Photo: Larry Vallon with Page & Plant | [Our thanks to Chuck Morris for passing this sad news along.] By Bruce Haring, Deadline | If you attended a concert in Southern California in the last five decades, it’s likely Larry Vallon had a hand in it. Vallon, who had a 50-years-plus career in concert production, died today at home. No details on the cause were available. He was 77.
Vallon was a staple of the national concert industry. He worked for such entities as Concert Associates, Wolf and Rissmiller, Universal Amphitheater, Larry Vallon Presents, and AEG, producing thousands of shows ranging from acts like The Stones, Pink Floyd, and The Who, on down to small theaters.
Vallon was a 23-year veteran of Universal Concerts prior to joining AEG. Vallon joined Universal when it was MCA Concerts and then Universal Concerts.
Vallon helped grow such marquee amphitheaters as Fiddler’s Green in Englewood, Colorado, and made Universal Amphitheater into a respected tour stop favored by such stars as Frank Sinatra and Linda Ronstadt.
Vallon got his start in the business as a runner for concert promoters Jim Rissmiller and Steve Wolf at Wolf & Rissmiller Presents. He was moved up to a stage management position and eventually junior partner at Wolf & Rissmiller before starting his own company, Larry Vallon Presents.
Survivors include his wife, Claudia, and daughters.
https://deadline.com/2024/07/larry-vallon-dead-concert-executive-aeg-universal-amphitheater-obituary-1236010120/
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Eddie Rosenblatt, Longtime Geffen Records President, Dies at 89
By Jem Aswad, Variety | Eddie Rosenblatt, who was president of Geffen Records from its inception in 1980 through its glory years of Guns N’ Roses, Nirvana, Don Henley and countless others, died Tuesday at a hospital in Santa Barbara, Variety has confirmed. His son Michael told Hits the cause of death was pneumonia; he was 89.
Under Rosenblatt’s watch, Geffen became the gold-standard label of the music industry throughout most of the 1980s and 1990s, spawning not only dozens of hits by the above acts as well as artists spanning from Whitesnake to Weezer, it also boasted a carefully curated roster that included deeply credible acts ranging from Peter Gabriel (pictured above, left, with Rosenblatt in 1993) and Sonic Youth to XTC, John Hiatt and the Roots. It also cultivated an enormous number of executives who would become leaders themselves, including such top A&R execs and future label presidents or CEOs Gary Gersh, Tom Zutaut, John Kalodner and Wendy Goldstein.
Rosenblatt was born in 1934 in Queens, New York and after a stint in the army, followed by Macy’s management-training program, he moved to Cleveland to work at Cosnat Distributing, which was essentially his introduction into the music business. In 1962 he joined Main Line Distribution, where he built relationships with such industry giants as top A&M execs Gil Friesen and Jerry Moss and Elektra founder Jac Holzman. He joined A&M in 1967 and moved over to Warner in 1971. That label’s legendary combination of commercial success and artistic integrity in many ways was a forerunner for what would be accomplished at Geffen; there, Rosenblatt also gained invaluable experience helping to run the company’s then-new distribution company, WEA.
Rosenblatt’s experience at Warner working with Joni Mitchell, who was managed by David Geffen for several years, led Geffen to hire/name him president of his newly founded, eponymous label in 1980. True to form, Geffen launched his label with a splash, signing John Lennon, Elton John and Donna Summer out of the gate, although only Lennon’s album, which was released just before he was murdered in December of 1980, was a major chart success.
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Rosenblatt is survived by his four children — Michael, a longtime Warner Bros. Records exec himself; Steven, Peter and Gretchen — six grandchildren and one great-grandchild. His wife of 68 years, Bobbi, died in 2023.
In lieu of flowers, gifts in memory of Rosenblatt can be made to the Sansum Clinic, a nonprofit outpatient healthcare organization, at https://www.sansumclinic.org/donate-now.
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Read more of Mr. Rosenblatt’s accomplishments and bio here:
https://variety.com/2024/music/news/eddie-rosenblatt-geffen-records-president-dead-1236075556/
Photo: Jeff Trisler on Facebook: The sadly late, but forever great, Larry Vallon. 1994 at the GORGE. We were celebrating our greatest triumph together, getting Jimmy Page and Robert Plant to play at the GORGE. Larry jumped right into the middle of the photograph with his old friends Jimmy and Robert. I, on the other hand, was too awestruck to be in the presence of the heros of my youth. Larry always treated everyone with the same kindness and generosity, whether they were world renowned superstars or the people working late cleaning up the mess. Love him like a brother, will forever miss him, but also will be forever grateful for the time we had together.
Music Execs Pass: Larry Vallon Dies: Concert Executive With AEG, and Eddie Rosenblatt, Longtime Geffen Records President, Dies
