Isaac Burton Tigrett (born November 28, 1948, Jackson, Tennessee) is an American businessman, best known as the co-founder of Hard Rock Café and House of Blues.

Early life

Isaac Tigrett belonged to a well-to-do business family and was raised in Jackson, Tennessee until the age of 15. He was a boarding student at

McCallie School The McCallie School is a boys University-preparatory school, college-preparatory school located on Missionary Ridge in Chattanooga, Tennessee, United States. The school was founded in 1905 and now has 250 boarding students in grades 9–12 and 66 ...

in Chattanooga, Tennessee, but was expelled. He then enrolled at Baylor School in Chattanooga, from where he graduated. He is an alumnus of Centre College, which later gave him an honorary degree (in 1997) for promoting African American culture and racial harmony.

Career

On June 14, 1971 he and Peter Morton started the first Hard Rock Café (HRC) restaurant in London's fashionable

Mayfair Mayfair is an affluent area in the West End of London towards the eastern edge of Hyde Park, in the City of Westminster, between Oxford Street, Regent Street, Piccadilly and Park Lane. It is one of the most expensive districts in the world. ...

district. The restaurant combined rock music, memorabilia related to rock 'n' roll and American cuisine. The cafe-music-museum concept became very popular and soon the restaurant opened units in different parts of the globe. HRC was the first theme restaurant chain in the world. Tigrett bought Morton out, and took on the original Cafe in London along with rights to the name in most of the world including the U.S. states East of the Mississippi; Morton had rights to the name in states

West of the Mississippi Trans-Mississippi was a common name of the geographic area west of the Mississippi River during the 19th century. The area included Arkansas, Louisiana, Missouri, Texas, Indian Territory (now Oklahoma), and many other territories. The term "Tr ...

and in Israel,

Colombia Colombia (, ; ), officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country in South America with insular regions in North America—near Nicaragua's Caribbean coast—as well as in the Pacific Ocean. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Car ...

and

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

. Eventually both sold their interests in HRC to the Rank Organisation. In 1992, Tigrett started the House of Blues (HOB) with partner

Dan Aykroyd Daniel Edward Aykroyd ( ; born July 1, 1952) is a Canadian actor, comedian, producer, musician and writer. He was an original member of the "Not Ready for Prime Time Players" on ''Saturday Night Live'' (1975–1979). During his tenure on ''SNL'' ...

. Harvard University was an initial investor in the business and a prototype was opened in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Soon after Disney and Andrew Filipowski invested in the venture. Differences of opinion between Tigrett and the other HOB board members over operations resulted in Tigrett leaving the venture in 1998. In the late 1990s, Tigrett launched The Spirit Channel, an enterprise offering services related to

spirituality The meaning of ''spirituality'' has developed and expanded over time, and various meanings can be found alongside each other. Traditionally, spirituality referred to a religious process of re-formation which "aims to recover the original shape o ...

and health through the Internet, traditional media and physical locations. The venture failed to take off. In 2004, Tigrett launched yet another new venture, the Bozo Project, focusing on the restaurant business. Tigrett was influenced by his guru,

Sathya Sai Baba Sathya Sai Baba (born Ratnakaram Sathyanarayana Raju; 23 November 192624 April 2011) was an Indian guru. At the age of fourteen he claimed that he was the reincarnation of Shirdi Sai Baba, and left his home to serve his devotees. Sai Baba's b ...

. In the BBC documentary ''The Secret Swami'', Tigrett stated that he believed that there was truth to the rumors of Sai Baba's actions of pedophilia and sexual abuse towards some of his young male followers. He also stated that such behavior would not change his belief in Sai Baba.''The Secret Swami'' Transcript
'' BBC'', June 17, 2004 HOB was sold to

Live Nation Live Nation Entertainment, Inc. is an American global entertainment company and monopoly that was founded in 2010 following the merger of Live Nation and Ticketmaster. The company promotes, operates, and manages ticket sales for live entertainme ...

in 2006.

Personal life

In 1989, Tigrett married Maureen Cox Starkey, the ex-wife of

Beatle The Beatles were an English rock band, formed in Liverpool in 1960, that comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are regarded as the most influential band of all time and were integral to the development ...

drummer

Ringo Starr Sir Richard Starkey (born 7 July 1940), known professionally as Ringo Starr, is an English musician, singer, songwriter and actor who achieved international fame as the drummer for the Beatles. Starr occasionally sang lead vocals with the ...

. She died of leukemia in 1994. Their daughter, Augusta King Tigrett, was born January 4, 1987 in Dallas, Texas.

References

External links

Personal page
Personal Page of Isaac Tigrett
Official Bio

Souljourns
- A Talk Given By Isaac Tigrett On Sathya Sai Baba {{DEFAULTSORT:Tigrett, Isaac Living people 1948 births Hard Rock Cafe Centre College alumni American Hindus Converts to Hinduism Followers of Sathya Sai Baba People from Jackson, Tennessee Businesspeople from Seattle