Nesmith threatened to kill him once also.

[HUG-H]

^Well, I hope the police aren't questioning him now!

He put his fist through a wall and said "That could have been your face!", maybe a threat but not a death threat, thank God!