MEMPHIS, TN (CelebrityAccess) — Veteran Memphis concert promoter James Manning reportedly died on Wednesday at the age of 58.
According to the Memphis Commercial Appeal, a cause of death was not announced, but friends of Manning told the newspaper that he had been battling cancer.
Over the course of his three-decade career, Manning was associated with numerous venues in the region, including New Daisy, Proud Mary’s, Barristers, and Otherlands, the Commercial Appeal reported
Manning, who studied anthropology at the University of Memphis, began promoting music in the late 1980s at New Daisy, where he worked with owner Mike Glenn.
“James was like my little brother,” Glenn told the newspaper. “He was an incredibly smart guy, with such a big heart. He was so important to so much of what we did and a lot of good things that happened to bands in Memphis.”
“James was one of the first people I met in Memphis. He was working the door at Otherlands, and I asked him how to go about getting a gig there. I didn’t tell him that I’d put out a bunch of records before, so he gave me a long spiel about how to start as a total newbie. It was hilarious. He was always hilarious. James once said about touring acts and Memphis crowds, ‘There’s three dates you don’t play — Christmas, the Fourth of July, and Memphis,” Mike Doughty, frontman for the band Soul Coughing, who relocated to Memphis in 2013, told the newspaper.
According to the Commercial Appeal, details about Manning’s memorial service have not been announced, but a tribute concert is being planned for Nov. 3.
