Tour Promoter Kevin Ritchie Dies

Kevin Ritchie, former director of tour promoter Act One International and manager of country icon Slim Dusty  died in Sydney March 15 after a short illness.

One-time INXS and The Divinyls producer Mark Opitz hailed Ritchie as “a pioneer in our business, a truly lovely man.”

Ritchie began in promotions at EMI Music Australia in the ’70s, mentoring a generation of label executives.

One of them, Michael Matthews, now director of Michael Matthews Media, recalled, “He had a wonderful and very cheeky humour. Acts like Queen, Elton John and Cliff Richard loved to tour with him because he was so much fun.”