Home Featured LOLLAPALOOZA Co-Founder And Former TOOL Manager TED GARDNER Dead At 74

LOLLAPALOOZA Co-Founder And Former TOOL Manager TED GARDNER Dead At 74

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January 6, 2022September 21, 2022
ted gardner dead, LOLLAPALOOZA Co-Founder And Former TOOL Manager TED GARDNER Dead At 74

Ted Gardner, the man who co-founded the Lollapalooza festival and managed bands like JANE’S ADDICTION, TOOL and QUEENS OF THE STONE AGE has died at the age of 74.

Ted passed away on December 28 in Melbourne, Australia after a lengthy unspecified illness.

Gardner began his illustrious music career in clubs in Australia, before going on to work as a tour manager/production manager for acts like MEN AT WORK, UFO and Frank Zappa.

After relocating to Los Angeles, Ted began managing JANE’S ADDICTION in 1989 and, inspired by visits to UK rock festivals, created the ‘alternative’ festival Lollapalooza in 1991 with singer Perry Farrell.

Gardener later went on to manage artists such as TOOL, QUEENS OF THE STONE AGE and THE VERVE.

BRIAN JONESTOWN MASSACRE frontman Anton Newcombe shared a story about his friend, saying: “The funniest story he told me was of a meeting when Lollapalooza went mega,” Newcombe wrote on Twitter. “He walks in and Perry Farrell goes, ‘Ted, we got Metallica to headline.’ He goes ‘Fuck, you just wrecked this festival.’ Perry goes, ‘Ted, they are on speakerphone now.’

Telephone: ‘Hi Ted.’”

“My father used to say to me: ‘When are you going to get a real job?’” Gardner recalled in a 2017 interview. “Then one year I came home from Lollapalooza with a check for $1.5 million and he looked at me and went, ‘Yeah, but it’s not a real job, is it?’.”