February 11, 2022. “Big” John Harte dies at 70. He was a bodyguard for KISS amd IRON MAIDEN.
Born John Joseph Harte III in Newark, NJ on November 15, 1951, he was the older of two boys raised in a traditional Irish-Catholic family in nearby Passaic. When Harte’s mother unexpectedly passed away, he helped support his family while dreaming of becoming a famous musician. The rock-and-roll band that Harte played drums and percussion for did not last long, but a chance experience keeping people at bay outside a Grateful Dead concert would change the trajectory of his life.
“They noticed me on that show because I was big, I wore jeans and black I looked badass with my biker mustache and I could handle a loud crowd,” Harte recalled as he worked on his memoir. “I soon found myself managing security at Passaic’s Capitol Theater, Jersey City’s Roosevelt Stadium and New York’s Fillmore East for musicians ranging from Gregg Allman to Lou Reed and the New York Dolls.
"I learned every aspect of the music business from the ground up, accommodating guests, tuning instruments for artists, and doing everything necessary to ensure the concert went smoothly." In late 1975, he was offered a job with KISS and spent the next eight years working full-time for the band, but left the group to work with IRON MAIDEN in 1983 after KISS management refused to pay him an advance.
He worked with MAIDEN again in 1985 and 1986. "I had a great time with them," he told Michael Cavacini. “The first year I worked with them, half the time I didn’t understand what they were saying. Two of them were talking really low and, if you add to that, their accents, I didn't know what the hell they were saying. "It took me a while to figure it out, but they were fun." "My favorite experience with them was going behind the Iron Curtain." We got to see and talk to fans struggling to stay in touch with the western world. It was fascinating."
