Grateful Dead and the Rolling Stones tour manager Sam Cutler, 80, dies after cancer battle
Grateful Dead and the Rolling Stones tour manager Sam Cutler, 80, dies after a nearly decade-long battle with cancer at his Brisbane home
Sam Cutler, former tour manager of the Rolling Stones and Grateful Dead, passed away Tuesday at his home in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia after a nearly decade-long battle with cancer.
His death comes as Dead & Company, the current iteration of the Grateful Dead, will play their last ever show in San Francisco tonight.
The band released a statement on Twitterwriting, “His spirit, passion and creativity have left indelible marks on the Grateful Dead and the music world.”
Cutler’s long and illustrious career began when he was just 20 years old, performing as master of ceremonies for the free Rolling Stones concert in Hyde Park on July 5, 1969.
At the time, he uttered the now infamous phrase, “Ladies and gentlemen, the best rock and roll band in the world!”
Sad: Sam Cutler, a former tour manager for the Rolling Stones and Grateful Dead, died Tuesday at his home in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia, after a nearly decade-long battle with cancer (seen in 2010 with Ramblin’ Jack Elliott and Grateful Dead lyricist John Perry Barlow)
Cutler released his memoir You Can’t Always Get What You Want: My Life with the Rolling Stones, the Grateful Dead and Other Wonderful Reprobates in 2011.
He revealed in the book that he decided to stay in California after the Rolling Stones Oakland show that resulted in the tragedy at the December 1969 Altamont Free Festival.
During the show, an 18-year-old fan was stabbed to death by a Hell’s Angel and three other concertgoers also died in accidents, making the event one of rock ‘n’ roll’s greatest tragedies.
Despite this incident that changed the trajectory of both bands, Cutler decided to stay in the US with only $300 in his pocket.