Gary Kurfirst Passes

GARY KURFIRST, veteran manager of groups such as MOUNTAIN, TALKING HEADS, BLONDIE, THE RAMONES and EURYTHMICS, has passed away. He was 60 years old. KURFIRST, who also partnered with CHRIS BLACKWELL on the MCA-distributed Radioactive label, was also a film producer, having worked on TALKING HEADS’ "Stop Making Sense" and the DAVID BYRNE-directed satire "True Stories."

"GARY was brilliant in his ability to spot changes in music ahead of most people and had the courage to act on his instincts,' SIRE RECORDS founder SEYMOUR STEIN told NME. "GARY was tough, but not cut-throat in business. He could fight hard, but fair and never held grudges. GARY had great style."

In a joint statement, TALKING HEADS’ CHRIS FRANTZ and TINA WEYMOUTH said, "GARY KURFIRST has been our manager since 1977. He never failed to take care of business for us. He protected us. He allowed TALKING HEADS to be TALKING HEADS while he took the blows that the music business dealt us. GARY truly was the fifth TALKING HEAD. We were very close friends and we will miss him terribly."

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