LAS VEGAS — The Parnelli Board of Advisors has announced the creation of a Parnelli Hall of Fame, and has chosen veteran concert touring professional Mo Morrison as its first inductee. “We felt we as an industry deserve our own Hall of Fame, and Mo is an obvious first choice,” says Terry Lowe, executive producer of the Parnellis and publisher of PLSN/FOH magazines. “From his early days as a stagehand through his current gargantuan task of being tour director of Lady Gaga’s amazing show, he’s been part of some of touring history’s biggest moments.”
A native New Yorker, Mo Morrison got the bug for the concert production business in 1969 as an attendee at the Woodstock Music & Art Fair. He started out as a stagehand, then stage manager, at the Capitol Theatres in Port Chester, NY and Passaic, NJ. In 1974 he earned a B.A. in production design and music from Sarah Lawrence College, Bronxville, NY. Morrison’s career in the concert touring business is unique in that in the midst of it he added television to his resume with a successful transition into television production and an eventual relocation from New York to Los Angeles. He has been involved with dozens of major live concert, comedy and awards show productions, from broadcast channels to HBO.
Morrison was a production manager on a Grateful Dead stadium tour when he got the call to advance Woodstock ’94, in Saugerties, NY. He handled both tasks simultaneously until the Grateful Dead tour ended — days before the Woodstock ’94 event began. Five years later, Woodstock once again played a role in Mo’s career when he returned to shape the look of Woodstock ’99 in Rome, NY.
Along the way, Mo spent a decade as a site coordinator for the Michael Jackson Bad, Dangerous and HIStory stadium concert tours around the world. Following that, for two years he was production manager for Prince, and for another 12 years, he was production manager for Andrea Bocelli.
Morrison worked Lady Gaga in 2010, earning an Emmy nomination for his work on Lady Gaga Presents The Monster Ball Tour: At Madison Square Garden.
In the course of his career, he’s also worked with Britney Spears, Justin Timberlake, Barbra Streisand, Tim McGraw, Dave Matthews Band, Usher, The Rolling Stones, Madonna, Cher, Simon and Garfunkel, David Bowie, Janet Jackson, Gloria Estefan, Guns N’ Roses, Paul McCartney, KISS and Whitney Houston.
“I have known Mo for many, many years, and he is a true professional, an inspiration to those of us who get to work with him, and a wonderful dinner companion,” says Robin Shaw, Parnelli Board Advisor and Upstaging vice president. “I look forward to many more years of working with this brilliant and remarkable man. He absolutely deserves this honor.”
The Parnelli Awards will be held at the Mirage Resort and Casino in Las Vegas on Nov. 23, 2013. For more information about Parnelli Awards, go to www.parnelliawards.com.
Note: This posting was updated on Oct. 17, 2013 to include information on Morrison’s role at the Capitol Theatre in Passaic, NJ (which was, regrettably, torn down) along with the Capitol Theatre in Port Chester, NY (which was restored).
