Patty Fantasia | Meet Jeff Grinstein | Event Producer | Las Vegas

Meet Jeff Grinstein

Event Producer Jeff Grinstein is used to working in cities that don’t sleep.

Hailing from New York, in March 2009 he came to Las Vegas to work for the Justice Entertainment Group on the production for the T.I. and Friends Concert at The Thomas and Mack Center and during the next six months commuted between Los Angeles and Las Vegas so frequently that in September 2009, he decided to relocate permanently to Las Vegas.

Jeff Grinstein Entertainment then became a Nevada company and Jeff continued his successful career as an Event Producer.  One of his most ambitious projects to date was producing the Lane Bryant Fashion Show at Planet Hollywood in February 2011, which was the first major event like this that brand had launched in years.  The extravaganza featured the world’s most successful plus-sized models debuting dozens of ensembles ranging from trendy ready-to-wear outfits to sensual lingerie and sparkling evening wear.  Lane Bryant Executive Robert Vega commented, “Jeff did a great job for us handling all the changes that came up.  He was a very energetic fellow putting the show together.  We received lots of positive reinforcement and he got us what we wanted.  It was a lot of fun working on the fashion show.”  Jeff is currently in the process of planning more fashion related events in the future that may include other major cities in addition to Las Vegas.  You can tell by being around him that he just loves what he is doing, and that the entertainment business was a natural fit so it came as no surprise to discover that he was hooked from the moment he was introduced to it.

“It all started with the Bay City Rollers. One night I saw them on “The Howard Cosell Show”, live from Edinburgh, Scotland and the next weekend I went to the Ed Sullivan Theater in New York City to see them live. It was there that I met Sid Bernstein, the man who presented the BEATLES at Shea Stadium and who was the US manager of the Bay City Rollers.  That man changed my life forever.”

Jeff's friendship with Sid started out when Bernstein hired Jeff to help him with the Bay City Rollers fan club. Later, when Sid became the exclusive concert promoter for Radio City Music Hall Jeff went to work with him as the assistant production manager in charge of handling the stars dressing rooms.

There he worked with such talents as Al Green, Marvin Gaye, Sammy Davis Jr., Dizzy Gillespie, Sara Vaughn, Stan Getz, Luther Vandross, Frankie Valli & The Four Seasons, Linda Ronstadt, Barry White, David Soul, David Brenner and Jethro Tull. After that Sid called on Jeff to do production at The Copa Cabanna, Nassau Coliseum and the War Memorial Coliseum in Syracuse.

However, it was back at Radio City Music Hall where Sid introduced Jeff to a very young unknown girl supporting herself as a waitress.  The singer went on to become 80’s music sensation Laura Branigan, who is remembered for several hits including “Gloria” and “Self Control”.  As Laura’s star began to rise the friendship between the two grew and Jeff continued to work with her until 1985.

Over the years, Grinstein has acted as a road manager, tour manager, personal assistant and personal manager and also arranged tours for various entertainers in numerous countries including: Austria, Canada, London, Ireland, Switzerland, Holland, Germany, Norway, China, France, Japan, Chile and Sweden.  

In 1986 he became assistant production manager for Ron Delsener, the #1 concert promoter in New York City.  At Madison Square Garden he presented such artists as Kenny G., Tina Turner, David Bowie, Pink Floyd, Whitney Houston and Motley Crew.  He also acted as assistant production manager at the 80,000 seat Giant stadium in New Jersey when the venue was used for the Madonna concert.  

Moving to Los Angeles in 1990 he became the road manager for SIN-DROME records recording artist Bobby Caldwell during his 1990 & 1991 USA tour and sold-out Japanese tour before launching his own company Jeff Grinstein Management in 1993.  In addition to continuing his work in the music industry and acting as the Exclusive World Wide Manager for The Jazz Crusaders, Grinstein also became involved with television.  He created, acted in and served as co-executive producer of the cable show “FYI”, which was dedicated to helping find missing children and educating parents on how to prevent this from happening to them.  Each week the parent of a missing child appeared on the show to tell their story and then a prevention segment followed.  After the episode aired incoming calls were from viewers were directed to The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children in Washington, DC.  The show was responsible for reuniting three children with their father as well as being instrumental in locating another 15 youngsters and gathering data that led to the arrest of over 30 criminals committing crimes against children. One of the “What If” segments on the show focused on how to select babysitters and triggered over 50,000 phone calls.

Since then Jeff has turned his attention to creating other types of show stopping events as well.  In April 2011 he produced the Hands of Comfort Foundation’s “Taking Off the Mask” Gala and Masquerade Ball” benefitting trauma survivors.  This time he utilized the Rumors Boutique Hotel as a venue putting together an evening of music, art, food, entertainment and a fashion show in order to create a memorable and unique fundraiser.  Last August he focused his production skills and expertise managing the Red Carpet and awards ceremony during the Vegas Cine Fest Film Festival at the Tropicana Las Vegas Resort and Casino.

Currently, Grinstein’s in charge of producing the Holiday Doo-Wop Extravaganza for LAR Enterprises at the hotel in The Tropicana Theatre on December 3, 2011 at 6:00pm.  The show features the number one Doo-wop Group in the Country, Kenny Vance & The Planotones. Kenny may be remembered for forming the successful group Jay and the Americans, who had the distinction of opening for both The Beatles and The Rolling Stones during each of their first U.S. performances.  Joining Vance this time will be The Crystals and Diamond Dave Somerville.  The Crystals were still in high school when they were discovered by Phil Spector and they made such successful Top Ten records as “Uptown”, “He’s a Rebel”, “Da Doo Ron Ron” and “Then He Kissed Me”.  Two of the top 50 of the most popular records in the Rock ‘n Roll Hall of Fame belong to The Crystals, who have now scaled down from five members to three.  As for Diamond Dave Somerville, he was the original lead singer of The Diamonds and is probably best remembered for the classic song “Little Darlin”.  The Event has also reunited him with another close friend and mentor from the old days, Wally Roker, one of the original members of the premier harmony group The Heartbeats. Throughout the years Roker has watched Jeff’s career grow and flourish since their initial meeting in New York and remarked, “He has done things that nobody else will do to make things happen.  He aims to please and he’s there for them.  He knows nothing is nothing unless it can be finished and he is a finisher. We battled all the way for 35 years.  He was a determined person when he was young.  He’s like a miracle man,”

For Grinstein the new show is a return to his musical roots, but he’s also pleased to be working on different types of events including corporate affairs, more charity fundraisers and other entertainment related shows that keep him challenged and invigorated.  In accordance with this course of action his firm Jeff Grinstein Entertainment recently joined the Chamber of Commerce during their 100th anniversary celebration and in true Grinstein style he enjoyed attending the kickoff down on Freemont Street and celebratory party at The Palms Hotel.  It’s all part of his master plan to be first and foremost in the minds of anyone planning a major event in the city of Las Vegas and as Wally Roker explained knowing how to make things known that need to become known.  Jeff can be reached at Jeff Grinstein Entertainment at 702-818-4347 or via email at  HYPERLINK "mailto:This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it." This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..