Variety is reporting that Walter James “Herbie” Herbert II, a Bill Graham protégé who began as a roadie for Santana and ended up managing Journey for 20 years, died at his home in Orinda, California on Monday, October 25, of natural causes. He was 73.

Herbert also managed the Steve Miller Band and co-managed Swedish groups Roxette and Europe, along with Mr. Big, Enuff Z’Nuff and Journey splinter groups The Storm and Hardline.

A native of Berkeley, California, Herbert was a self-described hippie and unregenerate Grateful Dead supporter who began working for Graham as a roadie for Santana (where he first met future Journey members Neal Schon and Gregg Rolie). He managed Frumious Bandersnatch, a psychedelic San Francisco rock band named after a character from the Lewis Carroll poem, “Jabberwocky,” whose members included soon-to-be Journey stalwarts Ross Valory and George Tickner. Their independently released three-song EP produced a minor underground hit in “Hearts to Cry.”

After leaving Santana, he put together the original Journey line-up in 1973, remaining as manager until 1993. He fully immersed himself in the band’s business, traveling with them as their road manager. A savvy entrepreneur, he established an in-house Nightmare Productions to make the records, pioneering the use of large-scale videos through Nocturne Productions which revolutionized state-of-the-art lighting and sound for the stadiums that bands were now playing, establishing the foundation for today’s live concert industry. An avid San Francisco 49ers fan, he was the first to book rock acts to play halftime shows and had a luxury box right next to owner Eddie DeBartolo’s.

As a seasoned businessman, Herbert parlayed Journey’s real estate holdings into a sizable income. With the band’s art director Jim Welch, Herbert’s creative marketing plan used underground artists Stanley Mouse and Alton Kelly, one-word album titles and expert point-of-purchase branding long before it became standard practice in the music business. A reported personality conflict with lead singer Steve Perry led to Herbert leaving the band in 1993.

In a 2017 interview with San Francisco radio station KQED at the time of Journey’s induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, Herbert didn’t hesitate to comment on the band’s increasing dysfunction, pointing to Schon as the divisive factor Steve Perry once was. “It’s a tragedy,” he said. “It’s all rooted in financial issues, and it’s too bad because it could be the undoing of what is a great business.”

Read more at Variety.

Neal Schon took to social media to pay tribute, stating in part: "I’ll cherish all the incredible times and trials and tribulations we experienced together.
Herbie was an incredible hands on manager and fought like a mother fucker for all of us every step of the way.  I can easily say that without his vision there would have never been many of the innovative things that we shared. I hold the greatest times in my heart forever."