Bill Graham - Personal life, Political life, Honours

Rock music promoter and manager, born in Berlin, Germany. His Russian-Jewish parents fled the Nazis, and in 1941 he arrived in the USA, becoming a citizen in 1953. He served with the US Army in Korea, then drove a taxi to pay for his business studies. In 1965 he began as the manager of the San Francisco Mime Troupe and moved on to present rock bands in concerts in his own venues, first a San Francisco club hall renamed the Fillmore, then the Carousel Ballroom in San Francisco renamed (1967) the Fillmore West. A mixture of hard-driving entrepreneur and idealistic counter-culturist, by 1968 he was so successful with his concerts that he opened the Fillmore East in a former film theatre in New York City. In 1971 he closed his theatres, and shifted to managing various groups and stars and promoting large arena concerts and tours, many of them featuring the biggest names in popular music, such as the Rolling Stones. Throughout the 1980s he continued to produce various concerts, including a special ‘fourth of July’ rock concert in Moscow in 1987.

(Bill) Graham, PC, QC, LL.D, D.U., B.A.(Hon.), MP (born March 17, 1939, in Montreal, Quebec) is Canada's Leader of the Opposition and the interim leader of the Liberal Party of Canada.

Several days following the defeat of the Liberal government of Paul Martin in the 2006 federal election, Graham was appointed parliamentary leader of the Liberal Party and Leader of the Opposition. On March 18, 2006, following the party executive's acceptance of Martin's resignation as leader, Graham was officially appointed interim leader of the Liberal Party. Graham is expected to hold the position until the Liberal leadership convention chooses Martin's permanent replacement on the weekend of December 2-3 2006.

Personal life

Graham grew up in Montreal and Vancouver.

Graham is married and has two children and three grandchildren.

Political life

He was first elected to the Canadian House of Commons as MP for the riding of Rosedale (now Toronto Centre) in the 1993 federal elections.

In Parliament, Graham became a member and then the chair of the Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Trade.

In December 2003, the new Prime Minister, Paul Martin, appointed Graham to the same position in his cabinet. In the cabinet shuffle that followed the 2004 election, Graham was moved to the Defence portfolio.

He is interim leader of the Liberal Party (and since the Liberal Party holds the second largest caucus, Leader of the Opposition in the House of Commons). Martin, however, initially announced he would remain leader of the Liberal Party until the convention but subsequently moved up the date of his resignation to March 19, 2006, at which point Graham became the party's fully fledged interim leader.

Graham appointed former Cabinet colleague Jane Stewart to serve as his chief of staff.

Honours

The University of Toronto Faculty of Law has established the William C.

Graham has the prenomial "The Honourable" and the postnomial "PC" for life by virture of being a member of the Queen's Privy Council for Canada since 2002.

For his work in promoting French language and culture in Ontario (he is a past president of the Alliance française of Toronto) he has received:

Prix Jean-Baptiste Rousseaux Médaille d'argent de la ville de Paris (City of Paris Silver Medal) Gold Medal of the Alliance française Ordre du mérite de l'Association des juristes d'expression française de l'Ontario (Order of Merit of the Association of French-speaking Jurists of Ontario) Chevalier of the Legion of Honour Chevalier of the Ordre de la Pléiade