A man of many hats, Tony Wilson is best remembered as co-owner of Factory Records, home the one-time home of Joy Division, New Order and OMD. He also owned The Hacienda, which became the epicenter of the Manchester music scene of the late ’80s and early ’90s. Before his foray into music, Wilson was a journalist and BBC television peronaility, most notably hosting So It Goes and After Dark. Suffering from advance stages of renal cancer, Wilson, age 57, died of a heart attack in a Manchester hospital.
Len Dobbin was a much respected journalist who primarily covered Canada’s jazz scene, something he did for over 50 years. Whether covering a jazz festival or performance at an intimate club, Dobbin reported what moved him either in print or on his weekly radio show, Dobbin’s Den. Len Dobbin died in a hospital following a massive stroke while doing what he loved, sitting in a jazz club.
Timothy White was a respected but at times controversial music journalist who started as an AP writer but went on to be editor of the Crawdaddy! the ’70s, senior editor of Rolling Stone in the ’80s, and finally, editor-in-chief of Billboard in the ’90s. He also wrote a handful of popular music biographies, his subjects being the Beach Boys, James Taylor and Bob Marley. ButWhite wasn’t above being written ABOUT as evident by the Eminem lyric, “Let me recite ’til Timothy White, pickets outside the Interscope offices everynight.” Although in apparent good health, White died of a heart attack while riding the elevator at his office on June 27, 2002.
Steven Wells was a British music journalist whose aggressive writings appeared in such magazines as NME. During the late ’70s and early ’80s, he touted the greatness of such punk acts as Black Flag and Butthole Surfers and the Mekons. For a time, Wells was also a stand-up comic, supporting such acts as Gang Of Four and the Fall. In 1992, Wells co-formed a video production company, directing videos for the likes of Manic Street Preachers and Skunk Anansie. Steven Wells died of Hodgkin’s Lymphoma at the age of 48.
Born in Queens, Barry Lederer, started his DJ career while attending college in upstate New York. It was there that began throwing parties, entertaining guests with tapes he made from the radio. Lederer moved back to New York City after college and started hanging out a club called the Firehouse. After complaining to management about the music being played, he was given a shot at putting his money where his mouth was. Before long, he was drawing crowds of as many as 1500 on weekends. He soon became a popular draw at the gay clubs throughout New York’s Fire Island. Lederer also wrote a Disco column in Billboard magazine during the hieght of the era. He passed away of heart disease on May 31, 2008.
William D. Littleford
August 14, 1914 – May 14, 2009
William D. Littleford entered the publishing business in 1934 when he joined the staff of Billboard magazine, which his grandfather founded in 1894. Starting as an apprentice, Littleford became GM in 1943, and then President and CEO in 1958. He stayed in that position until the magazine was sold in the mid ’80s, afterwhich he was appointed Chairman Emeritus. He passed away in his home at the age of 94.
Leslie “Lester” Bangs
December 13, 1948 – April 30, 1982
As a writer for Cream and Rolling Stone magazines, Lester Bangs was a highly influential rock music journalist. Bangs’ first review to be published came in 1969 when he answered a Rolling Stone ad looking for readers’ reviews. He sent in a negative critique of the MC5’sKick Out The Jams, and never looked back. Bangs wrote for the magazine until 1973 when he was fired for allegedly being too critical and disrespectful toward the musicians he wrote about. Bangs relocated to Detroit where he edited and wrote for Cream. It was Cream that Bangs began to build his reputation as a brilliant if not confrontational music journalist. In the ensuing years, he contributed to Playboy, the Village Voice and NME. Bangs died of an accidental overdose at the age of 33. Drugs he had been taking to treat a cold adversely interacted with each other.
Richard “Rickey” Wright
1964(?) – February 19, 2009
Richard “Rickey” Wright’s love affair with music began very early. As a toddler, he never tired of dancing to “She Loves You” by the Beatles, gleefully echoing “yeah, yeah, yeah” as he swung in his teenage aunt’s arms. He treasured his first album, a Rolling Stones record purchased for him by his grandmother when he was 12. By then, Mr. Wright’s future appeared all but preordained: clerking in record stores; studying music and journalism at Virginia Commonwealth University; reviewing music for the Virginian-Pilot, Seattle Weekly and other newspapers; serving as one of the earliest music editors at Amazon.com; and becoming a one-man compendium on music of all genres. “Music just grew into a passion for him, and it never dissipated,” said Deborah Ebel, who, as a besotted Beatles fan, spent hours by the turntable as she baby-sat her nephew. Mr. Wright, 45, died Thursday at Swedish Medical Center of a stroke. On Feb. 11, he had walked to his doctor’s office on Capitol Hill with headaches and other symptoms and was admitted to Swedish Cherry Hill, where doctors diagnosed a stroke and warned that another was likely. He underwent stent surgery two days later, but he went into a coma shortly after and did not regain consciousness. Like all good critics, Mr. Wright had wide and eclectic tastes, his boundless musical knowledge matched only by his enthusiasm for sharing it. “If he met you, he might ask, ‘What are you listening to?’ ” said Jill Passmore, Mr. Wright’s former longtime girlfriend, who remained a close friend. “Then he’ll say, ‘Oh, I know that (song).’ And you can have a conversation. “He liked everything. But he was discriminating,” she added. Anne Hurley, a former DVD editor at Amazon.com, worked there with Mr. Wright in the late 1990s, when the company relied much more heavily on in-house critics than on customer reviews. She admired Mr. Wright’s ability to appreciate tastes that differed from his own. “He would say, ‘You gotta tell me why you love Natalie Merchant so much,’ ” Hurley said. “And when I explained, he would say, ‘I get that.’ “ Michaelangelo Matos, the former music editor at Seattle Weekly, said Mr. Wright had a gift for connecting with people. “He could talk to anybody about anything. He seemed to enjoy himself in any number of situations,” Matos said. “He was just a sweet, sweet person.” Another friend, Peter Hilgendorf, of Seattle, said Mr. Wright dispensed impeccable recommendations. One of those led Hilgendorf to discover a power pop band from Chapel Hill, N.C., called the Mayflies, whose music he enjoyed so much that Hilgendorf once let band members stay in his home after a show. In Mr. Wright’s final posting on his Facebook page — on the day of his visit to the doctor — he listed his 12 favorite Beatles cover songs. Topping the list were two versions of “I Want to Hold Your Hand” — one by Al Green and one by Lakeside. “The fact that he chose ‘I Want to Hold Your Hand’ two times in the list makes me break down,” Hilgendorf said. “It’s a song you’re supposed to outgrow and forget.” – Kyung Song (Seattle Times)
Adrian Bromley
November 30, 1971 – December 7, 2008
The Toronto metal community is in mourning today after one of its most active and vocal supporters passed away Sunday morning. Adrian Bromley was a long-time music journalist whose writing appeared regularly in Chart, M.E.A.T. and Unrestrained! magazines, and online at Chronicles of Chaos and Canoe.ca, and more recently he worked as a publicist for heavy-music hotbed The End Records, among many other metal-advocacy initiatives. According to a Facebook post from his brother, Bromley died from a lingering bout of pneumonia. He had just turned 37 last week. – eyeweekly.com
A man of many hats, Tony Wilson is best remembered as co-owner of Factory Records, home the one-time home of Joy Division, New Order and OMD. He also owned The Hacienda, which became the epicenter of the Manchester music scene of the late ’80s and early ’90s. Before his foray into music, Wilson was a journalist and BBC television peronaility, most notably hosting So It Goes and After Dark. Suffering from advance stages of renal cancer, Wilson, age 57, died of a heart attack in a Manchester hospital.
Timothy White was a respected but at times controversial music journalist who started as an AP writer but went on to be editor of the Crawdaddy! the ’70s, senior editor of Rolling Stone in the ’80s, and finally, editor-in-chief of Billboard in the ’90s. He also wrote a handful of popular music biographies, his subjects being the Beach Boys, James Taylor and 
