Club Promoter Laurence J. Richards Dies

His body was discovered in his apartment March 6.

Growing up in rural Victoria, Richards began booking acts in his final year of high school. He moved to Melbourne in the mid-1970s.

He booked countless punk and new wave acts in the 1970s and 1980s through inner-city clubs including The Crystal Ballroom, The Jump Club, The Tiger Lounge and Kingston Rock.

Artist manager Ian Lovell, one of the celebration’s organizers, told Pollstar that hundreds of musicians have asked to be involved.

“Laurie was the most creative and innovative promoter in this city,” Lovell said. “He was ahead of everybody. He’d book so many bands before anyone else did.”