Born in February 4, 1936 at Montreux (Switzerland) and deceased in January 10, 2013 at Lausanne, Claude Nobs was the Swiss founder and general manager of the Montreux Jazz Festival since 1967. He became also in 1973 the director of the Warner/Elektra/Atlantic Corporation's Swiss agency until his death.
Claude Nobs has been famous for being popularized in the song “Smoke On The Water” in the album Deep Purple - Machine Head: « Funky Claude was running in and out, pulling kids out the ground », which tells the true story of a fire that blazed on the afternoon of December 4, 1971 at the Casino de Montreux where the group was scheduled to record shortly after The Mothers' performance.