American Folk Figure. Born Chester Leo Helms, he was called the father of the "Summer of Love" when began music promotion and concerts at Golden Gate Park in 1967. He managed the band, Big Brother & the Holding Company and persuaded Janis Joplin to join the group which ignited her brief career. Other bands he promoted to success included, the Grateful Dead, Jefferson Airplane, Country Joe & the Fish, the Doors, Quicksilver Messenger Service and the Clash. With Bill Graham he also staged concerts at the famed San Francisco's Fillmore Auditorium before Graham went off on his own. By the late 1970‘s he left the concert business but occasionally staged a festival and ran the Atelier Dore art gallery in San Francisco, retiring in 2004.
American Folk Figure. Born Chester Leo Helms, he was called the father of the "Summer of Love" when began music promotion and concerts at Golden Gate Park in 1967. He managed the band, Big Brother & the Holding Company and persuaded Janis Joplin to join the group which ignited her brief career. Other bands he promoted to success included, the Grateful Dead, Jefferson Airplane, Country Joe & the Fish, the Doors, Quicksilver Messenger Service and the Clash. With Bill Graham he also staged concerts at the famed San Francisco's Fillmore Auditorium before Graham went off on his own. By the late 1970‘s he left the concert business but occasionally staged a festival and ran the Atelier Dore art gallery in San Francisco, retiring in 2004.
Bio by: John "J-Cat" Griffith
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