SAN FRANCISCO, June 26 (UPI) -- Chet Helms, who brought Janis Joplin to San Francisco and ran the Avalon Ballroom during the Summer of Love, died after suffering a stroke at age 62.
Helms died Saturday at San Francisco's California Pacific Medical Center surrounded friends and relatives, his wife, Judy Davis, told the San Francisco Chronicle.
Chester Leo Helms, born Aug. 2, 1942, in Santa Maria, Calif., was the oldest of three sons of Chester and Novella Helms.
He dropped out of the University of Texas in 1961 and he moved to San Francisco, where he organized jam sessions in the ballroom of the Haight-Ashbury house. Big Brother and the Holding Company emerged from these sessions and Helms brought old college friend Joplin from Texas to be its singer.
"Without Chet, there would be no Grateful Dead; no Big Brother and the Holding Company; no Jefferson Airplane, no Country Joe & the Fish; no Quicksilver Messenger Service, and the list goes on," said Barry Melton, the lead guitarist for Country Joe & the Fish.
Helms left the concert business in 1970. He later ran an art gallery and was a photographer.
Helms is survived by his wife, his step-daughter, Sarah Davis of San Francisco; brothers John Helms of San Francisco and Jim Helms of Hawaii; and three grandchildren.
