DENVER (CelebrityAccess) –The Colorado Music Hall of Fame presented by Comfort Dental announced the legendary concert promoter and artist manager Chuck Morris and the Boulder-based AOR station 97.3 KBCO as its class of 2018.
The 2018 class will be inducted at a special event on Monday, December 3, 2018, at the historic Paramount Theatre and hosted by The Honorable Governor John Hickenlooper.
The evening will include musical appearances from Amos Lee, Todd Park Mohr (Big Head Todd) & The Monsters, Isaac Slade and friends from the Fray, Bill Nershi and members of The String Cheese Incident, Vince Herman and Drew Emmitt from Leftover Salmon, Jeff Hanna and some members of the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, Leo Kottke along with backing band Chris Daniels & The Kings, plus more surprises to be announced.
A native of Brooklyn, Morris graduated from Queens College at 20 and began to pursue advanced degrees in Political Science at CU Boulder when he decided to instead pursue a career in music.
First at the Sink and then at Tulagi’s (which he co-owned) Boulder, Morris began to make a name for himself in the world of live entertainment. Hosting artists from the Eagles, Bonnie Raitt, The Doobie Brothers, ZZ Top to Linda Ronstadt, Nitty Gritty Dirt Band to Muddy Waters and hundreds more, Tulagi’s was the launching pad for Morris’s 48-year career as a concert promoter and artist manager.
Morris opened Ebbets Field in Denver that included a New Year’s Eve performance by Steve Martin who took the entire audience out for coffee in a snowstorm. Following Ebbets Field, which brought in first tours of Dan Fogelberg, Jimmy Buffet, Emmylou Harris, Tommy Bolin and Energy, among others, Chuck joined Feyline as Senior vice President of Promotion for 10 years.
Morris also partnered with the legendary California promoter Bill Graham, opening the door for Morris to join the SFX team, converting the old Mammoth Gardens into The Fillmore.
As well, Morris’s work as the manager of the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band brought him into contact with Phil Anschutz, when the band toured Russia in support of the Anschutz Western Art Collection debut. The collaboration developed into what is now AEG Rocky Mountains.
Led by Morris, the company has become the largest concert promoter in the state and annually stages more 800 shows per year at venues from the Pepsi Center to Fiddler’s Green Amphitheatre and more than 110 shows at Red Rocks in the summer of 2018.
“Chuck Morris is one of those prominent figures who helped transform the Colorado music and concert scene into one of the biggest and finest music worlds in the country,” Gov. Hickenlooper said of Morris.
Inductee 97.3 KBCO went on the air in 1977 helped to pioneer album-oriented rock an alternative to standard rock and pop radio. The format allowed on-air talent and programmers to dig deeper into albums beyond the hit singles and the station ventured into music from artists as diverse as The Grateful Dead, Bonnie Raitt, Talking Heads, and Lyle Lovett.
The format was so successful that Billboard added a Triple A Chart in 2005 and every year the Triple A Radio Convention is held in Boulder hosted by KBCO.
Previous inductees into the CMHOF include John Denver and Red Rocks Amphitheatre; Harry Tuft of the Denver Folklore Center and promoter Barry Fey of Family Dog fame; the Astronauts, Sugarloaf, Flash Cadillac and KIMN radio; folk legend Judy Collins, the Serendipity Singers, Bob Lind and Chris Daniels; Stephen Stills/Manassas, Firefall, Poco and the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band and more.
The induction concert will be produced by AEG Presents and the historic Paramount Theatre.
