John Mellencamp, Sheryl Crow and James Taylor are among the performers expected at two concerts that will benefit the family of Timothy White, the Billboard editor in chief who recently died of a heart attack.
White was just 50 when he was stricken in his Manhattan offices on June 27. He left behind a wife and 10-year-old twin boys.
One concert is set for Oct. 7 at Boston’s Fleet Center, with the other the next day at Madison Square Garden. Mellencamp, Crow, Don Henley and Sting will perform at both concerts. Billy Joel and Taylor will be at the Boston shows, while Brian Wilson and Jimmy Buffett will be at the New York shows.
“Timothy White was the best friend an artist could ever have,” Wilson said in a statement Monday. “The music business lost a true giant when we lost Timothy so suddenly.”
Besides being the editor of Billboard, White wrote acclaimed biographies on Taylor and Bob Marley, and hosted and co-produced an award-winning nationally syndicated radio show. He started his career at The Associated Press, and later became a managing editor of Crawdaddy magazine and senior editor at Rolling Stone magazine.
