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Prominent Music and Television Agent Fred Lawrence Passes Away on His 68th Birthday

Posted on: Thursday, 13 August 2009, 09:00 CDT

HOLLYWOOD, Calif., Aug. 13 /PRNewswire/ -- Prominent music and television talent agent Fred Lawrence passed away on his 68th birthday, Friday, August 7, of cardiac arrest after a lengthy illness at St. Joseph's Hospital, Burbank, CA.

Lawrence began his show business career as an agent in Miami, Florida, working for Headline Artists. He was hired to open the Florida booking office of GAC, and then joined the Creative Management Agency's Miami Beach office in the early 70s. He relocated to CMA's Los Angeles office in the late 70s, and subsequently joined APA's Personal Appearance department, eventually becoming its West Coast VP.

In 1984 he opened his own Fred Lawrence Associates boutique agency, with clients Anne Murray, the Manhattan Transfer, Alan Thicke, Paul Revere and the Raiders, and Toni Basil. The agency grew in prominence, and soon added to its roster Frankie Valli & the Four Seasons, the Everly Brothers, David Foster, Todd Thicke, and Jean Luc Ponty. ICM bought his agency in 1990, where Lawrence became head of the Adult Contemporary Music Division, a position he held until 1998, when illness required him to scale down his career. He continued to book long-time clients and friends Paul Revere and the Raiders, as well as special event dates for a number of other clients.

Fred was born August 7, 1941, in Joliet, IL. He graduated from Ft. Madison High in 1959 and then joined the Navy. He trained at the Great Lakes Naval Station near Chicago and then entered the Navy School of Music in Virginia. His talent as a sax player earned him a spot in the USO band, which allowed him to travel all over the world in the early 60s, including Mediterranean and Caribbean tours as part of the Cuban Missile Crisis action on the USS Independence.

Upon discharge from the Navy, Fred briefly attended Kansas University in Lawrence, and then began a successful touring career, recording and performing with various Midwestern and Southeastern regional horn bands, including the Airdales, Spider and the Crabs (who were inducted into the Kansas Music Hall of Fame in 2006), and the ExecuTives, one of the top bands in the southeast at the time.

After deciding to stop touring, he briefly owned a music store in Miami Beach, and then segued into artists management, most notably for the Miami band Peach, and quickly built a reputation as an influential agent in the region, and continued a successful career at GAC, CMA, ICM, and his own Fred Lawrence Associates boutique agency for more than four decades.

He is survived by his loving sister Kathleen Lawrence Toner, brother in law Stuart Toner, and nephew Adam Toner, of Houston, Texas.

A memorial celebration with a reception following will be held on Tuesday, August 18, at 1:00 PM, at the Faith Presbyterian Church of Valley Village, 5000 Colfax Avenue, Valley Village, CA.

SOURCE Hanson & Schwam

Source: PR Newswire

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