Features
Music Impresario Harold Davison Dies
Harold Davison, the music impresario who introduced Frank Sinatra to European audiences and helped bring British rock to America, has died. He was 89.
His publicist, Danielle Marie Owens, said Saturday that Davison died Oct. 11 of congestive heart failure in Palm Springs, Calif.
The London-born Davison was a talent agent, manager, producer and executive during a career that began at the end of World War II. He was the first to book concerts in England and continental Europe by Sinatra, Ella Fitzgerald, Judy Garland and Bing Crosby.
When rock ‘n’ roll broke, Davison was a strategist for the British Invasion, launching acts such as The Rolling Stones and The Dave Clark Five on the American scene.
Owens says Davison also played a key role in the merger of EMI and Capitol Records.
Davison was married to British singer and television star Marion Ryan until her death in 1999. He is survived by three children and several grandchildren.