Legendary concert promoter Sid Bernstein, who is credited with bringing the Beatles and other key British Invasion artists to America, has died. He was 95-years-old.
Publicist Merle Frimark, his longtime friend, confirmed that he died in New York on Wednesday.
According to the BBC, Bernstein promoted the Fab Four’s Carnegie Hall gigs during their first U.S. tour in 1964. He also booked their famous Shea Stadium performances in 1965. Those shows were the first rock performances at a stadium.
Bernstein also helped bring the Rolling Stones across the Atlantic, booking their first five U.S. shows. He also promoted Judy Garland, Ray Charles and Tony Bennett and set up shows for Jimi Hendrix and Frank Sinatra.
Bernstein was in England during World War II and continued reading British newspapers when he returned to the U.S. His avid interest in British news lead him to hearing about the Beatles. THR notes that he had initially told his agency about the group, but they weren’t interested. So, he decided to promote them himself and paid them $6,500 to play Carnegie Hall, just days after their historic Ed Sullivan performances.
The New York City native worked at General Artists Corp. in the early ‘60s and was responsible for Tony Bennett’s shows. He arranged his breakthrough show at Carnegie Hall on June 9, 1962, just after Bennett released “I Left My Heart in San Francisco.”
"My secret to success is that I've always loved good music and people," Bernstein is quoted as saying on his website. “The players in the promotion business today are, by and large, not in it for the art anymore. It's all about how many bucks can you make on a concert. That's permissible. I mean we are in a capitalistic society. But I feel a lot of the art thing is lost. It shouldn't just be about money. It should be about loving what you do.”
He is survived by Geraldine, his wife of 50 years, and his children, Adam, Beau, Dylan, Casey,Denise and Etienne.