Michael Lang

Born in Brooklyn in 1944, Michael Lang is a music industry icon and promoter best known as the co-creator of the Woodstock Music & Art Festival in 1969. In 1968,after promoting a series of concert events in the Miami area, Lang (together with Marshall Brevetz) produced the 1968 Miami Pop Festival, which drew around 25,000 people on its first day with acts such as Jimi Hendrix, Frank Zappa, John Lee Hooker, Arthur Brown, and Blue Cheer. After he moved to Woodstock, New York, and met Artie Kornfeld, a respected recording artist and composer, the two developed the concept for a major festival event to celebrate the 1960s social movements and planned to open a recording studio in Woodstock. With Kornfeld and partners John P. Roberts and Joel Rosenman, Lang set Woodstock into motion and it was held on Max Yasgur’s farm in Bethel, New York, from August 15 to August 18, 1969. Later, Lang served as a consultant to the Rolling Stones before establishing Just Sunshine Records and the Michael Lang Organization. He has produced albums for and managed dozens of acts, including Billy Joel, Joe Cocker, and Rickie Lee Jones. Additionally, Lang produced Woodstock ’94 festival and is producing the three-day 50th anniversary Woodstock festival in Watkins Glen, New York, in August 2019.

Micheal Lang (December 11, 1944 – January 8, 2022)