WINNIPEG, Canada — Epic Production Technologies announced that Craig Redden, vice president concert touring, died of an apparent massive heart attack Nov. 20 while in Los Angeles.
Redden was born Feb. 6, 1956 in Sudbury, Ontario and moved to Winnipeg in 1976 to study psychology and pursue a career in psychiatric patient care. Among the new friends he met in his adopted home were members of a local band who enlisted him to help out with sound and lights for an upcoming gig.
In the summer of 1978 he stopped into a newly opened equipment rental shop called Westsun Media and formed an immediate friendship with the company’s founder Marc Raymond, who later invited him to join the company full-time. After years of learning, touring and teching every kind of event in North America including the Calgary Winter Olympics Closing Ceremonies, Redden took on a management role at what had now become Westsun International, ultimately leading to a move to Toronto and the position of Senior Account Manager.
In 2002 Redden rejoined Raymond in Winnipeg at newly formed Q1 Production Technologies as vice president rentals where he focused on U.S. and international business growth. He also oversaw major tour and event projects. He took a special interest in the growth of the annual dual-coast Trans-Siberian Orchestra (TSO) tours, working closely with the management and artists behind TSO to help create the extravagant lighting and production.
Called “a genuine ‘people person,’” Redden was known for turning many of his clients into long-time friends. In a recent newspaper interview, TSO founder Paul O’Neill said, “I consider Craig as much a member of the band as any lead singer or myself.” Redden, in turn, told associates that his involvement with TSO was one of his greatest personal and career achievements.
With the recent formation of Epic Production Technologies through the merger of Q1 and Ed & Ted’s Excellent Lighting, Redden had taken the new title of vice president concert touring. He was in the midst of working with the Epic management team in strategic planning for the company’s future and was contemplating a move to Southern California with his wife, Judith Williams-Redden, and their two children, Terrell and Chelsea. Redden’s family was with him in Los Angeles at the time of his passing. He is also survived by his sisters Linda, Sandra and Beverly and his brother Rick and their families.
Epic Chairman & CEO Marc Raymond issued the following statement about his longtime friend and collaborator: “For all of us who knew and worked with Craig, we have lost a tireless colleague and a great friend with a dry wit and boisterous personality. For me personally, I have lost someone who has not only been a close friend for over 30 years, but a man who has been my source of inspiration in more ways than he ever knew. With his eternal optimism and unwavering loyalty, he has been a cornerstone of the personal and professional successes of so many of the people whose lives he touched. We have been uplifted by the incredible outpouring of sympathy and support from Craig’s friends and colleagues around the world, and can only hope that in his lifetime he knew how very much loved and admired he was.”
A private family funeral is scheduled for the morning of Dec. 8 with a memorial service celebrating Craig’s life planned for later that evening at Winnipeg’s Burton Cummings Theatre.
Details are available on a special tribute page posted on the Epic Production Technologies Web site at www.epicpt.com.
