Epic Production Technologies, along with the entertainment lighting world, lost a consummate professional and great friend with the sudden passing of industry veteran Craig Redden, who died of an apparent massive heart attack on November 20 while in Los Angeles.
Redden was born on February 6, 1956 in Sudbury, Ontario and moved to Winnipeg in 1976 to study psychology and pursue a career in psychiatric patient care. Among the new friends he met in his adopted home were members of a local band who enlisted him to help out with sound and lights for an upcoming gig. In the summer of 1978 he stopped into a newly opened equipment rental shop called Westsun Media and formed an immediate friendship with the company’s founder Marc Raymond, who later invited him to join the company full time.
After years of learning, touring, and teching every kind of event in North America including the Calgary Winter Olympics Closing Ceremonies, Redden took on a well-earned management role at what had now become Westsun International, ultimately leading to a move to Toronto and the position of senior account manager.
In 2002, Redden rejoined Raymond in Winnipeg at the newly formed Q1 Production Technologies as vice president for rentals, where he focused on US and International business growth as well as overseeing major tour and event projects. He took a special interest in the growth of the annual dual-coast Trans-Siberian Orchestra (TSO) tours, working closely with the management and artists behind TSO to help create the extravagant lighting and production that became an entertainment phenomenon.
A genuine "people person," Redden turned many of his clients into longtime friends and nowhere was this more evident than in his relationships with the entire TSO team. In a recent newspaper interview TSO founder Paul O’Neill said, “I consider Craig as much a member of the band as any lead singer or myself." Redden in turn considered his involvement with TSO to be one of his greatest personal and career achievements.
He was excited about the recent formation of Epic Production Technologies through the merger of Q1 and Ed & Ted’s Excellent Lighting, and had taken the new title of vice president of concert touring. He was in the midst of working with the Epic management team in strategic planning for the company’s future and was contemplating a move to Southern California with his wife Judith Williams-Redden and their two children, fourteen-year-old son Terrell and four-year-old daughter Chelsea, who were all with him in Los Angeles at the time of his passing. Redden is also survived by his sisters Linda, Sandra, and Beverly, his brother Rick, and all of their respective families.
Epic Chairman & CEO Marc Raymond issued the following statement about his long-time friend and collaborator: “For all of us who knew and worked with Craig, we have lost a tireless colleague and a great friend with a dry wit and boisterous personality. For me personally, I have lost someone who has not only been a close friend for over thirty years, but a man who has been my source of inspiration in more ways than he ever knew. With his eternal optimism and unwavering loyalty, he has been a cornerstone of the personal and professional successes of so many of the people whose lives he touched. We have been uplifted by the incredible outpouring of sympathy and support from Craig’s friends and colleagues around the world, and can only hope that in his lifetime he knew how very much loved and admired he was.”
A private family funeral is scheduled for the morning of December 8, with a memorial service celebrating Redden’s life to follow later that evening at Winnipeg’s Burton Cummings Theatre. Cards or flowers can be sent to the family at their home address:
Judith Redden
Terrell and Chelsea Redden
304 Rouge Road
Winnipeg Manitoba
Canada R3K 1K2
Details and information about donations are available on a special tribute page posted on the Epic Production Technologies website www.epicpt.com.