Richard Nader, whose wildly popular oldies concerts at Madison Square Garden in the 1970s helped jump-start a revival of classic rock ’n’ roll and open up second careers for many former stars, died Dec. 1 in Stony Brook, N.Y. He was 69.
The cause was complications from Parkinson’s disease, said his ex-wife, Deborah Nader.
Mr. Nader, a former disc jockey, hit on the idea of packaging concerts with the oldies acts he loved at a time when the British invasion was in full swing. After four years of unsuccessful pleading and cajoling with established promoters, including Dick Clark, he borrowed $35,000 and, on his own, rented the Felt Forum at Madison Square Garden.
On Oct. 18, 1969, he presented his first “Rock and Roll Revival” concert, with Chuck Berry, the Platters, Bill Haley and the Comets, the Shirelles, the Coasters, Jimmy Clanton and Sha Na Na.
The early and late shows each attracted a sold-out crowd of 4,500, and Mr. Nader was off and running. Over the next decade he would present 25 more oldies concerts at the Garden, drawing a total audience of nearly half a million. At his first concert, the local D.J. Scott Muni introduced the unknown Mr. Nader to the audience, but before long the Nader name appeared above the headliners’.
He went on to present oldies concerts all over the United States and Britain. In the same spirit, he organized touring festivals of Latin music, with acts like Joe Cuba, Eddie Palmieri, Tito Puente and Willie Bobo, and oldies concerts with disco and doo-wop acts.
Richard Abi-Nader was born Oct. 30, 1940, in Masontown, Pa., and grew up in nearby Uniontown, where his father’s variety store had a small record section that Richard made the most of. In high school, he promoted Friday dances at which he would supply the records and act as the D.J.
He enrolled in Wheeling College (now Wheeling Jesuit University) in West Virginia but spent more time promoting dances and working as a D.J. than he did studying. He left after a year and worked as a D.J. in Washington before being drafted into the Army in 1960. While stationed in Korea, he broadcast a rock ’n’ roll show over Armed Forces Radio.
After leaving the military, he joined the Premier talent agency in New York, where he arranged bookings for the Who, the Animals, Herman’s Hermits and other groups.
Distraught that the acts of the 1950s and early 1960s were being swept aside by the Beatles and other British bands, he began scheming to bring them back. It was not easy. Promoters failed to see the potential in yesterday’s hitmakers.
Once he had borrowed start-up money from a manufacturer of office furniture, he had to reassemble groups that had dispersed far and wide and coax former stars out of retirement. “Bo Diddley was working in a restaurant attached to a garage because his car had broken down and he couldn’t afford to get it repaired,” Deborah Nader said. On several occasions Mr. Nader bought matching shoes and jackets for his acts.
His faith in the power of the old hits to generate enthusiasm was amply rewarded. He sold out nearly all of the 25 concerts he staged at the Garden, which had to be moved from the Felt Forum to the Garden’s main arena (it can accommodate up to 20,000 people), and his shows at large arenas on Long Island and New Jersey became major events. Mr. Nader also produced a documentary film based on his concerts, “Let the Good Times Roll” (1973).
In 1971 Rick Nelson, appearing with the Stone Canyon Band, was booed off the stage at one of Mr. Nader’s oldies concerts when he performed new material. He described the experience in his 1972 hit “Garden Party,” with the refrain “You can’t please everyone, so you’ve got to please yourself.”
In 1995, a fire destroyed Mr. Nader’s house on Long Island and killed his wife, Barbara. He is survived by four sons, Richard Abi-Nader of Charlotte, N.C.; Michael, of Manhattan; Matthew, of Huntington, N.Y.; and Andrew, of Lindenhurst, N.J.; three brothers, Frank Abi-Nader of Fair Oaks, Calif.; Shebl Abi-Nader of Virginia Beach; and Boutros Abi-Nader of Orangeville, Calif.; his sisters Jeannette Abi-Nader of Villa Maria, Pa., and Bernadette Nader Lazo of Westlake Village, Calif; and two grandchildren.
In 1989 he started Richard Nader Entertainment, which promotes concerts, musical cruises, corporate parties and other events.
Mr. Nader peddled nostalgia and was proud of it. His audiences, he told a writer for The New York Times in 1973, came to applaud not the Five Satins and Chuck Berry “but their own memories and associations” in a time of social upheaval. “They were getting back into the irresponsibility, the carefreeness, the fun they had before they got married,” he said. “They were crawling into the womb of Madison Square Garden.”
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