Music Producer, Record Executive. He was best known as a creative force behind the music group The Monkees. Kirshner was educated at New York's City College from where he received his degree in Business Administration, and began his career in the entertainment industry initially as manager for Connie Francis. His collaboration with Al Nevins in 1958 formed the publishing house Aldon Music, and from it, produced some of the greatest songwriting talents including Neil Sedaka, Carole King, Neil Diamond, Gerry Goffin, Ellie Greenwich and Tommy Boyce and Bobby Hart, among others who worked out of the famed Brill Building. After Columbia purchased Aldon Music, Kirshner remained to serve as president of Screen Gems, and during his tenure in 1966 conceived the concept of creating an American music group to rival The Beatles' popularity; thus resulting with The Monkees which consisted of Mike Nesmith, Micky Dolenz, Davy Jones and Peter Tork. A weekly TV series with NBC was developed and aired for two seasons (1966 to 1968), and several Top-10 hits were charted including "Last Train To Clarksville" (1966, reaching number 1), "I'm A Believer" (1966, reaching number 1) and "Daydream Believer" (1967, reaching number 1). In addition, he was responsible for the bubblegum, pop studio group The Archies, which scored a number one hit with "Sugar, Sugar" (1969). After The Monkees' popularity waned during the early 1970s, Kirshner served as host of the syndicated music series "Don Kirshner's Rock Concert" (1973 to 1981), which featured such artists as The Allman Brothers, Fleetwood Mac, The Rolling Stones and Shaun Cassidy. He even formed his own record label, Kirshner Records and signed the American progressive rock band Kansas to the label. In 2012, he was posthumously inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
Music Producer, Record Executive. He was best known as a creative force behind the music group The Monkees. Kirshner was educated at New York's City College from where he received his degree in Business Administration, and began his career in the entertainment industry initially as manager for Connie Francis. His collaboration with Al Nevins in 1958 formed the publishing house Aldon Music, and from it, produced some of the greatest songwriting talents including Neil Sedaka, Carole King, Neil Diamond, Gerry Goffin, Ellie Greenwich and Tommy Boyce and Bobby Hart, among others who worked out of the famed Brill Building. After Columbia purchased Aldon Music, Kirshner remained to serve as president of Screen Gems, and during his tenure in 1966 conceived the concept of creating an American music group to rival The Beatles' popularity; thus resulting with The Monkees which consisted of Mike Nesmith, Micky Dolenz, Davy Jones and Peter Tork. A weekly TV series with NBC was developed and aired for two seasons (1966 to 1968), and several Top-10 hits were charted including "Last Train To Clarksville" (1966, reaching number 1), "I'm A Believer" (1966, reaching number 1) and "Daydream Believer" (1967, reaching number 1). In addition, he was responsible for the bubblegum, pop studio group The Archies, which scored a number one hit with "Sugar, Sugar" (1969). After The Monkees' popularity waned during the early 1970s, Kirshner served as host of the syndicated music series "Don Kirshner's Rock Concert" (1973 to 1981), which featured such artists as The Allman Brothers, Fleetwood Mac, The Rolling Stones and Shaun Cassidy. He even formed his own record label, Kirshner Records and signed the American progressive rock band Kansas to the label. In 2012, he was posthumously inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
Bio by: C.S.
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