Bob Patton knew the Godfather of Soul up close and personal. They were like family. James Brown called Courtney, Mr. Patton’s daughter, “the goddaughter to the godfather.”
In 1964, Mr. Patton was working at Dayton radio station WDOH when he met Mr. Brown. He began to freelance for the singer, booking concerts and promotions.
In 1968, Mr. Brown offered Mr. Patton a full-time job as his advance man, concert promoter and booking agent. He held the position nine years. They remained close until the singer’s death.
Their relationship is a mere snapshot of Mr. Patton’s life as an entertainment promoter for legendary acts during the 1950s and 1960s. He recently put his experiences to pen and paper in a manuscript with the help of Phil Jones of Monticello.
“He was everywhere,” Mr. Jones said. “He was a great PR guy because he was so positive. He always listened to everything on the radio. We’d be riding around, he’d hear a song and say, ‘I met this guy.’ Obviously, it was old music from back in the day.”
Bob Patton, 70, of Atlanta and Brooklyn, died Oct. 7 at Piedmont Hospital from an aortic aneurism. R.T. Patterson, in Liburn, is in charge of arrangements. A celebration of his life will be held at a later date.
Born in Middletown, Ohio, Mr. Patton launched his music career as a teen with a weekly radio show. He would grow up to become a highly-respected music promoter. He had personal and professional dealings with stars that included Isaac Hayes, Elvis Presley, Sam Cooke, Jerry Lee Lewis and B.B. King. He booked acts for American Bandstand, the TV show.
“He was in the business 50-something years and worked with everybody from the Beatles to Prince,” said Sammy Blue, founder and executive director of the Georgia Legacy Foundation, a Decatur-based nonprofit that assists musicians with their careers.
“I’d say he was one of the greater promoters of what I call real American music.”
It was a love developed as a kid. He listened to late-night DJs on the radio in his attic bedroom, said his daughter, Courtney Patton of Brooklyn.
“He wanted to be like them,” she said, “and that’s how it started. If it was anybody who was anyone in the music business, he either knew them, worked with them or they knew him.”
The music promoter split time between Atlanta and Brooklyn. Here, he kept an ear to the local music scene as an emcee and promoter of acts. He was regarded as an insider to the city’s music industry.
In a 1990 interview, he summed up this city’s role as a budding black music mecca.
“Even the Prince people are watching what we’re doing down here,” he said at the time.
Additional survivors include his wife, Viki Patton of Brooklyn, N.Y.; two sons, Kevin Robert Patton of Germantown, Ohio; and Kent Allen Patton of Ohio; and three grandchildren.
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