R.I.P. HOWARD KAUFMAN

Howard Kaufman, one of the music industry’s smartest and well-loved managers, died Wednesday. He was 79.

He managed some of the top acts of the modern era in their prime periods—Fleetwood Mac, Steely Dan, Stevie Nicks, Aerosmith, Janet Jackson, Jimmy Buffet, Journey, Def Leppard, Lenny Kravitz and Chicago among them—through his own HK Management and with Irving Azoff at Front Line Management.

"Howard Kaufman was a brilliant and caring man,” Azoff said. “An incredible business manager and then personal manager. I’m glad he got to work till the very end. He fought several illnesses for years with an incredible passion. He played a key role in my success and I will miss him every day. It won’t be the same without him.”

Kaufman and Azoff ran Front Line from 1974 to 1983 and in 2005, they merged their companies, Azoffmusic Management and HK Management, to re-form Front Line.