Louis Meyers, the co-founder of the annual South By Southwest festival, has passed away at the age of 60 in Austin, Texas.
Meyers died on Friday, the first day of the SXSW festival's 30th edition. He co-founded the interactive, music and film conference along with Roland Swenson, Nick Barbaro, Louis Black, Joe Rae DiMenno and Linda Owen in 1987.
The festival was initially planned as an extension to the New Music Seminar festival in Austin, but after the organizers of the New York-based music conference backed out, Meyers, Swenson and the others decided to hold a local music festival instead.
Meyer's reportedly died of a heart attack at St. David's South Austin Medical Center. He was the event's primary music booker until he sold his share of SXSW in 1994, citing "burnout" as the reason.
"The stress of the conference, primarily the music festival, was causing health problems for me, so it was time to step aside," Meyers said at the time.
During his career as a musician, Meyers worked with the likes of Bill & Bonnie Hearne, Bob Schneider, Killbilly, the Killer Bees, Mojo Nixon, Fastballs, Willis Alan Ramsey, Tommy Ramone and Jello Biafra, among others.
Aengus Finnan, who succeeded Meyers as the director of the Kansas-city based Folk Alliance International, described Meyers as a "musician's musician" and a leader in the industry.
Meyers, who was also a banjo player and manager by profession, ran a production company that promoted local reggae shows before the inception of SXSW.
Swenson, who used to work at The Austin Chronicle at the time, recalled back in 2001 how the festival came into being.
"Louis began spending more and more time hanging out at the Chronicle, dropping by often for the after-hours bull sessions that would run late into the evening," Swenson said.
"A few months after announcing their Austin event, the [New Music] Seminar announced they were backing out of the deal for 1987, with a possible future date to be announced. Louis and I began talking about swiping the idea of putting on a conference and festival from the New Yorkers," he added.
The widely-attended conference has since grown in size and influence. President Obama was in attendance at the SXSW festival on Friday, where he delivered a keynote speech and made history by becoming the first U.S. president to attend the festival.
