(CelebrityAccess MediaWire) — Veteran concert promoter Alex Cooley has left the business he founded nearly 25 years ago in Atlanta, Concerts/Southern Promotions.
Cooley officially called it quits on November 1. "I hate being coy. That's not my style. But for a lot of reasons, I can't go into anything yet,” he told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
The news comes on the heels of the recent restructuring of Clear Channel Entertainment’s music division into 11 regional markets and the reverting back to the original company names of the concert promotion businesses it acquired. Atlanta’s CCE operation, instead of using its original Concerts/Southern Promotions, is now called Peter Conlon Presents; Conlon was Cooley’s partner.
In 1998, Cooley and Conlon sold the company to SFX, which was later bought out by Clear Channel Communications.
In the early 1970s, Cooley became Atlanta’s premier concert promoter and opened Electric Ballroom, one of the city’s first rock clubs. He also helped save the Fox Theatre from demolition. During the 1980 presidential campaign, Cooley helped raise money for Jimmy Carter’s election with fund-raising events featuring Lynyrd Skynyrd, Willie Nelson and the Allman Brothers Band. In 1980, he started working with Conlon, a former Carter aide. The two became partners and launched Concerts/Southern Promotions. — Jane Cohen and Bob Grossweiner
