Over the course of four decades, Gary Kurfirst, known to insiders for his discerning taste, has been involved in record sales in excess of 100 million units worldwide. He has been pivotal in the careers and successes of major of recording artists, producers, film and video directors, agents, and major recording labels. Kurfirst’s professional achievements continue to shape pop culture and influence the global music community.

Gary Kurfirst was responsible for bringing the sixties music revolution to New York. In 1967 he opened the doors to the infamous Village Theater later known as the Fillmore East, where he promoted the East Coast debuts of more than twenty icons including, Jimi Hendrix, the Doors, the Who, Janis Joplin, Jeff Beck, and Jimmy Page’s Yardbirds. In 1968, at twenty years old and one year before Woodstock, he created the model for the contemporary music festival by producing and promoting the legendary New York Rock Festival at the Singer Bowl in Flushing Meadow Park where Hendrix, the Doors, Joplin, and the Who appeared together, among others. He was also at the forefront of bringing acid-rock guitar bands to the music community with the band Mountain, who he managed from 1967 to 1975.

In 1971 Kurfirst signed the Brazilian artist Deodato and helped guide his album to gold status and achieve a number-one single. In 1975 he helped Chris Blackwell introduce Bob Marley, Peter Tosh, and reggae to America, delivering a new consciousness and sound to mass audiences. For the rest of the seventies and through the eighties Kurfirst rode a new wave of culture in an expanding musical landscape and signed the now-immortalized punk icons the Ramones, artrockers Talking Heads, B52s, Annie Lennox’s Eurythmics, and also Jane’s Addiction who inspired the grunge music movement of the early nineties. His defense of creative expression earned both the Talking Heads and the Ramones induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2002. He holds the exclusive honor of having two management clients inducted in the same year, and he and protected both bands’ catalogs, images, and artistic integrity.

In 1984, 1986, and 1987 Kurfirst produced three feature-length films while simultaneously managing his impressive stable of platinum-selling recording artists. Respectively, they were the Talking Heads’ critically acclaimed and award-winning concert film Stop Making Sense, directed by Jonathan Demme; the quirky satire of American life, True Stories, directed by David Byrne; and Siesta, directed by Mary Lambert and featuring an all-star cast including Jodi Foster, Ellen Barkin, Isabella Rossellini, and Martin Sheen, as well as a Miles Davis soundtrack.

In 1990 Kurfirst joined forces with MCA and launched Radioactive Records. His marketing strategies brought MCA rock credibility and their first modern music success of the era with Radioactive’s band Live. The band has sold more than 20 million albums worldwide, which include two number-one Billboard albums and dozens of number-one albums in international territories. Kurfirst also signed Shirley Manson in 1991 and then brokered her deal with Almo as the lead singer of Garbage who went on to sell more than 10 million albums.

In 2002 Kurfirst and longtime friend Chris Blackwell launched two new music ventures: a talent management company, Kurfirst-Blackwell Entertainment, and Rx Records, a uniquely structured imprint offering its artists more contractual flexibility and creative latitude than the majors. Entering the new millennium and drawing on his vast experience, resources, and network, Gary Kurfirst was pivotal in developing careers and influencing the expanding global market.