Sonny Casale, longtime concert impresario, disc jockey, and writer, has died at 75

Sonny Casale, 75, of Philadelphia, longtime concert impresario, cofounder of Hollow Moon Concerts and Backroom Productions, former disc jockey, photographer, writer, and lifelong rock and roller, died Sunday, Feb. 16, of complications after hip surgery. He died at a friend’s home in Rittenhouse Square.

Mr. Casale got his start in music as a preteen dancer on Dick Clark’s American Bandstand and Jerry Blavat’s The Discophonic Scene TV shows. He went on to become a disc jockey, backstage photographer, and concert chairman at Temple University and Bucks County Community College. In the early 1970s, he cofounded Hollow Moon Concerts and Backroom Productions.

For years, Mr. Casale booked music shows in Philadelphia, Bucks County, Trenton, Albany, N.Y., and elsewhere that featured Bruce Springsteen, Fleetwood Mac, Aerosmith, the Allman Brothers, the Grateful Dead, and other notable and emerging musicians. He got his start spinning records at local dances as a teenager in Hatboro and Willow Grove, and his first promoted concert, on May 16, 1970, was at Temple’s old football stadium. It featured Jimi Hendrix, the Grateful Dead, the Steve Miller Band, Cactus, and Jam Factory.

“All my life my passion was to play a part in the ever-changing world of music, specifically rock ‘n roll,” he said in an unpublished memoir he was writing. His daughter Arielle said: “His passion for music was infectious, drawing him into a vast and eclectic community of friends that spanned the globe.”

He collaborated with fellow promoters Larry Magid, Tommy Mottola, Larry Acker, Paul Fishkin, and Steve Amoroso, and hung out backstage with musicians David Bowie, Grace Slick, Daryl Hall, and John Oates.

Promoter Bill Graham was his hero, he said in his memoir. DJ Jerry Blavat was his early role model. “I fashioned myself as a Motown-listening, shark-skin-suit-wearing, rhythm and blues/soul kinda guy,” he wrote.

“To bask in the communal spirit of the warmth of the crowd was really what live concert performances meant to me.”

Mr. Casale was an engaging storyteller, and he had plenty of tales to tell, amazing and harrowing. He had been posting rough excerpts from his memoir on Facebook and said in one of them: “I was intent for the next 20 years or so to get as close physically to those I deemed brilliant singers and musicians, believing there was some secret that might be bestowed to me if I studied them close enough.”

He loved the “beach culture,” his family said in a tribute, and spent many winters sunning, swimming, and watching the sun set in Jamaica. Since 2017, he had been promoting music for the Woodstock Negril beach bar and restaurant in Negril, Jamaica.

They called him Sonny because his father had the same name. “But to his loved ones,” his daughter said, “he was the sun, beaming with light and a lust for life.”

Harold Robert Casale was born June 2, 1949. He spent his first 11 years in North Philadelphia, playing half ball between the cars in Lawrence Street and baseball at the old Lighthouse Field on Front Street and Lehigh Avenue. He also loved to dance.

His family moved to Hatboro when he was 11, and he graduated from Upper Moreland High School, and earned a bachelor’s degree in communications at Temple in 1972. He managed concerts for a few local clubs and played records for Temple’s dormitory-only radio station. He especially liked reggae music and lugged his boom box all over the place, his daughter said.

He lived for a time at Dark Hollow Farm in Jamison, Bucks County, after college and visited other places around the world with friends. He was politically active and had daughters Arielle and Madison.

A lifelong sports fan, Mr. Casale followed baseball, basketball, and football. He was a longtime caregiver for his mother, Mary, and he knew former first lady Jill Biden from their shared childhood days in Hatboro.

He liked fresh fruit and fresh fish. He said people called him SAL because Sonny’s Always Late. They called him Sonny Boy in Jamaica.

Most recently, he drove along the Delaware River with longtime companion Reenie McDonnell and stopped here and there to catch a local band on stage. Friends called him “a sweet man” and noted his “zest for life” in Facebook tributes.

“He was a gentle soul,” said his sister Cindy, “kind and compassionate.” His sister Maxine said: “I have lost a brother and my best friend.”

His daughter Madison said: “You were such an incredible father, and I will forever cherish all of our memories together.” A friend said: “He was one talented human being in so many areas.”

In addition to his daughters and sisters, Mr. Casale is survived by other relatives.

A celebration of his life is to be held later.