Don Kirshner Is Dead

Pop music impressario Don Kirshner is dead. He died on Monday from heart failure at age 77. Don was known in the music biz as "The Man With The Golden Ear" and helped guide the careers of dozens of major artists. His publishing company, Aldon Music, gave a start to budding songwriters and performers like Bobby Darin, Carole King and Neil Diamond. Don later became the musical supervisor for a new TV series called "The Monkees." He lined up the best songwriters in the world to come up with hits for the group and was in charge of all the music for the show. In the 1970's, Don moved in front of the camera as the host of "Don Kirshner's Rock Concert" on ABC. While most shows had artists lip-sync, everyone on Don's show performed live.