David Gest

Producer and television personality David Gest enjoyed considerable success for his music specials in New York and the United Kingdom, as well as lasting and at times uncomfortable notoriety for his short-lived marriage to Liza Minnelli and appearances on various reality series. Born David Alan Gest on May 11, 1953 in Los Angeles, California, he was raised in the San Fernando Valley suburb of Encino, where he befriended Michael Jackson and his brother, singer Tito Jackson. By his own account, Gest's childhood was not unlike that of his more famous friend: both men suffered physical abuse at the hands of their fathers, and found solace in the music industry. Though Gest had aspirations of becoming a singer, his path into the business was as a publicist, primarily for London Records' office in New York City. He launched his own publicity firm, Gest and Associates, which counted soul legend Al Green, Burt Bacharach and childhood friend Michael McDonald among its clients. After selling the firm in 1980, Gest produced the American Cinema Awards, a series of charity dinners to benefit performers in financial need, and other live stage events. In 2001, he produced a pair of concert events celebrating Michael Jackson's 30th year as a solo performer; the shows, which featured the last on-stage performance with Jackson and his brothers, was a massive financial success, and a 2001 televised special that featured performances from both shows topped ratings for CBS. But Gest's accomplishments as a producer were largely overshadowed by his presence in the tabloids after his 2002 marriage to performer Liza Minnelli. The couple separated after just 18 months amidst a flurry of accusations of physical violence and financial mishandling. Gest soon became a staple of reality television series in the United Kingdom, most notably in the third season of "I'm a Celebrity Get Me Out of Here!" (ITV, 2002- ). His popularity on that program led to additional television work, including his own reality series, "This is David Gest" (ITV, 2007), which quickly fizzled, but he rebounded as the producer of several high-profile music tours built around nostalgic favorites like Sir Cliff Richard, Righteous Brother Bill Medley and soul singers like Peabo Bryson and Freda Payne. The tours, which ran between 2014 and 2015, were hugely successful, and helped to reframe Gest's reputation as a minor celebrity and tabloid fodder. In 2016, Gest appeared in the 17th season of "Celebrity Big Brother" (Channel 4/BBC 1/Channel 5, 2001- ), but left the program after 13 days for medical reasons. He was later found dead in his room at the Four Seasons Hotel in East London on April 12, 2016.