Paul Shaffer is remembering his longtime manager, Eric Gardner, who passed away on July 19, 2024 at the age of 74.
Shaffer shared the news on social media, writing “I lost a dear friend.”
Gardner founded Panacea Entertainment in 1970 while earning his graduate degree at Columbia University. Early on, he coordinated tours for acts like Jefferson Airplane, the Grateful Dead, and KISS. According to a description on Gardner’s LinkedIn, Panacea was coordinating tours for major bands in 23 countries by 1973.
“By 1974, several of my clients realized that what I was doing for them went well beyond coordinating their tours, into what we now would consider artist management,” Gardner said in an interview on the podcast Don’t Sh— On The Bus in 2022. “Back then, there was no official profession [of] ‘artist management.’”
Panacea’s focus shifted to filling that talent management role, and Gardner’s clients over the years included Max Weinberg, Steven Van Zandt, Donny Osmond, the Sex Pistols, Blue Öyster Cult, the Stray Cats, Gabe Kaplan, and Bill Wyman of the Rolling Stones.
In 1981, Gardner moved Panacea’s operations from New York to Los Angeles, where he began producing film and television projects for Cassandra “Elvira” Peterson.
“The whole process on which Panacea is built is, first, to keep the roster extremely small, so there’s no project we can’t handle directly,” Gardner told Billboard in a 1985 profile. “Second, instead of just focusing on one career area for a lot of acts, we work with a handful of artists who are multidimensional.
“For me, it’s provided a high degree of experience covering a variety of different aspects of entertainment,” Gardner continued. “For my clients, it provides a hedge in their careers—if any one area cools off, there are still other options they can actively involve themselves with, and grow with.”
Gardner had managed Shaffer for many years. Shaffer played in the Saturday Night Live house band from its 1975 debut to 1980. He then became bandleader for Late Night with David Letterman when it premiered in 1982, leading the “World’s Most Dangerous Band.”
Gardner was already managing Shaffer by the time Letterman left NBC for CBS. After a negotiation process Gardner was involved in, Shaffer followed Letterman to Late Show with David Letterman, re-dubbing the group “The CBS Orchestra” and remaining bandleader until Letterman retired in 2015.
In addition to Shaffer, Gardner was continuing to manage musician Todd Rundgren, his longest-running client, who paid tribute to Gardner by posting a black box on Instagram.
Gardner won an International Emmy Award for Best Comedy Series in 2016 as executive producer of the David Hasselhoff-led British series Hoff the Record. In 2017, he was inducted into the Personal Managers Hall of Fame.
“[Gardner] was everything one might have hoped his manager would be,” Shaffer wrote in his tribute. “Smart, beautifully spoken, could represent me in any area in which I wanted to dabble, his counsel always wise and true.
“His memory is indeed a blessing,” Shaffer continued. “I am indeed heartbroken.”
Shaffer’s post resulted in remembrances from figures including Laraine Newman and Conan bandleader Jimmy Vivino, who commented, “He was one of the good ones. A great and talented guy.”
“Eric Gardner was one of those great managers who made the music business so much better & more fun,” TV writer David Wild posted.
According to Shaffer, Gardner “passed away at his home outside of Los Angeles.” He is survived by his wife Janis, and three daughters.
