Jake Berry to Receive Parnelli Lifetime Achievement Award
Production Manager for U2, the Rolling Stones, AC/DC, Madonna will receive the “Oscar® of Live Production’s” highest honor

LAS VEGAS —The Parnelli Awards Board of Directors announces that Jake Berry will receive this year’s Parnelli Lifetime Achievement Award honoring an astonishing career in the live entertainment industry. Currently production manager for U2, the venerable professional will be honored for his work and contributions at an awards ceremony in Orlando on Nov. 20, 2009.

“He is a credit to the industry, and to all who have the pleasure of knowing him, including me,” says Yes keyboardist Rick Wakeman, who hired Berry as a roadie in the mid-1970s (Berry later worked with Yes, too). “After a few years of working with me, Jake moved on to AC/DC and then continued to climb the ladder of success. No one could be more proud of what he achieved than me.”

Berry’s resourcefulness is legendary. Tour manager Ian Jeffery tells of an AC/DC gig that was scheduled to go down in an outdoor arena in Phoenix, but torrential rains had created a pool of water in front of the stage. There was talk of canceling the gig, but Berry strapped all the equipment on stage and hired a helicopter. In logic that exists only in Berry’s mind, the idea was that the helicopter would hover down close and the blade’s wind force would push the water down the sides of the stage. It worked, and the gig went on.

Berry was born in 1953 in the village of Exeter, Devon, U.K. As a young man, he drove trucks. One day his brother, who was thatching rock legend Wakeman’s roof, asked him to bring some things to Wakeman’s house. “Rick invited me to join him for a quick pint at the pub, which lead to an evening of drinking, and then a job offer,” Berry says. “I first met Jake in 1974 when I moved to Devon to try to cut back on my drinking,” jokes Wakeman. “Jake was a tremendous help and played an enormous part in increasing my alcoholic intake by about 300 percent.

Berry jumped from Wakeman’s roadie to production manager for AC/DC when they were first starting to break out. His tenacity, work ethic and ability to get along positioned him as king of the heavy metal bands during the 1980s. He would also work for Ronnie James Dio (the only person to ever fire him), Metallica, and Motley Crüe, among others. Beginning in the 1990s, he would work for Cher, Tina Turner, and Janet Jackson.

In 1993 he began a stint with the Rolling Stones, becoming an integral part of some of their most successful tours. In 2002 the Stones again summoned him for the Forty Licks tour. While preparing for a show in Munich, Berry was informed that Mick Jagger wanted to see him in his dressing room. It was a sobering request, as Berry has learned through experience: If one is summoned to a rock star’s dressing room it is not to have lavish praise heaped upon oneself.

Jagger ushered Berry into another room backstage. When Berry got there, a party was in full swing — for him, to celebrate his 50th birthday. Across the room, he did a double-take after seeing his mom, brought in by limo, sitting between Keith Richards and Ronnie Wood.

From there, he went to work for U2, and is currently preparing for their next tour. In what time there has been in between these huge gigs, he’s never hesitated to bring his rock ‘n’ roll skills to any act, including shows acts such as Barney, Bob The Builder, and the Wiggles. Probably his “biggest family show” act has been the touring mega-hit Walking with Dinosaurs, where he was a key player in figuring out how to transport more than a dozen life-size dinosaurs around the world. Of that show, he quipped: “There are less egos but more luggage.”

“When I got my start as AC/DC’s manager, I was told to hire Jake Berry as our production manager,” Peter Mench says. “I count that as among the smartest decisions I have ever made. Culminating with a couple of Metallica tours, Jake did an amazing job. Clearly, now he is at the top of his game with U2.”

Famed LD Willie Williams, who has worked with Berry on U2 tours, says, “He’s unafraid of a challenge, responsibility, Very Big Things, or very large numbers of trucks. He’s unafraid of a tight schedule, management, promoters, agents, or Live Nation. He’s unafraid of rock stars, lighting designers, set designers, video directors, or sound engineers. He’s unafraid of dinosaurs, be they large and life-like or purple and fluffy. Can he build it? Yes he can!”

“When you receive something like this, it’s humbling,” says Berry. “At the end of the day, when you work in a field for 35 years and you get [a Parnelli], it’s your platinum album. It’s like winning Wimbledon or the Super Bowl, and I’m thankful to be receiving it.”

“Jake Berry has set the gold standard for professionalism in the live event industry,” declares Terry Lowe, Parnelli Awards executive producer and publisher of live event magazines PLSN and FOH. “He’s had a backstage pass to rock ‘n’ roll history, has been a key component of some of the greatest rock ‘n’ roll shows of all time, and is a genuine, funny, and good human being. We are delighted to honor him with our industry’s highest award.”

Berry will receive his Parnelli Award at a gala dinner on Nov. 20 in Orlando.