Don Kirshner, a man most music fans knew only as the host of Rock Concert, the popular televised Rock performance show that started in 1973 and ran for nearly a decade, has died in Florida. But Kirshner was a very influential figure behind the scenes and had a substantial impact on the careers of dozens of artists - which explains how such a patently un-hip guy ended up hosting what, at the time, was a comparatively hip show.
In the late 50's, Kirshner partnered with Bobby Darin when the soon-to-be star was still Robert Cassotto in a song and commercial jingle writing venture that ended when his partner hit it big with the song Splish Splash. He then opened Aldon, a song writing shop in New York that got its name when Kirshner merged his first name with the one of his new partner, Al Nevins. One of their early hires was Neal Sedaka. The Aldon writing staff would eventually include several other important song crafters, including Neil Diamond, Barry Mann, Tommy Boyce and Bobby Hart. A
Kirshner was introduced to television when he was hired to develop songs for the made for TV band the Monkees, after which he did the same for the animated adaptation of the popular comic strip Archie. The fictitious band known as the Archies get credit (or blame) for Sugar Sugar, one of the biggest pop songs of 1969.
Don Kirshner's Rock Concert started big. The Rolling Stones appeared on the debut episode in September of 1973. The long-form exposure the show was able to offer acts made the show an instant hit with bands, managers and record labels at a time when other TV shows were offering only a couple of song slots and often pressuring acts to lip-synch their performances. During its 9 year run Rock Concert would feature dozens of the biggest names in music, including some that the host seemed only vaguely familiar with. Interviewed by the Washington Post in 2004, Kirshner confessed to having had no idea who Alice Cooper was, asking the person who advised him to have Cooper on the show '...is she any good?'.
NYTimes.com
