Susie Tennant, a longtime member of Seattle's music community, a promotions and marketing legend, and an early supporter of Nirvana, Sonic Youth and others, died of early-onset dementia. She was 61 years old.
News of Tennant's death was confirmed by the Friends of Susie Tennant Page Facebook page on Friday, with a post saying she was “calm and at peace” and “surrounded by family and love.” For several years, Tennant had suffered from various ailments; her first ovarian cancer, which she was in remission for the last few years of her life (although she suffered from “chemo brain” as a result of the treatment); and then frontotemporal degeneration, a type of dementia.
Throughout her career, Tennant made waves (and ultimately impacted world music history) as a champion of Seattle's music scene. As Nirvana's then-rising publicist, she advocated for the band, won them opportunities and even organized the 1991 album release party for It doesn't matter.
As Dave Grohl and Krist Novoselic remembered Charles R. Cross for his tribute to Tennant in The Seattle Timeshe It doesn't matter The release party went a bit awry when the band started a food fight and were kicked out of the venue. However, Tennant kept her calm. “Susie laughed,” Grohl and Novoselic said, explaining that the group simply moved into Tennant's house. “We loved Susie very much and she will be missed.”
Beyond her work with Nirvana, Tennant is remembered for her time in promotions and marketing for DGC Records (a division of Geffen Records), as well as for groups such as: Sub Pop, Experience Music Project (later MoPOP), Tower Records, BMG. , University Bookstore, M3 Marketing and City Hall.
Additionally, Tennant helped bands like Sonic Youth, Beck, Hole, Weezer and many others. For a time, she was even roommates with Fastbacks' Kim Warnick, who was quoted in The Seattle Times saying, “There was no one in Seattle music who was as loved or respected as Susie… She was the unsung hero of Seattle music and brought that same love to everything and everyone. “She was the glue that held Seattle together.”
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