Rock Producer And Promoter Don Kirshner Died At 76

Don Kirshner, who guided the course of Brill Building pop and bubblegum in the 1950's and 60's as editor and promoter of music, and later served as Ed Sullivan in 1970 artists like Bruce Springsteen, Pink Floyd, Kiss and The Ramones with his weekly show "Don Kirshner Rock Concert" on television, died Monday in Boca Raton, Florida at age 76. The cause was heart failure.
Born in the Bronx, Mr. Kirshner entered the music business in the mid 1950's, writing commercial jingles with Bobby Darin, whom he had met in a candy store in Washington Heights as Robert Cassotto. When Mr. Dario rose to fame as a singer in 1958 with "Splish Splash", Mr. Kirshner took a role behind the scenes with his editorial Aldon, which he founded with Al Nevins.
Aldon released songs for many of the classical composers of the Brill Building era, such as Neil Sedaka, and teams of Gerry Goffin and Carole King ("Will You Love Me Tomorrow," "The Loco-Motion") and Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil ("You've Lost That Lovin 'Feelin'" written with Phil Spector). As a producer and entrepreneur, Mr. Kirshner was also responsible for putting the songs in two groups of manufactured pop on TV: The Monkees and The Archies on. Mr. Nevins died in 1965.
From 1973 to 1981, Mr. Kirshner was the producer and host of "Don Kirshner Rock Concert" on ABC, a live show which opened with a performance by the Rolling Stones and had appearances by Lynyrd Skynyrd, the Allman Brothers , David Bowie and many others.
He is survived by his wife, Sheila, his sons Ricky and Daryn, and five grandchildren.