Sam Cutler, who was a tour manager for The Rolling Stones and Grateful Dead, has died at age 80. Cutler’s death from cancer on Tuesday, July 11 at his home in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia was confirmed by his family.
Born on March 10, 1943 in Hatfield, England, Cutler began working for the concert promoter Blackhill Enterprises in the late-1960s. Cutler was the master of ceremonies for The Rolling Stones’ free concert held in London’s Hyde Park on July 5, 1969. He then accompanied the band as their tour manager on their subsequent United States tour that ended with the ill-fated Altamont festival in California.
One of the bands that were slated to appear at Altamont, the Grateful Dead soon employed Cutler and he became their tour manager. During his stint with the Dead, Cutler oversaw their 1970 Festival Express Tour through Canada, the famed Europe ‘72 Tour and the massive Watkins Glen Summer Jam festival in 1973 that drew 600,000 people to see the Grateful Dead, The Allman Brothers Band and The Band.
In an April 2022 interview with Please Kill Me, Cutler stated:
Well, I was very lucky. I got to work with the number one rock ‘n’ roll band in the Rolling Stones and I got to work with the number one jazz band that was playing rock ‘n’ roll in the Grateful Dead. But I always work with people rather than for people. And I didn’t want to work with junkies. No way. I’ve always viewed heroin as a negative – the enemy. So it was time to do something else. I’ve never been afraid of being broke. I’m not somebody who’s ever thought about life as: get out there and make millions. Or get out there and be a huge success. All those stereotypical American Hollywood fantasies don’t apply to me. I’m just a wanderer. I wander through it all and do the best I can to survive and not hurt anybody. I’m very lucky. I’ve got two grown sons. One’s a journalist. The other one’s studying philosophy. They’re very kind to me. They live in the same city, so I get to see them pretty regularly. Life is cool. I ride my bike and stay out of trouble. I’m 79. I look forward to 80. And when I get to 80, well maybe I’ll reassess things and decide to do something else. Who knows? My mother always used to say: “You should buy a house. You should do this. You should do that. What about when you’re old?” And I just said, “I don’t even know about tomorrow. I don’t care about all that.” Now I’m old and it’s all good. Australia is very good with their old people compared to other countries. You don’t wanna be old and poor in America, that’s for sure.
Cutler appeared in the 2017 Grateful Dead documentary Long Strange Trip. Cutler recently contributed to the Good Ol’ Grateful Deadcast podcast.
Read the note from Bodhi Cutler and Chesley Cutler, Sam’s two children, below:
Sam Cutler, our father, your friend, passed away peacefully in his sleep on Tuesday, July 11th at age 80.
Our father was first diagnosed with cancer nearly a decade ago, and it is with gratitude that Sam’s family thank the wonderful doctors, nurses, hospital staff and administrators in ALL hospitals that our father received treatment within.
Many people from across our big beautiful world crossed paths with Sam in his life, and many more formed timeless memories with him that are each beautiful encapsulations of the man that he was.
Sam would want nothing more for his friends to continue to form timeless memories with whomever they meet, and to share those memories with him in the next life.
As per our father’s wishes, his ashes will be scattered in the foundations of a newly constructed Buddhist temple at the Chenrezig Institute, due to be completed in 2025.
Our family asks for privacy at this time, and we thank you all very much for your messages of support.
For those of you who wish to share your memories of our father, we have set up an email address [email protected]
Additional news of celebrations of life will be posted in due course, and funeral arrangements to his closest family and friends shortly.
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A Conversation With Sam Cutler (2008)
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