James Rado, Tony-Winning Co-Creator of Hair, Dies at 90

James Rado, the Tony and Grammy-winning co-creator of the fan-favorite musical Hair, died peacefully on June 21 in New York City surrounded by his family; the cause was cardio respiratory arrest. He was 90. 

Born an Aquarius in Venice, CA on January 23, 1932, Rado grew up in Rochester, New York and Washington, DC. After attending the University of Maryland and the Catholic University of America, Rado served in the U.S. Navy for two years from 1954-1956. In the early '60s, he moved to New York City and formed a singing group, James and the Argyles. They performed together until Rado made his Broadway break in 1963's Marathon '33 starring Julie Harris.

Rado soon met fellow actor Gerome Ragni and the two became fast friends and bonded over wanting to create a Broadway musical, which is how Hair began. Ragni and Rando co-wrote the book and lyrics with Galt MacDermot on board to compose music. While working on the new musical, Rado appeared on Broadway 1966's The Lion in Winter starring Robert Preston, Rosemary Harris and Christopher Walken. 

After a chance encounter with producer Joseph Papp, who established The Public Theater, Hair had its first performance at Papp's newly-founded New York Shakespeare Festival/Public Theater in October 1967. The production was a hit and quickly moved to Broadway in 1968 starring Rado and Ragni as Claude and Berger, respectively. The original production earned two Tony nominations, including Best Musical. 
 
A starry revival of Hair was presented by the Public Theater in Central Park in the summer of 2008, directed by Diana Paulus under the guidance of Rado. The production moved to Broadway in 2009 and won the Tony Award for Best Revival of a Musical. In 2009, Rado was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame, and in 2019, the original 1968 Broadway cast recording of Hair was inducted into the National Recording Registry of the Library of Congress.

Rado went on to have two more Broadway writing credits thanks to his songs appearing in Matters of the Heart (2000) and Summer (2018).

Rado remained active supervising various productions of Hair around the world. He had been working on two new pieces, American Rainbow and Sun, until his death.

He is survived by his brother Ted Rado, sister-in-law Kay Rado, nieces Melanie Khoury, Emily DiBona, Melissa Stuart, great nieces, a great nephew and his devoted Hair tribe around the world.

A celebration of his life will be announced at a later date.