Concert promoter Rob Bennett was known for taking care of artists … and for his colourful shoes

In 1985, the hottest band in any land was Britain’s Dire Straits.

The Mark Knopfler-led quartet had just released its breakthrough album “Brothers in Arms” in May and sparked by the hit “Money or Nothing,” which featured Sting singing the catchphrase “I want my MTV,” records were flying off the shelves.

That April, the band launched a world tour with the biggest concert promoters, but when it came to Canada and Toronto that July, Dire Straits stuck with a local independent promoter for its four shows at the Varsity Arena: Rob Bennett.

Dire Straits wasn’t an anomaly: Bonnie Raitt, Diana Krall, Pat Metheny, Lyle Lovett and Ry Cooder always gave Bennett, whose reputation preceded him, their first call when they were ready to perform in Toronto or elsewhere in Ontario and Quebec.

“He was consistently attentive and the artists that he worked with were consistently loyal to him,” said Richard Flohil, who served as publicist for RBI Productions-promoted shows during the late 1970s and ’80s.

“He would do a bunch of dates with Bonnie Raitt and financially he would be accurate to the last nickel. He was scrupulously honest and reliable and that’s why he kept working with those artists.”

Flohil said that Bennett, who succumbed to ALS on March 14 at the age of 71, was also extremely fair and sensitive to artists’ needs.

At the end of the Dire Straits run, when it came to settling the merchandising proceeds, Bennett was asked by the band’s management how much of a percentage he wanted as the promoter, a share to which he was fully entitled.

“Rob said, ‘I don’t want anything. It’s yours.’”

Bennett, a wine connoisseur, built loyalty by treating everyone from the headlining act to the artist’s and venue crew extremely well, including sprucing up the catering, sometimes dipping into his own pocket to provide an additional treat.

“He always wanted to do the right thing for the artist,” said Bob Roper, whose own storied career included stints as a tour manager for Crowbar and Supertramp (whom Bennett did not book).

“They were loyal to him because of the way he treated them. Having spent a lot of my life on the road … I saw artists and crew remember two or three things: whether there was an ad in the paper on the day of the show, even if it was sold out; how the catering was and if the promoter did a little extra for the catering, and they loved him for that.”

For 44 years, Bennett promoted more than 700 concerts in Toronto and introduced local audiences to such homegrown and international acts as Kate & Anna McGarrigle, Jesse Cook, Stacey Kent, Tom Waits, Harry Chapin and John Prine, as well as booking such veteran acts as Miles Davis, Return to Forever featuring Chick Corea, Peter Tosh, Jay Leno and Robin Williams into favourite venues like Massey Hall, the O’Keefe Centre (now Meridian Hall) and the University of Toronto’s Convocation Hall.

“He brought a lot of great music to Toronto,” said Flohil. “He was consistently concerned with two things: that the artists were taken care of and every detail was looked after, and that the audience got a great show.”

Bennett’s involvement with music began while he attended the University of Toronto’s Victoria College, pursuing a bachelor of arts with a major in political science and economics.

In the early ’70s, he ran an acoustic folk club called Beavers, served as the DJ for Victoria College pubs; hosted a radio show at U of T and became the music critic for university newspaper the Varsity.

Upon his graduation, Bennett was set to become a political writer for the Globe and Mail, but a sudden restructuring at the newspaper eliminated his position.

After he organized a Credit River music festival that never materialized due to time constraints, many music industry contacts offered Bennett employment, but he accepted a position with Bernie Finkelstein and Bernie Fiedler, management partners and concert promoters known for operating True North Records, Yorkville’s Riverboat coffee house, and managing Bruce Cockburn and Murray McLauchlan.

“We hired him right out of university and gave him his first real music business job,” Finkelstein recalled Wednesday. “At the time, we were a pretty big concert promoter and, because of the Riverboat, we were getting first crack at acts like John Prine, Jackson Browne, James Taylor, Joni Mitchell, Neil Young … the list is endless.

“We had a lot of activity going on and we decided we needed help, so we hired Rob, and his job was to help us with the concert business.

“But he was so damn good at it, he ended up really running that division for us.

“Rob was very loud, very brash, and he was very sensitive and a hell of a lot of fun,” Finkelstein added. “But he was very in tune with the music and in tune with the act. He was very in tune with how to promote a show.

“It wasn’t long after we hired him that Rob was teaching us things.”

In 1978, the two Bernies decided to step away from concert promotion.

“The concert business was changing,” said Finkelstein. “So we sat down and told Rob that we were going to get out of that business, but that we would help in any way that we could with his own business, if he was going to do that. He could have all our contacts and we would support him.”

Thus, RBI Productions was born on Sept. 15, 1978 with a sold-out Massey Hall presentation of U.S. comedian Martin Mull. Bennett remained independent until 1991, when he joined MCA Concerts as vice-president of national touring and stayed through its Universal Concerts and House of Blues incarnations for 15 years before returning to RBI Productions.

Bennett’s last promoted show occurred on Sept. 13, 2022 with Metheny at Meridian Hall; by that time Bennett was in a wheelchair because of the ALS.

Roper said he’ll remember Bennett for his “stunning memory,” his storytelling and … his shoes.

“He always wore amazing, colourful, weird and different shoes or sandals,” Roper recalled. “I’d say to Rob, ‘Oh, nice shoes today,’ and I’d get this sly little grin, he’d look up happy and then look away.”

Bennett, who lived in Caledon, leaves his partner, Mary Wheelwright; his stepchildren Robin Gerand and Will Blackwell, stepgrandson Duncan Gerand; his sister, Debbie Love, and nephews Jeffrey, Jonathan and David Love.

A celebration of life is planned for early May.

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