Shelley Lazar, the president of SLO VIP Ticket Services and a longtime veteran in the VIP ticketing space with four decades of experience dating back to her work with legendary promoter Bill Graham, passed away Sunday morning (March 31) after a battle with cancer. She was 69.
Lazar worked on hundreds of tours for artists including the Rolling Stones, Paul McCartney, Elton John, Bob Dylan, Paul Simon and Lady Gaga, creating once-in-a-lifetime experiences for fans and going beyond the rock world to work with two popes (Pope John Paul II and Pope Benedict), President Nelson Mandela and the Dalai Lama.
Known to her friends as "the MFTQ" — that's Mothaf---ing Ticketing Queen for the uninitiated — Lazar began working part-time in music in the early '70s as Manhattan's keeper of guest lists by night (by day she was a school teacher whose students included Chris Rock).