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Australian Music Industry Legend Michael Gudinski, Dead At 68

Gudinski
Eva Rinaldi [CC BY-SA 2.0], via Wikimedia Commons
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MELBOURNE, Victoria (CelebrityAccess) — Australian music industry legend Michael Solomon Gudinski, founder of The Mushroom Group and co-founder of Australian concert promoter Frontier, has died. He was 68.

According to a statement from the Mushroom Group, Gudinski “died peacefully in his sleep at his home in Melbourne”.

In 1972, when he was just 20, Gudinski founded the influential Australian entertainment company Mushroom Records in 1972 and the company quickly expanded, to became one of the most influential companies in the Australian music business, serving as a record label and music publisher, but also handling merch, concert bookings and providing creative services for clients.

Mushroom Records quickly made a name for itself and in 1974, released the Skyhooks’ debut album “Living In The 70s” spending 16 weeks at #1 on the Australian album charts.

In 1979, Gudinski Frontier Touring, starting with tours by Squeeze and The Police, and expanding to become one of the leading concert promoters in Australia.

The company, which has long stood at the forefront of the live touring industry in Australia, has handled tours for the likes of The Rolling Stones, Paul McCartney, and Ed Sheeran.

Gudinski also expanded his artist management business in the 1980s with the launch of Michael Gudinski Management with the Scottish-born Australian rocker Jimmy Barnes as his first client.

In 1998 Michael sold Mushroom Records to Murdoch’s News Limited Group but managed to retain the rights to the Mushroom Group name.

In 2009 Michael was a co-organizer of the Sound Relief concerts held at the Melbourne and Sydney Cricket Grounds. The concerts, which raised funds to help those affected by a series of deadly wildfires in Victoria, and floods in Queensland, featured acts such as Coldplay, Kings Of Leon, Splitz Enz, Midnight Oil and The Presets.


In 1998 Michael was awarded the prestigious Ted Albert Award for Outstanding Services to Australian Music at the APRA (The Australian Performing Rights Association) Awards, and the following year, he was presented with The Sir Charles McGrath Australian Marketer of the Year Award, from the Australian Marketing Institute.

In 2006, Gudinski was made a Member of the Order of Australia medal (AM) for service to the entertainment industry through the promotion of Australian music recording artists and was named Melburnian of the Year by the City of Melbourne in 2012.

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