Bill Graham (promoter)
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Cover of "Bill Graham Presents" |
Bill Graham (
January 8,
1931–
October 25,
1991) was a well-known concert promoter, beginning in the
1960s.
Bill Graham was born
Wolfgang Grajonca in
Berlin, the youngest son of a
Jewish family that had emigrated to
Germany prior to the rise of
Nazism. Graham's father died when he was a baby. As it became increasingly difficult for
Jews to survive in
Nazi Germany, Graham's mother placed Graham and his younger sister in an orphanage in
Berlin. This turned out to be fortunate, as the orphanage sent them to
France as a pre–
Holocaust exchange of
Jewish children for
Christian orphans.
Graham's older sisters stayed behind with his mother. After the fall of
France, Graham was among a group of
Jewish orphans spirited out of France. A majority of the children – including Graham's younger sister—did not survive the journey.
Graham's mother died in
Auschwitz. His sister Esther survived Auschwitz and later moved to the
United States and was very close to Graham in his later life. His sister Rita escaped by working as a dancer, first to
Shanghai and then, after the war, to the
United States.
Once in the
United States, Graham was placed in a foster home in
The Bronx in
New York City. After being taunted as an immigrant and being called a Nazi because of his
German accented
English, Graham changed his name and worked to perfect a
New York accent. Graham graduated from
DeWitt Clinton High School and then went to business school. He was later quoted as describing his training as that of an "
efficiency expert."
Graham was
drafted into the
United States Army in 1951 and served in the
Korean War, where he won the
Bronze Star and
Purple Heart in combat. Upon his return to the States he worked as a waiter/
maître d' in the
Catskill Mountain resorts in upstate
New York during their heyday. He was later quoted as saying 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 once saying that Graham was avid to learn
Spanish from him, but only cared about the
curse words.
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, where he made contact with the
San Francisco Mime Troupe. He gave up a promising business career to manage the troupe in
1965 and produce concerts. One of the first concerts he promoted was in partnership with
Chet Helms of the
Family Dog organization and featured the
Steve Miller Band. The concert was an overwhelming success and Graham saw an opportunity with the band. The next morning, he called the Steve Miller Band's management in
Chicago and obtained exclusive rights to promote them. Shortly after that,
Chet Helms showed up 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 and advised him to "get up earlier in the morning" in the future.
A magnetic but often difficult personality, Graham's shows attracted elements of America's now legendary
alternative culture of the time such as
Jefferson Airplane,
Janis Joplin,
Country Joe and The Fish,
Lawrence Ferlinghetti,
The Committee,
The Fugs,
Allen Ginsberg, and, a particular favorite of Graham's,
The Grateful Dead. His successes and popularity allowed him to become the top concert promoter in
rock music. He operated the famous venues the
Fillmore West and
Winterland (both in
San Francisco) and the
Fillmore East (in
New York City), where the best up-and-coming acts would come to play.
In the
1970's, he closed the
Fillmores on both coasts, citing a need to "find himself." He retreated to a
Greek island, but found the peace disconcerting and later admitted he had trouble with the fact that no one knew who he was there.
He returned to promoting, first putting on concerts at smaller venues, like the
Berkeley Community Theatre on the campus of
Berkeley High School. He then leased the
Winterland Arena in
San Francisco and promoted shows at the
Cow Palace Auditorium in
Daly City. His first large-scale outdoor arena concert was a benefit for the San Francisco after-school programs, called the
SNACK concert and starred
Bob Dylan, with
Neil Young and members of
The Band. He was careful to make sure everything ran smoothly at his events, fearing the unpredictable nature of large crowds, and became known for his explosive response to anyone deviating from procedure.
He would go on to set the standard for well-produced large scale
rock concerts, such as the American portion of
Live Aid in
JFK Stadium,
Philadelphia on July 13, 1985, as well as the 1986
A Conspiracy of Hope and 1988
Human Rights Now! tours for
Amnesty International. In addition, he presented regular concerts in
Bay Area stadiums, referred to as "
Days on the Green," and was known to aggressively challenge potential competition, referring to other promoters by the name "
Joe Schlitz." He was often seen pounding his fist into his open hand and announcing that "Joe Schlitz will not come into this town."
For all his competitive nature and fiery disposition, Graham was recognized as an expert promoter who genuinely cared about both the artists and the attendees at his concerts. He was the first to ensure that medical personnel were on site for large shows and was both a contributor and supporter of the
Haight-Ashbury Free Clinic, which he often used as medical support at events. He also loved putting together groups onstage from different ethnic backgrounds—many of whom were ignored by other promoters—and he had an eye for pleasing his audience, while making an effort to educate them in styles of music they would otherwise not have been exposed to.
In management, Graham is credited with the early careers of groups like
Santana,
Eddie Money and
Paul Collins' Beat. He was also responsible for promoting the careers of virtually every other group that played the concert circuit between 1965 and 1991.
Graham's status as a Holocaust survivor came into play in the mid-1980s, during the presidency of
Ronald Reagan. When Graham learned that Reagan intended to lay a wreath at the
Bitburg Cemetery in
Germany, where
SS Officers were buried, he organized protests against the act. During the same month that Reagan visited the cemetery, Graham's office was firebombed by
Neo-Nazis. Graham, in France at the time, meeting with
Bob Geldof to organize the first
Live Aid concert, was informed of the fire via telephone. He responded as follows: "Was anybody hurt?" It was only after he was told that everyone was okay, he asked, "Is anything left?"
A complicated man, he was greatly loved by those who worked for him and among his close circle of friends. He recruited staff out of local schools and promoted them up through his close-knit and tightly run organization. Many of these staffers have since gone on to senior positions within the current, more corporate oriented, promotion industry.
Graham also was instrumental in commissioning and marketing
psychedelic concert posters by designers including
Wes Wilson and
Rick Griffin. These posters are now considered collector's items.
Graham had a lifelong dream to become a character actor, professing a great admiration for
Edward G. Robinson. He appeared in
Francis Ford Coppola's
Apocalypse Now, as a promoter. In 1990, director
Barry Levinson and actor
Warren Beatty provided an opportunity for Graham to take a more substantive role by casting him as
Charles "Lucky" Luciano in the film
Bugsy. During one scene, Graham is shown in a Latin dance number, a style of dancing Graham had embraced in later life.
Graham was killed in a
helicopter crash near
Vallejo, California in 1991, while returning home after just seeing
Huey Lewis and The News at the
Concord Pavilion. Graham had attended the event to discuss promoting a
benefit concert for the victims of the
1991 Oakland firestorm, after a great portion of the
Oakland/
Berkeley Hills burned down. Once he had obtained the commitment from the band to perform, he returned to his helicopter, but was stopped by the bass player from the News,
Mario Cippolino, who, in a moment of foresight, pressed Graham to take his limousine. After Graham's pilot,
Steve Kahn assured him it would be okay, he continued with the flight. It crashed shortly after take-off when its rotors became entangled in power lines along
Hwy 37, which runs between Vallejo and
Marin County. Also killed in the crash was Graham's girlfriend at the time,
Melissa Gold, ex-wife of author
Herbert Gold.
Graham was married one time (wife: Bonnie) and had several long-term relationships throughout his life. He was survived by his sisters and two sons:
David Graham and
Alex Graham.
Following his death, his company, Bill Graham Presents, was taken over by a group of employees. Graham's sons were not part of the new management team. The new owners then went on to sell the company to SFX promotions. SFX then sold the company to Clear Channel Entertainment, which is now known as
Live Nation.
The
San Francisco Civic Auditorium was renamed for Graham as a tribute and a memorial service held for him in
Golden Gate Park attracted one of the biggest crowds the park had ever seen and included many of the bands Graham had been instrumental in supporting.
Bill Sagan (Former CEO of EBP) of Minnetonka, MN recently bought Bill Graham Presents and has found hundreds of millions of dollars worth of merchandise and video/audio recordings of concerts in its archives. He is now selling some of it at
Wolfgang's VaultBill Graham Presents, My Life Inside Rock And Out, 2004. ISBN 0-306-81349-1
*
Bill Graham Foundation*
Bill Graham Civic Auditorium*
Article on the man who bought Bill Graham's warehouse.*
Bill Graham's Gravesite
