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Don Kirshner, 77, well-known music impresario known as "The Man With The Golden Ear," died of heart failure in Boca Raton, Fla., Jan. 17.

Teenagers of the '70s know Kirshner from the weekly music show "Don Kirshner's Rock Concert," which featured live performances from pop acts. But Kirshner's background began when he discovered Bobby Darin in the 1950s and, when they parted ways, Kirshner formed Aldon Music alongside Al Nevins.

Aldon Music, inside NYC's famed Brill Building had, by 1962, churned out hundreds of hit songs, penned by more than a dozen young songwriters, including the wet-behind-the-ears Carole King, Neil Sedaka and Barry Mann. Kirshner, who wrote "You've Lost That Lovin' Feeling" for the Righteous Brothers, was best-known for recognizing hits.

He is credited with providing The Monkees with their hits, including "I'm A Believer." He went on to develop The Archies, and provided the group with hits he selected like "Sugar, Sugar" and "Bang-Shang-A-Lang."

RIP Don Kirshner. I remember the "Rock Concerts."

I remember Rock Concert so well, R.I.P. Mr. Kirshner.

Legendary music producer Don Kirshner dead at 77
Published: Tuesday, January 18, 2011, 1:05 PM Updated: Tuesday, January 18, 2011, 1:32 PM
Anthony Venutolo/The Star-Ledger By Anthony Venutolo/The Star-Ledger

don-kirshner-dead-at-77-songwriter-producer.JPGSTAR-LEDGER FILE PHOTODon Kirshner and legendary songwriters Carole King and Gerry Goffin in an undated photo. The couple were inspired to write "Pleasant Valley Sunday, " a hit for the Monkees, by their drive to Kirshner's house in the suburbs. Courtesy Don Kirshner.)

Songwriter-producer Don Kirshner is dead at 77. He died Monday of heart failure in Boca Raton, Florida, says a statement from his publicist.

Kirshner, who spent time living in New Jersey (and owned a home in New Vernon), was known in the record industry as "The Man With the Golden Ear." He had early success as a co-founder of Aldon Music, in the legendary Brill Building, where he published hits by such songwriters as Neil Sedaka, Carole King, Ellie Greenwich and Barry Mann.

As a producer-promoter, Kirshner was responsible for launching the career of Bobby Darin, Neil Diamond and Tony Orlando as well as discovering rock acts such as Kansas. Barbra Streisand, Elvis Presley and Frank Sinatra, and many others have all recorded Kirshner songs.

He also earned the nickname "Supreme Starmaker" for cultivating chart toppers liek "You've Lost That Loving Feeling" and "Where The Boys Are." He was also very instrumental in getting the Monkees a national spotlight with such hits as "I'm a Believer."

In 1973, Kirshner made a move to television where he created and appeared on his own syndicated weekly rock-concert program called "Don Kirshner's Rock Concert." It featured many live performances, a departure from lip-synched performances from the heyday of TV. Many consider it the predecessor to MTV.

It was known for presenting many of the most successful rock bands of the era, but what was consistent week-to-week was Kirshner's trademark flat delivery as host. His wooden presentation style was later lampooned on "Saturday Night Live" by Paul Shaffer.

http://www.nj.com/entertainment/index.ssf/2011/01/don_kirshner_dead_at_77.html

Now this is sad. Oh how I loved Don Kirshner's Rock Concerts. RIP.

I know little about the person, but I know the name well.

R.I.P. Don Kirshner

Didn't know he was still alive. Been so long since I've heard about him. But,yeah I was also one of those who used to watch "Rock Concert" every week. RIP Don.

Very sad news....:( I remember him all the way back to working with songwriters in the Brill Building...and, of course, his idea of The Monkees. And yes, his rock concert show. Gone too soon...:(

Ironically, ( or coincidentally) next up on my NetFlix list is The Monkees first season!!!

He invented "The Monkeys"...which were the framework for Michael Nesmith and MTV.

Rock Concert...which i was a bit too young to watch except for once or twice...was a RnR staple for midnite tokers!!!

RIP Don

thanks for the monkees, don!.....for the most part, that is.....

RIP Mr Don Kirshner. Thanks for supplying me a great show to look at late at night. Your show ,The Midnight Special and Playboy After Dark were the only opportunity for a poor country boy to see some of the great bands of my youth!
This is where I saw:

His show was a staple for us young stoners.

Remembering Don Kirshner, Who Influenced Pop From the Brill Building to Bubblegum
'He was such a character, so colorful,' says Paul Shaffer. 'If he loved a record, he’d call people from the studio and hold up the phone to the speaker'
The Aldon Music Staff at the Brill Building in New York, circa 1963. Back (L-R) Jack Keller, Artie Levine, Lou Adler, Al Nevins, Sheila Kirschner, Don Kirshner, Emil La Viola, Morris Levy, Howard Greenfield.
By David Browne
January 18, 2011 6:40 PM EDT

Most music fans knew Don Kirshner, who died Jan. 17 at age 76 of heart failure, as the straight-faced host of Don Kirshner’s Rock Concert, the rock TV show that ran between 1973 and 1981. But Kirshner was more than just a TV presence — he was also an illustrious music publisher and manager, not to mention the man who helped launch bubblegum and American prog.

As Kirshner told RS in a 2009 interview, there was no better example of his renown than his negotiations to book the Rolling Stones on his show in 1973. “I was a nervous wreck because the Stones were being offered a million dollars by the other networks,” Kirshner said. “I got Mick Jagger on the phone and he says, ‘So what are you giving me?’ I said, ‘300.’ He says, ‘300 grand?’ I said, ‘No, $300 a man.’ He laughed and said, ‘Chap, I love your work and I’m gonna do it for you.’ The Stones and the Beatles, they were into our American songs and writers.”

Dubbed the “Man with the Golden Ear” by Time in 1966, Kirshner couldn’t play an instrument but was a key figure in the early days of rock and pop. Although he harbored dreams of becoming a pro athlete while growing up in New York, he started writing songs in the late Fifties with his friend Bobby Darin, which led to the creation of Aldon Music, a publishing house Kirshner co-founded with Al Nevins. Among Aldon’s stable of writers were then-unknowns like Neil Diamond, Carole King, Gerry Coffin, Barry Mann, Cynthia Weil and Neil Sedaka. “I believed they were the future Gershwins and Rodgers and Hammersteins,” Kirshner told RS. “I felt if I had a break, I could build that dream.”

By hustling their songs to other artists, Kirshner made his dream come true: It’s hard to imagine the Sixties without Aldon and Brill Building gems like “Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow,” “Breaking Up Is Hard to Do” and “The Loco-Motion."

“He was such a character, so colorful,” says Paul Shaffer, who worked on a TV pilot with Kirshner in the Seventies and became a longtime friend. “If he loved a record, he’d call people from the studio and hold up the phone to the speaker. He’d describe how excited he was when Neil Diamond came in with ‘I’m a Believer.’ He really loved this music.”

When Kirshner sold Aldon to Columbia-Screen-Gems in the mid-Sixties, Kirshner was given creative control over one of the company’s new TV series, The Monkees, resulting in their early hits “Last Train to Clarksville,” “I’m a Believer” and “(I’m Not Your) Steppin’ Stone.”

Kirshner’s tenure with the Monkees didn’t last long; the group grew to resent his control over their music. But even then, Kirshner emerged triumphant. At a meeting with the group at the Beverly Hills Hotel, Kirshner presented them with a new song he urged them to cover: “Sugar, Sugar.”

“Mike Nesmith said, ‘It’s a piece of junk — I’m not doing it,’” Kirshner told RS. “I came home and my son Ricky was reading an Archie comic book, and I thought that if I could give a voice to Archie, Jughead and Veronica, I could do the same thing, so I created the Archies.”

The all-cartoon band’s version of “Sugar, Sugar” was Number One for four weeks in 1969 and helped launch what became known as bubblegum pop. “That’s all because the Monkees wouldn’t do my song and got me PO’d,” Kirshner said.

Kirshner’s influence extended to the following decade. Rock Concert prided itself on live — not lip-synched — performances by nearly every major band of the time. For many rock fans in the Seventies, the show was their first exposure to David Bowie, the Allman Brothers Band, Kiss, Lynyrd Skynyrd, the Ramones and the Mahavishnu Orchestra.

Shaffer affectionately parodied Kirshner’s famously wooden delivery and wide-lapel suits on Saturday Night Live. (“He got a kick out of it,” Shaffer says. “He would tell me, ‘Ed Sullivan was stiff, too, but he got the gig too.’”) Kirshner also signed Kansas to his label, Kirshner Records, during which they had their biggest hits, like “Dust in the Wind” and “Carry On My Wayward Son.”

At the time of his death, Kirshner was retired and living with his longtime wife Sheila in Boca Raton, Florida. Although he felt overlooked in the annals of rock history, Kirshner prided himself on his vast song catalog (recently estimated to be worth $1 billion) and the lessons he’d passed along to those who came after him, like controversial Beatles and Stones business manager Allen Klein. “One of the things I taught Allen in the beginning was that the value of a song copyright was like real estate,” Kirshner told RS. “I kept telling him, ‘There’s nothing greater than a song.’”
http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/remembering-don-kirshner-who-influenced-pop-from-the-brill-building-to-bubblegum-20110118

Heart Of Stone wrote on Jan 19^th, 2011 at 1:09pm:

At the time of his death, Kirshner was retired and living with his longtime wife Sheila in Boca Raton, Florida.

Fresh Prince of Boca Raton?

JB?

TomL wrote on Jan 19^th, 2011 at 9:01am:

His show was a staple for us young stoners.

LOL!! Hey Tom!!

Did you see my comments just above yours?!?
Hope all is swell in your world!!

Paul

Hey paul, hope all is well in the Carolinas and with your family.

RIP Don

Wow, the Rock Concert was the only way for me to see new bands when I was a kid having grown up in a rural area. Watched it every week.

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http://rocksoff.org/cgi-bin/messageboard/YaBB.pl GENERAL >> MAIN BOARD >> Rip Don Kirshner http://rocksoff.org/cgi-bin/messageboard/YaBB.pl?num=1295374959 Message started by mojoman on Jan 18^th, 2011 at 12:22pm