NEWS
Jonathan Mayers, co-founder of events company Superfly Entertainment and co-creator of festivals such as Bonnaroo and Outside Lands has died.
His death was first reported by Billboard – a cause of death has yet to be announced, and the late executive’s age is publicly unknown.
Mayers’ death comes just days ahead of Bonnaroo 2025 in Manchester, Tennessee between June 12 and 15. The festival will feature headliners Tyler, The Creator, Olivia Rodrigo, Hozier and Luke Combs, as well as acts like Dom Dolla, Avril Lavigne, Glass Animals, Vampire Weekend, Justice, Queens of the Stone Age and more.
Jonathan Mayers co-founded Superfly Entertainment with Kerry Black, Rick Farman and Richard Goodstone in 1996, and collaborated with AC Entertainment’s Ashley Capps, agent Chip Hooper and manager Coran Capshaw to launch the Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival in 2022.
Following Bonnaroo’s success, Mayers and Superfly co-founded the Outside Lands Music and Arts festival in 2008 – its first event was headlined by Radiohead, Tom Petty and Jack Johnson. Other headliners over the years included Muse, Neil Young, Phish, Metallica, Paul McCartney, Stevie Wonder, Elton John, Nine Inch Nails, SZA, Kendrick Lamar and Sabrina Carpenter.
This year’s festival – due to take place in August – will be headlined by Doja Cat, Tyler, The Creator and Hozier.
Mayers’ time with Superfly Entertainment came to a bitter end in 2021 after tensions arose between him and other co-founders during the COVID-19 pandemic. He was terminated from his position in the company in August 2021, and in early 2022 filed a lawsuit against the company for breach of contract, fraud for allegedly low-balling his values of shares in the company and more – a judge dismissed the suit in 2023.
In a statement to Billboard, Another Planet Entertainment – who co-founded Outside Lands alongside Mayers and Superfly – said of the late exec: “Jonathan was a bright light, always pushing new and creative ideas in the entertainment space,” they said. “He was a visionary who was integral in the founding and the spirit of Outside Lands. Everyone in the Another Planet family will miss him dearly.”
Peter Shapiro, founder of Dayglo events and the Brooklyn Bowl added: “Jonathan was one of the true real visionaries of the modern concert world and one of the core minds behind Bonnaroo. Modern-day festivals are all in some way built off of his vision.”
Madonna revealed that she saw her late mother "on the other side" while she was in a medically induced coma in 2023.
In a conversation on the On Purpose with Jay Shetty podcast on Monday, the Queen of Pop explained that she was treated in intensive care and remained in a coma for two days after doctors discovered a "serious bacterial infection" that developed after a mild fever.
Thinking back to the health scare, Madonna shared that she experienced a vision of her mother, also named Madonna Ciccone, who lost her life to breast cancer in December 1963.
"I was almost there on the other side, and I had a conscious moment," she said. "My mother appeared to me, and she said, 'Do you want to come with me?' And I said, 'No.'"
She added that her assistant was present in the room and heard her say the word, "No."
"And then, when I did eventually wake up, I realised that the 'no' was about me needing to forgive and make good with people that I still held grudges against," the 67-year-old explained.
One of the long-standing conflicts she chose to release was her troubled relationship with her brother Christopher Ciccone.
The artist passed away from pancreatic cancer at 63 in October 2024.
"For my brother, I didn't speak to him for, you know, for years, years, and years. And it was him being ill (and) reaching out to me and saying, 'I need your help.' And me having that moment like, 'Am I going to help my enemy?' You know, that's how it felt. And I just did," the Ray of Light singer said. "And I ended up (helping) and I felt so relieved. And it was such a load off my back, such a weight that was removed, baggage that I could put down to finally be able to be in a room with him and holding his hand, even if he was dying and saying, 'I love you and I forgive you.' That was really important."
