Rock promoter Don Kirshner dies in Florida at age 76

LAS VEGAS (AP) — A business associate says rock promoter Don Kirshner has died of heart failure at a Florida hospital at age 76.

Promoter Jack Wishna tells The Associated Press in Las Vegas that the man Time magazine once dubbed the “Man With the Golden Ear” died Monday at a Boca Raton hospital where he was being treated for an infection.

Wishna calls Kirshner an icon who touched many lives in the music industry.

Kirshner was behind the TV show “Don Kirshner’s Rock Concert” in 1972 and gave national exposure to musicians including Billy Joel and The Police.

He also boosted careers of comics, including Billy Crystal, Arsenio Hall and David Letterman.