#2,729

Harold Pendleton, the founder of London’s legendary Marquee Club, where The Who, Jimi Hendrix and The Rolling Stones first made their names in the 1960s, has died at the age of 93, after a short illness.

"In 1958 he launched the Marquee Club in London, and ran it during its most momentous years, when it hosted the first gigs of The Rolling Stones and the Who, early performances by Pink Floyd, Cream, Jimi Hendrix, Led Zeppelin and David Bowie, and subsequently early punk, heavy metal and prog rock.

The Yardbirds recorded their debut album on the opening night at Wardour Street, the keyboardist Manfred Mann co-led one of the UK’s most popular R&B / modern jazz crossover groups there, and The Who’s 22-week Tuesday-night residency in 1964-65 took the quartet from obscurity to stardom."

The obituary in The Guardian is worth reading for anyone intrigued by the role that place (recording studio, club or concert venue) plays in the history of popular music.

My own association with the Marquee Club started in 1964, when I was handling publicity for Manfred Mann. Whenever the Manfreds were booked for a residency, even when I had no current work pretext, I could be found at 90 Wardour Street. 

In 1971 on the eve of my final goodbye to London before moving the the Continent, I spent the day at the Marquee where The Rolling Stones were taping performances for an American television network.