OBITUARIES / PASSINGS / Gary Kurfirst

Gary Kurfirst, 61, a pop music manager, promoter and record executive who played a key role in the success of the bands Talking Heads, Blondie and the Ramones, died Jan. 13 while on vacation in the Bahamas, the New York Times reported.

The cause of death has not been determined, the paper said.

A figure in pop music for more than four decades, Kurfirst opened the Village Theater in Manhattan in 1967. The venue later became the Fillmore East. In 1968, he staged the New York Rock Festival in Flushing Meadows Park, which featured Janis Joplin and the Doors.

He later started the management company Overland Productions and its successor, Kurfirst-Blackwell Entertainment. He also founded Radioactive Records and the music publishing companies Loco de Amor and Mucho Loco Music.

Kurfirst began promoting music while a student at Forest Hills High School in Queens, the Times reported.

In the late 1960s, he turned to artist management, handling reggae artists including Peter Tosh and Toots and the Maytals.

Kurfirst turned to film in the 1980s, producing movies including “Stop Making Sense,” the performance film of the Talking Heads that was directed by Jonathan Demme.