Manager, promoter, producer, publisher, label owner: born New York, 1947; married (one son, one daughter); died Nassau, the Bahamas 13 January 2009.
Longstanding manager of the
Ramones, he was one of the people who made things that little bit easier for the notoriously moody quartet whose contribution to popular music was finally recognised when they were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2002.
He also looked after the groundbreaking bands
Talking Heads,
Blondie, &
The B-52’s. In addition he worked with, Jane's Addiction,
Shirley Manson of
Garbage and the former
Clash guitarist,
Mick Jones, when he led
Big Audio Dynamite. Although US-based, Kurfirst managed several British groups as well, including
Eurythmics, the
Waterboys,
Angelfish, the
Thompson Twins and
Black Grape.
In a career lasting over 40 years and taking in concert promotion and music publishing as well as management, Kurfirst's biggest commercial success came at [l4805] when he discovered the angsty US band
Live playing at CBGB's.