Faris Bouhafa was my manager during the most significant part of my career, as well as one of my best friends. I grew to really love him over the decades, as the number of people I called my true friends dwindled down to the count of a couple of fingers on one hand.
He was a fiercely intelligent, impetuous man, as well as a great lover of music and the beautiful things in life that many people don't take the time to appreciate. He was a fine cook and one my favorite people to share an evening's feast with. He was deeply passionate and concerned about the world we live in. If you needed 1,000 people in a room for an event by tomorrow, Faris was the man who could do that.
He was loved by many, and had just celebrated his 60th birthday with some of his closest friends by his side. I am very lucky to have been one of them.
Never will there be another soul in my life who will love my music more. He made me feel very important as an artist even when others had long forgotten and given up on me. He spoiled me for any other manager, and the ones that I had after him just never got me or what I was trying to do.
Please visit bouhafa.com, a tribute to this remarkable man, and read about his many accomplishments. It is a Web site originally set up by one of his best friends for his birthday, which he had been looking forward to working on himself.
Rest in peace, dear Faris, and I will be sure and turn up the volume for you the next time I play.