Jonathan Mayers, the founder of music festivals like Bonnaroo and Outside Lands, has died. He was 51.
No cause of death was released.
Mayers began working in the music industry after graduating from Tulane in 1995, with jobs at famed venue Tipitina’s and at the annual Jazz Fest. He later founded the promotion and events company Superfly with multiple partners before launching Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival in 2002. The massive Tennessee festival has become one of the premiere music events of the year and offered a blueprint for other festivals, like New York City’s Governor’s Ball and All Things Go.
Jonathan Mayers is pictured in 2018. (Photo by Hyoung Chang/The Denver Post via Getty Images)
Mayers and others went on to start Outside Lands in San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park in 2008. Following a comedy festival in San Francisco in 2017 called Clusterfest, Mayers branched out into traveling “immersive experience” pop-ups based on TV shows like “Friends,” “Seinfeld” and “The Office.”
He left Superfly in 2021 and was most recently working on Core City Detroit, a combination campus and events space that would offer local and national artists production and living space.
Fans attend day four of the 2008 Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival on June 15, 2008 in Manchester, Tennessee. (Photo by Jeff Gentner/Getty Images)
“We are heartbroken with the passing of Jonathan,” his former partners at Superfly said in a statement to Billboard. “He was a cherished part of Superfly’s story, woven into it’s history and legacy. In addition to the role he’s played in bringing joy to millions, we will miss his razor sharp wit, infectious smile and contagious laugh. No one could light up a room like Jon.”