Legendary Colorado Promoter Barry Fey Dies

COLORADO (CelebrityAccess MediaWire) — Legendary concert promoter Barry Fey, a key figure in the Colorado music scene, has died with local CBS affiliate KCNC-TV reporting that Fey took his own life. He was 73 at the time of his passing.

From the 1960s through the 1990s, Fey was a key figure in the development of Denver as a destination for national touring acts, working with a list of artists that included U2, The Beatles, Bruce Springsteen, The Stones, The Greatful Dead, Jimi Hendrix, Led Zeppelin and numerous others.

Fey also played a key role in putting Denver’s iconic Red Rocks Amphitheater on the map, starting in 1976 with his Summer of Stars concert series and then helping to produce the U2 1983 concert movie ‘U2 At Red Rocks: Under A Blood-Red Sky.’

Fey was also credited with saving the bankrupt Denver Symphony, helping the company transform into the Colorado Symphony Orchestra.

Fey went into semi-retirement in the late 1990s, though he kept his hand in the game, serving as a consultant for the House of Blues, teaching classes at The University of Colorado and in 2011, Fey published “A Backstage Past,” a memoir of his time as a concert promoter.

In February, 2012, Fey was inducted into the the Colorado Music Hall of Fame and in March 2013, Fey was inducted into the Denver & Colorado Tourism Hall of Fame.

"When he was into it, there was nobody close to him as a promoter," Chuck Morris head of AEG Rocky Mountains and a long time friend and colleague of Fey told the Denver Post. "When his head was around promoting a rock 'n' roll band, there was nobody better, and I knew 'em all — Bill Graham, you name it. But there was nobody better at selling tickets. Father's Day baseball games, for God's sakes? He was a magician."

Fey is survived by his sons, Tyler, Jeremy, Geoffry and Alan.