One of the US music industry's most legendary publicists, Paul Wasserman, has died in an LA hospital aged 73. Wasserman represented numerous top rock bands and movie stars over the years, most notably the Rolling Stones, U2 and Jack Nicholson. He was one of the first publicists to recognise the rise of rock music in the sixties, and quickly began to work with some of the real stars of the era. He enjoyed a long career in the industry, until in 2000 he shocked many by admitting he had been swindling money out of up to twenty people for years by persuading them to invest in phoney business ventures which he falsely claimed had the backing of some of his more famous clients. He blamed the scams on his battle with alcoholism, and served six months in jail for his crimes. Nevertheless, he retained many of his friendships within industry, even with some of those he had swindled, many of whom chose not to press charges against him.
Nov 20, 2007
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1 min read
Legendary US rock publicist Paul Wasserman dies
Veteran US publicist Paul Wasserman has died aged 73, having represented the Rolling Stones, U2 and Jack Nicholson, and later served jail time for fraud.