Bill Graham, born in 1931 as Wolfgang Grajonca, escaped Nazi Germany as a child through the Kindertransport and built a new life in the U.S. after surviving foster homes and later fighting in Korea, where he earned a Bronze Star.
His drive and eye for talent helped him become one of the most influential and powerful concert promoters in history.
After working in New York theater, he moved to San Francisco in the early 1960s, where an unlikely benefit show for the San Francisco Mime Troupe in 1965 launched his career and introduced him to the rising counterculture that would explode into rock’s legendary psychedelic scene.
In 1966 Graham worked out a four-year deal with the owner of SF’s Fillmore Auditorium, where he could book bands on nights it would otherwise be dark.
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