Heritage Concert Promoter Mike Belkin Dies; Founded Cleveland's Belkin Productions

– Jules and Mike Belkin
Mike and Jules Belkin sit for an interview for the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame Interview Rock and Roll Hall of Fame

Legendary Cleveland concert promoter Mike Belkin, a founder of Belkin Productions along with his brother Jules, has died, reportedly of complications of Alzheimer’s disease.

His son, Michael Jr., confirmed his father’s passing at age 83 according to The Cleveland Plain Dealer.

Mike and Jules Belkin were not only instrumental in the city of Cleveland landing the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, but of being among the creators of the modern live concert event as we know it.

“The nutshell is my father had a family discount store and wanted to draw people in, so he worked with a guy who brought entertainers to the store,’’ Michael Belkin Jr. told the Plain Dealer.

“My father got the bright idea to present it for real at Music Hall, with the Four Freshmen and the New Christy Minstrels, and from there talent representatives saw somebody willing to take a risk,’’ he said.

Mike and Jules Belkin sold their company to SFX Entertainment in 2001 for a reported $11 million, according to the paper, and Michael Jr. remains in the Cleveland office for Live Nation.

An image of Belkin was tweeted by Live Nation CEO/President Michael Rapino Wednesday after with the message: “Thoughts are with the Belkin family and the city of Cleveland as we say goodbye to levendeary concert promtoer Mike Belkin Sr. who brought thousands of shows to the home of Rock and Roll #RIP.”

<blockquote class=”twitter-tweet” data-lang=”en”><p lang=”en” dir=”ltr”>Thoughts are with the Belkin family and the city of Cleveland as we say goodbye to legendary concert promoter Mike Belkin Sr. who brought thousands of shows to the home of Rock and Roll <a href=”https://twitter.com/hashtag/RIP?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>#RIP</a> <a href=”https://t.co/lbgNDjIUzs”>pic.twitter.com/lbgNDjIUzs</a></p>— Michael Rapino (@Michael_Rapino) <a href=”https://twitter.com/Michael_Rapino/status/1143991574948241408?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>June 26, 2019</a></blockquote>