Jim Bornhorst to Receive Parnelli Visionary Award
Pioneered moving lights with development of the VL lights

LAS VEGAS—The Parnelli Awards Board of Directors announces that Jim Bornhorst will receive the Parnelli Visionary Award honoring his influential career in the live entertainment industry. From his early days with Showco in the 1970s, to being on the ground floor of the formation of Vari*Lite, he’s applied his scientific aptitude to innovations that have left an indelible mark on the history of the live event industry.

“If I had to point to a single event that made the biggest impact in the live event production industry, it would have to be the development of the Vari*Lite VL0,” says PLSN editor Richard Cadena. “There is no one who is more deserving of this honor than Jim Bornhorst. As the leader of the project development group that invented the very first commercially available automated light, he helped move the industry forward in a giant step.”

The VL0 was the prototype of the VL1, which was the first working automated variable-color lighting system. Showco used the development to spin off a separate company called Vari*Lite and produced 55 VL1s for the groundbreaking Genesis “Abacab” tour of 1981. Bornhorst was part of every other generation of VLs and related products, and most recently he was a key developer of PRG’s Bad Boy.

Bornhorst was born in 1945 in Salt Lake City, where his father, an Air Force officer, was stationed. Early years were spent in Germany and England, and in 1954 the family was transferred to the Pentagon. From there they moved to Waco, Texas, where Bornhorst completed high school.

“I was always into the sciences, mostly electronics, and photography,” Bornhorst says of his early years. “I was always working in a darkroom, working with light, and liked the scientific aspect of it.” In 1971 he graduated with a BS in electrical engineering from what is now Texas A&M University, and ended up working for a new company called Showco. At first he was a “roadie’s roadie,” driving trucks and setting up for Three Dog Night and then Alice Cooper. In 1973, with Showco founder Rusty Brutsché, he built his first major audio console, the Superboard.

“We’re excited to honor Jim at this year’s Parnellis with a Visionary Award,” says Terry Lowe, Parnelli Awards executive producer and publisher of live event magazines PLSN and FOH. “He’s a leader and an innovator, and one of the most respected professionals in the business. We look forward to thanking him for all he’s done and continues to do.”

“This is a wonderful industry with great people, and I’m honored to receive this Parnelli,” says Bornhorst, though he adds: “I have been blessed with recognition, but know that these things were hardly a solo effort on my part, and two others, Tom Walsh and John Covington, have been in development with me.”

Bornhorst will receive his Parnelli Award at a gala dinner on October 22 in Las Vegas.