Brett Cantor

Brett Ross Cantor (November 5, 1967 – July 30, 1993) was an American record label executive, concert promoter and nightclub owner.

He was born in New York to Rhonda and Paul Cantor, who managed acts such as B. J. Thomas and Dionne Warwick.

Cantor was born in New York in 1967.

His father Paul, a former William Morris agent who had moved into managing musicians like Dionne Warwick and B. J. Thomas, moved the family to Los Angeles four years later.

In his young adulthood, Brett followed his father and older brothers Cliff and Marc into the music industry.

At Chrysalis Music Group, Cantor worked as an A&R executive, looking for artists to sign and develop.

Cantor left Chrysalis to work, briefly, at the Agency for the Performing Arts.

He then formed his own company called Underground Entertainment, which promoted raves.

Events Underground organized at nightclubs, like Petting Zoo, Sanitarium, After Hours and L.A. Palooza were among the largest concert/dance parties in Los Angeles during that time.

When nightclub owner Steve Edelson converted one of his Frolic Rooms, on Santa Monica Boulevard in Hollywood, into a different club called Dragonfly, Cantor came in as his partner, holding a 10 percent share in the business.

Dragonfly soon became known among the city's clubgoers for its theme nights.

In the early 1970s, he and his family moved to the Los Angeles area.

He also entered the nightclub business, taking a 10 percent stake in Dragonfly, a club known at the time for its 1970s and hip hop theme nights.

At that time he was involved romantically with actress Rose McGowan.

Wednesday nights were part of a series called Superfly, focusing on 1970s music, particularly disco, while Friday night's Riot featured hip hop.

The club was profitable for its owners.

In the early 1990s, he served as an A&R executive for the Chrysalis Music Group.

Cantor left Chrysalis to work briefly as an agent and then a promoter, putting together some of the largest concert and dance events in the city at that time.

Cantor was found dead in his Hollywood home on July 30, 1993; he had been stabbed repeatedly in the upper body.

No suspect has ever been identified and the investigation remains open.

His death was the subject of renewed interest a year later, when, during preliminary motions in the trial of O. J. Simpson for the killings of his former wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and Nicole's friend Ron Goldman, Judge Lance Ito ruled that defense lawyers could have access to the investigatory file in the Cantor case.

The defense had argued that the similarity of the three killings suggested the same person or persons had committed them.

It has also been argued in books on the case that Cantor knew both Goldman and Nicole, and thus they may have been killed over mutual involvement in possibly illegal business activities.

Cantor met actress Rose McGowan at the Dragonfly in the spring of 1993.

Early on the morning of July 30, 1993, Cantor left another nightclub, Club 434.

He is not known to have been seen alive after that.

Later that day, his body was found at his Hollywood home a short distance from Dragonfly.

Cantor had been stabbed 23 times around the head and arms.

His throat had been cut almost to the point of decapitation.

Some accounts also report that he was given a Colombian necktie, his tongue pulled out through an incision in his lower jaw, as well.

The body was found near Cantor's opened front door.

The investigation was moved from the local precinct to the downtown headquarters of the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD), where it continues.

No suspect has ever been identified.

Edelson could not bring himself to enter Dragonfly after Cantor's death, and sold his interest shortly afterwards.

"Being there felt wrong, and it still does today" he told Los Angeles magazine in 2012.

Cliff Cantor took over his brother's share and ran the club afterwards.

Almost a year later, the bodies of Nicole Brown Simpson, former wife of American football player and actor O. J. Simpson, and Ronald Goldman, a waiter, were found dead with similar injuries at Brown's home in Brentwood.

O.J. Simpson was arrested and charged with two counts of murder but later acquitted at trial.

They became romantically involved; in her 2018 autobiography Brave, McGowan credits him with helping her escape an abusive relationship that had led her to develop an eating disorder.

She considered him her soul mate.