Dee Anthony, who began a 40-year music-managing career representing neighborhood friend Jerry Vale in the 1950s and later worked for Tony Bennett, Peter Frampton and other popular artists, died Sunday. He was 83.
The Southport, Connecticut, resident died at Norwalk Hospital of pneumonia, said family spokesman Jay Strell.
Anthony was Frampton's manager when the singer-guitarist released the wildly successful "Frampton Comes Alive" album in 1976. He also represented British acts including Traffic, Jethro Tull and Joe Cocker when they first came to the United States in the mid-1960s, Strell said.
Born Anthony D'Addario, he grew up in the Bronx and met Bennett in 1954 at a nightclub in Yonkers, according to an obituary prepared by his daughter, Michele Anthony, former president and chief operating officer of Sony Music. He represented Bennett for more than a decade.
Anthony founded Bandana Enterprises with his brother, Bill, in 1968. The company managed a host of bands including The J. Geils Band, Ten Years After and Emerson, Lake and Palmer.
Anthony went on to represent Peter Allen and Devo in the 1980s and retired in the mid-1990s.
