Jack Calmes

Jack Calmes (October 21, 1943 – January 5, 2015) was an American inventor, sound reinforcement and lighting business executive, and musician.

In 1965, he co-founded Showco, a concert sound and lighting service company. In 1984, Calmes founded Syncrolite, an entertainment/architectural light manufacturer. managed Rock and Roll Hall of Famer Freddie King and multi-platinum rock band Bloodrock, and founded the Forever Fabulous Chickenhawks Showband & All-Revue.

Early life

Calmes was born in Oklahoma City to parents Mary and Charles Calmes. Calmes picked up a love of music from his mother, Mary, who was a piano player and singer. The family relocated to Clinton, Oklahoma, not long after he was born.

Calmes' lifelong fascination with music first showed itself when playing Eddy Arnold songs on the ukulele, before learning guitar at the age of 15. The Calmes family had moved to Dallas' Highland Park neighborhood when he was nine, and he was soon performing professionally at the Dallas Sportatorium.

Calmes attended Highland Park High School, where as a sophomore, he formed his first band, the Jades, in direct competition with classmates Steve Miller and Boz Scaggs. In 1961, Calmes, Miller and Scaggs joined forces to merge their two bands, and, according to Calmes, "played all the proms and got more money."

Miller and Scaggs attended out-of-state colleges after high school graduation, and Calmes remained in Dallas, continuing to perform locally as he attended Southern Methodist University, beginning in 1962.

Among Showco's early coups: a Texas-University of Oklahoma party at Dallas' Market Hall featuring Chuck Berry as the headliner; promoting other concerts by such stars as Bob Dylan, Janis Joplin and the Doors, and a double bill of Ike and Tina Turner and the Righteous Brothers at a Dallas country club that Calmes cited as "the biggest one." Ike and Tina Turner and Jerry Lee Lewis. Calmes would often join the headliners, performing on stage during their sets. Calmes and Wynne sold their interest in Soul City in 1968. The Showco team also joined Atlanta-based Alex Cooley in organizing the Texas International Pop Festival in 1969.

As a technology company, Showco built its own soundboards, developing automated lights that could change colors, and entire systems controllable from one master switchboard.

Syncrolite After resigning from Showco, Calmes founded the Dallas-based Syncrolite, in 1984.

In 1980, Calmes founded the 16-piece soul-blues-R&B group Forever Fabulous Chickenhawks Showband & All-Star Revue, in which he played lead guitar. The Chickenhawks released five albums, including three live albums (1999's Live, 2002's Live from the Gypsy Tea Room and 2007's Louisiana Live) and two studio albums (1999's Chickenhawks and 2004's Deep in the Heart). He wed his third wife, Susie Calmes (née Coniglio), in 1989, and the couple lived in Dallas, where they were partners in Syncrolite.

Jack Calmes died from cancer at home at the age of 71.