John Jeter

John Jeter died on 9 November 2026 after a period of declining health, at the age of 66. His death was reported by The Greenville News and FOX Carolina. Michael Grozier, who visited him in his final days, said that while Jeter was physically battling health issues his spirit was still strong. He is survived by his wife, Kathy.

John Jeter earned a master's degree from Columbia University's Graduate School of Journalism in New York. His first newspaper job, in 1981 at the age of about 21, was on the overnight copy desk of the San Antonio Express-News, where he later worked as a features reporter. He then joined the Chicago Sun-Times as a rewrite man, reporter and assistant city editor, becoming one of the youngest assistant city editors in the paper's history, before moving to the St. Petersburg Times in Florida. He spent around ten years in newspapers in all.

In 1994 Jeter, his wife Kathy Laughlin and his brother Stephen opened The Handlebar in a largely empty cotton mill in Greenville, South Carolina, now Mills Mill. In 2001 the club moved to East Stone Avenue, where its mural of a mustachioed guitar player became an icon. As the venue's talent buyer, Jeter booked more than 3,000 shows over twenty years, giving early stages to artists including Edwin McCain, John Mayer, Zac Brown Band, Sugarland, Brandi Carlile, Jason Isbell and Rhiannon Giddens, and presenting performers such as Joan Baez. The Handlebar closed in 2014 after Handlebar Enterprises filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.

Jeter was also a writer. His novel The Plunder Room was published by St. Martin's Press in 2009, and his memoir of running the club, Rockin' a Hard Place, by Hub City Press in 2012. A television pilot based on the book was produced in 2013. He co-wrote the thriller The Lucifer Genome, wrote plays, taught music business and music entrepreneurship as an adjunct professor, and in later years worked as a branding consultant and memoir ghostwriter.

Jeter was married to Kathy Laughlin, a former newspaper colleague who ran The Handlebar day to day while he booked the acts. His younger brother Stephen donated a kidney that saved his life, and side effects of the medication that followed caused severe hip problems that led to a hip replacement while he lived in Florida.

Jeter is credited with helping to put Greenville on the map as a destination for touring musicians and their fans. He said in 2022 that The Handlebar had really created the city's music scene. Longtime friend Marty Elliott said his generosity made every visitor feel special, and Grozier has commissioned a stained glass work honouring Jeter and the artists he brought to town for the Trueline venue.