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DC promoter Jack Boyle passes aged 83

Washington, DC-based concert promoter Jack Boyle, who co-founded Cellar Door Productions and went on to become head of music for the first iteration of SFX Entertainment, has died aged 83.

Cellar Door Productions, which spun out of famed DC nightclub the Cellar Door, was at its peak in the ’90s one of the most important regional promoters in the US, with an annual turnover of $75 million. Boyle also owned several major venues, including the Nissan Pavilion (now the 25,262-cap. Jiffy Lube Live) in Bristow, Virginia, and the Sunrise Musical Theatre (3,732) in Miami, Florida.

In 1998, Boyle sold the Cellar Door companies to Robert Sillerman’s SFX for a reported US$105m, joining SFX as head of its music division.

SFX – not to be confused with Sillerman’s second, EDM-focused company of the same name, now known as LiveStyle – was later sold to Clear Channel and in 2005 spun off to form Live Nation.

“To say that Jack was one of the most important people in the music business would be an understatement”

Boyle later went on to a major role with Live Nation, reports THR, before retiring in 2006.

“I worked as Jack‘s assistant when he first began doing concerts,” recalls photographer Michael Oberman, who broke the news that Boyle had passed after a period of illness via his Facebook page. “Realising that the Cellar Door nightclub could sell out six straight nights of Gordon Lightfoot, [he thought], ‘Why not do one night of Gordon Lightfoot at Constitution Hall. Then the Kennedy Center, then the Capital Center and RFK Stadium…

“To say that Jack was one of the most important people in the music business would be an understatement. My condolences to his son, John, and Jack‘s many friends.”

 


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