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Find sources: "Claude Nobs" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (August 2023) (Learn how and when to remove this message) Swiss businessman Claude Nobs Nobs in 2006 Born (1936-02-04)February 4, 1936 Territet, Montreux, Switzerland Died January 10, 2013(2013-01-10) (aged 76) Lausanne, Switzerland **Claude Nobs** (February 4, 1936 – January 10, 2013) was the founder and general manager of the [Montreux Jazz Festival](/source/Montreux_Jazz_Festival). ## Biography Nobs introducing the [Bill Evans Trio](/source/Bill_Evans_Trio) at [Montreux Jazz Festival](/source/Montreux_Jazz_Festival), 1978 Nobs was born in [Montreux](/source/Montreux), Switzerland. After apprenticing as a cook, Nobs worked in the Tourism Office of Montreux. He later went to New York, where he met [Nesuhi Ertegün](/source/Nesuhi_Erteg%C3%BCn), the then-president of [Atlantic Records](/source/Atlantic_Records). He also met [Roberta Flack](/source/Roberta_Flack) and invited her to the *Rose d’Or de Montreux*. Later, [Aretha Franklin](/source/Aretha_Franklin) made her first visit to Europe thanks to him. At the age of 31, while he was director of the Tourism Office of Montreux, he organised the first jazz festival featuring artists such as [Charles Lloyd](/source/Charles_Lloyd_(jazz_musician)), [Keith Jarrett](/source/Keith_Jarrett), Ron McLure and [Jack DeJohnette](/source/Jack_DeJohnette). This new festival was an immediate success and gained a reputation far beyond Switzerland. Nobs quickly transformed his festival into an international gathering place for lovers of jazz. In 1971, [Deep Purple](/source/Deep_Purple) decided to produce and record their album *[Machine Head](/source/Machine_Head_(album))* in Montreux. The group was also scheduled to record at the [Montreux Casino](/source/Montreux_Casino), shortly after [Frank Zappa](/source/Frank_Zappa) performed. During Zappa's concert, a member of the audience fired a [flare gun](/source/Flare_gun) towards the ceiling, resulting in a severe fire that reduced the Casino to ashes. Nobs saved several young people who had hidden in the casino, thinking they would be sheltered from the flames. Nobs, who had served as a volunteer fireman, knew that the casino was not actually a safe place and acted immediately to get them out. This earned him a mention in the song "[Smoke on the Water](/source/Smoke_on_the_Water)" (the line "Funky Claude was running in and out pulling kids out the ground").[1] Also, on the inner liner of the original album, Nobs' picture was the only one labeled with a name other than the band members. In 1973, Nobs became the director of the Swiss branch of Warner, Elektra and Atlantic. At the beginning of the live [Jethro Tull](/source/Jethro_Tull_(band)) album *[Bursting Out](/source/Bursting_Out)* (recorded in 1978 in [Bern](/source/Bern)), one can hear Nobs announcing in [Swiss German](/source/Swiss_German) with French accent, "Gueten Abig mitenand, und herzliche Willkommen in Festhalle Bern!" ("Good evening everybody, and welcome to the Festhalle of Bern"), followed by greetings in Italian, French and English. During the 1990s, Nobs shared the directorship of the festival with [Quincy Jones](/source/Quincy_Jones), and made [Miles Davis](/source/Miles_Davis) an honorary host. The festival continued to diversify and was no longer exclusively devoted to jazz. In 2004, the festival attracted 200,000 visitors. In September 2004, Nobs received the Tourism Prize of Salz & Pfeffer. The [canton](/source/Cantons_of_Switzerland) of Vaud gave him the "Prix du Rayonnement" for his contributions to music. He has also received an honorary doctorate. In 2005,[2] during the referendum campaign on [registered partnership in Switzerland](/source/Registered_partnership_in_Switzerland) for same-sex couples, Nobs came out publicly to support the new law. At the time, he had been in a relationship with his partner, Thierry Amsallem,[3] since 1987. On 24 December 2012, Nobs had an accident while [cross-country skiing](/source/Cross-country_skiing) in Switzerland and fell into a [coma](/source/Coma). He died on 10 January 2013 at age 76.[1] ## References 1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-Death_1-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-Death_1-1) ["Claude Nobs, Montreux Jazz Festival founder, dies"](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-20981739). BBC News. 10 January 2013. Retrieved 11 January 2013. 1. **[^](#cite_ref-2)** ["Montreux founder reveals his winning formula"](http://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/Home/Archive/Montreux_founder_reveals_his_winning_formula.html?cid=4582508). Swissinfo.ch. 24 June 2005. 1. **[^](#cite_ref-3)** ["En perdant Claude Nobs, le plus grand festival du monde est orphelin"](http://www.tdg.ch/culture/musique/En-perdant-Claude-Nobs-le-plus-grand-festival-du-monde-est-orphelin/story/24228468) (in French). Tribune de Genève. 11 January 2013. ## External links - [Montreux Jazz Festival](http://www.montreuxjazzfestival.com) - [Claude Nobs Foundation](http://www.claudenobsfoundation.com) - [Live at Montreux on YouTube](https://www.claudenobsfoundation.com/youtube) - [Claude Nobs Revealed on CNN.com International](https://web.archive.org/web/20061027060318/http://edition.cnn.com/CNNI/Programs/revealed/nobs/) v t e Deep Purple Ian Paice Roger Glover Ian Gillan Don Airey Simon McBride Jon Lord Ritchie Blackmore Rod Evans Nick Simper David Coverdale Glenn Hughes Tommy Bolin Joe Lynn Turner Joe Satriani Steve Morse Studio albums Shades of Deep Purple The Book of Taliesyn Deep Purple Deep Purple in Rock Fireball Machine Head Who Do We Think We Are Burn Stormbringer Come Taste the Band Perfect Strangers The House of Blue Light Slaves and Masters The Battle Rages On... Purpendicular Abandon Bananas Rapture of the Deep Now What?! Infinite Whoosh! Turning to Crime =1 Splat! Live albums Concerto for Group and Orchestra Made in Japan Made in Europe Last Concert in Japan Deep Purple in Concert Live in London Nobody's Perfect Scandinavian Nights In the Absence of Pink: Knebworth '85 Gemini Suite Live Come Hell or High Water King Biscuit Flower Hour Presents: Deep Purple in Concert California Jamming Mk III: The Final Concerts Live at The Olympia '96 Total Abandon: Australia '99 In Concert with The London Symphony Orchestra Days May Come and Days May Go Live at the Rotterdam Ahoy This Time Around: Live in Tokyo The Soundboard Series Live in Paris 1975 Inglewood: Live in California Perks and Tit Live in Europe 1993 Live at Montreux 1996 Live in Montreux 69 Live in Denmark 1972 Live at Montreux 2006: They All Came Down to Montreux Live at Montreux 2011 Phoenix Rising BBC Sessions 1968–1970 Live in Verona Compilation albums Purple Passages Mark I & II 24 Carat Purple Powerhouse The Deep Purple Singles A's and B's When We Rock, We Rock, and When We Roll, We Roll The Mark II Purple Singles Deepest Purple: The Very Best of Deep Purple The Anthology Knocking at Your Back Door: The Best of Deep Purple in the 80's Smoke on the Water: The Best Of 30: Very Best of Deep Purple The Very Best of Deep Purple The Early Years The Platinum Collection Box Sets Shades 1968–1998 Listen, Learn, Read On Singles "Hush" "Kentucky Woman" "River Deep – Mountain High" "Hallelujah" "Black Night" "Strange Kind of Woman" "Fireball" "Never Before" "Highway Star" "Smoke on the Water" "Woman from Tokyo" "Burn" "Perfect Strangers" "Knocking at Your Back Door" "Sometimes I Feel Like Screaming" "Vincent Price" Other songs "Mandrake Root" "Child in Time" "Speed King" "Hard Lovin' Man" "The Mule" "Space Truckin'" "Maybe I'm a Leo" "When a Blind Man Cries" "Mistreated" "Soldier of Fortune" Video albums Concerto for Group and Orchestra Live in California 74 Deep Purple Rises Over Japan Come Hell or High Water Live at Montreux 1996 Total Abandon: Australia '99 In Concert with The London Symphony Orchestra Classic Albums: Deep Purple – The Making of Machine Head Live in Concert 72/73 Live at Montreux 2006 Around the World Live History, Hits & Highlights '68–'76 Phoenix Rising Live at Montreux 2011 Live in Verona Concert tours Rapture of the Deep tour The Songs That Built Rock Tour The Long Goodbye Tour Related bands The Artwoods The Outlaws The Flower Pot Men Episode Six Trapeze Zephyr James Gang Dixie Dregs Captain Beyond Warhorse Ian Gillan Band Gillan Rainbow Blackmore's Night Whitesnake Coverdale–Page Paice Ashton Lord Black Sabbath Gary Moore Yngwie Malmsteen Hughes Turner Project Living Loud WhoCares Black Country Communion Related articles Discography Members Purple Records Funky Junction Deep Purple Tribute Re-Machined: A Tribute to Deep Purple's Machine Head The Purple Album Rock Aid Armenia Green Bullfrog Bogus Deep Purple Category Authority control databases International ISNI VIAF GND FAST WorldCat National United States France BnF data Italy Norway Artists MusicBrainz People DDB Other IdRef Yale LUX --- Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Claude Nobs](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Claude_Nobs) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Claude_Nobs?action=history)). 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