Irvin Feld
Irvin Feld was a business entrepreneur who built a chain of record stores, promoted rock groups, produced concerts involving some of the biggest names in popular music. He was also the head of Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus and founder of Feld Entertainment. He was a music promoter who is credited with discovering Paul Anka.Biography
He was born on April 19, 1918 in Hagerstown, Maryland to Russian-Jewish immigrants. Following high school, in 1938 he and his brother open a drugstore on Seventh Street NW. Records proved big-sellers at the store. He later opened Super Music City record stores, and eventually branched out into producing both his own records and his own live concerts. After ten years as one of several national promoters for the Ringling Circus, Feld, along with his brother Israel Feld and Houston Judge Roy Hofheinz bought it on November 11, 1967 for $8 million. In 1968, he began the Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Clown College. He sold the circus to Mattel in 1971 for $50 million in Mattel stock. He bought it back from Mattel in 1982.
He died on September 6, 1984, at age 66 in Venice, Florida.In 1946, he married Adele Feld. In 1958 she committed suicide. The circus passed to his son Kenneth Feld, who had joined the company in 1970. In 1987, he was inducted into the International Circus Hall of Fame.
