Frank Barsalona

Induction Year: 2005

Induction Category: Lifetime Achievement

Frank Barsalona revolutionized the rock concert business and the very notion of a rock concert itself. In the mid-Sixties, Barsalona founded Premier Talent - the first booking agency to work exclusively with rock artists. He started out at GAC, a New York-based talent agency. As the company’s youngest agent, he booked the first U.S. appearances by , , and others.

Before Barsalona came along, rock was, in his words, “lower than the rodeo” on the entertainment totem pole. After he founded Premier Talent in 1964 - starting with a small stable of acts that included , Herman’s Hermits and Mitch Ryder - rock moved into bigger and better venues, and musicians’ compensation and treatment improved considerably. Premier was the first contemporary music agency in the U.S. Barsalona envisioned something bigger for rock music than the shoddy package tours and fifteen-minute sets that were typical of the day. He worked with some of the more farsighted promoters who were coming along, including , to engineer a new kind of rock concert experience.

Premier went on to represent such rock superstars as , , Grand Funk, J. Geils Band, , and , as well as continuing to represent . Barsalona brought a principled ethicality to an area of the business that was not therefore renowned for it. As a result, Premier Talent was able to amass a classy client list that numbered in the hundreds. Barsalona has received the Performance Touring Hall of Fame Award. He is also a founding member and serves on the board of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

“Frank Barsalona had a vision: acts and promoters and record companies working in coordination to build careers,” wrote music journalist Dave March in 2002, when Barsalona received the Silver Clef award from the Nordoff-Robbins Foundation, a music-industry charitable organization. As a result, “Rock performers now had an economic base outside of the record companies,” Marsh continued. “They had the time and money and facilities to upgrade the quality of their shows.”

The ultimate beneficiary of Barsalona’s vision was the concertgoer. Rock music thrives in a live setting, and one major reason it’s done that so well over the last 40 years is Frank Barsalona.

TIMELINE

1964: Frank Barsalona founds Premier Talent, a concert-booking agency. Barsalona will accrue a stable of artists that includes , , , , and the Heartbreakers, and .

March 4, 2002: Frank Barsalona’s Premier Talent Agency is sold to the William Morris agency. “I’m excited about the lasting legacy of Premier Talent as it becomes a contributing part of William Morris,” says Barsalona.

March 11, 2002: Frank Barsalona of Premier Talent receives the Silver Clef award from the Nordoff-Robbins Foundation in a ceremony at New York’s Bowery Ballroom. is his presenter.

March 14, 2005: Frank Barsalona is inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame at the twentieth annual induction dinner. tk is his presenter.

Recommended Reading

“Nordoff-Robbins Foundation Honors Legendary Promoter Frank Barsalona.”
Jon Landau and Dave Marsh. Gretsch Headline News (March 2002).