"Prolific producer Pierre Cossette, who brought the Grammy Awards to television and oversaw the broadcast for 35 years, died of congestive heart failure near his summer home in St. Anicet, Quebec. He was 85. In his 50-year show business career, Cossette was a talent agent and personal manager, ran a record company and produced for television and Broadway. He most famously spent two years convincing the Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences to give him TV rights to the Grammys in 1971, which until then had been an industry event. For the next 35 years Cossette personally oversaw the production of the show as it grew into a major awards event, finally handing the reins to his son, John, in 2005."
- mediaeater
from Bookmarklet