David Farrell, Pioneering Canadian Music Journalist at Billboard and The Record, Dies at 73

David Farrell, an award-winning and groundbreaking Canadian music trade journalist and publisher, died on Dec. 19. He was 73 and had spent the last year as an editor at Billboard Canada.

Farrell had a long and influential career in music media. After contributing as a journalist and editor to a variety of publications in Canada and the United States, in the early 1980s he co-founded The Record. It became a crucial trade voice for the music industry in Canada over the next two decades. Shortly after founding The Record, Farrell and his collaborators launched The Record Conference, an annual gathering of the music industry that later became Canadian Music Week.

The Record also established the first authoritative Canadian music charts, which were also published in the Hits of the World section of Billboard. Farrell served as a Canadian editor for Billboard in the late 1970s and maintained a relationship with the magazine, a role that would come full circle decades later. In 2008, Farrell founded FYI Music News, a trade newsletter supported by Farrell’s longtime friend and benefactor, music industry mogul Gary Slaight. 

FYI was acquired by Billboard Canada in 2023, preserving its archives in a new home. Farrell stayed on as an editor, returning to Billboard after nearly 50 years.

“Known for his bold voice, keen insight and unrelenting dedication to storytelling, David brought authenticity and heart to every piece he wrote,” says Billboard Canada president Mo Ghoneim. “His work and influence have left an enduring legacy in Canadian media, touching the lives of many and shaping the industry he loved so deeply. David first joined Billboard as Music Editor in 1977, and we were fortunate to welcome him back in 2023 as part of the Billboard Canada family. Our thoughts are with his family, friends, and all who had the privilege to know him.”

Farrell’s last byline appeared Nov. 6 on a comprehensive profile of veteran record industry executive Jeff Burns, a piece he diligently completed with Nick Krewen following his diagnosis. “David was always the kind of person that would make time to hear what you had to say, whether he used it or not,” said Burns in tribute. “When he was editor of FYI, I often wondered how he did it every week when he was receiving so many emails, phone calls or texts from others in the music business trying to get their stories published.”

Farrell’s achievements over a long career earned him induction into the Canadian Music Industry Hall of Fame at Canadian Music Week, an event he helped launch, in 2018, and the Lifetime Achievement Award at the Radiodays North America Awards Luncheon at CMW in June 2024.

Read Billboard Canada’s obituary of Farrell, including tributes from many of his friends and music industry colleagues, here.