Billboard pays tribute to the executives, songwriters, managers, producers, promoters, radio hosts and others who passed this year.
Frank Farian
Peter Bischoff/Getty Images
There's just no way around it. The music industry, with all its endless nooks and crannies, will say goodbye to many behind-the-scenes players during 2024. From corporate executives of all stripes, to agents, managers and live promoters, to deal-making lawyers and lobbyists who influence politics, and studio producers and other performers and songwriters, are all part of the fabric of music.
To honor those who have passed, we highlight these often unseen individuals who have left a lasting impression on every aspect of the business. In the early months of 2024, we've already lost major figures including record executive Bob Fead, trailblazing barrister Leon Wildes, a pair of BBC radio icons, an inventor of one of music's strangest devices and the figure who looks like Svengali who gave the world Milli Vanilli.
Here are the industry players we lost in 2024:
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FRAN BOYD, 84
Image credit: Courtesy of ACM
March 9
A former executive director of the Academy of Country Music, Boyd was instrumental in shaping the ACM from its early days in California in the 1960s through the new millennium. [More]
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VINCE POWER, 76
Image credit: Dave Bennett/Getty Images
March 9
The legendary Irish impresario built the Mean Fiddler Music Group from the ground up, creating an empire that started as a single venue and grew to include 30 venues and events. “I just love putting on festivals,” he said Advertising sign in 2008. [More]
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DEBRA BYRD, 72
Image credit: Kevin Winter/Getty Images
March 5
A longtime associate of Barry Manilow's, Byrd is perhaps best known for her long career as a vocal coach at American Idol, where he tutored future EGOT winner Jennifer Hudson and dozens of other contestants. She was also a vocal coach on the 2014 Oscar telecast and was chair of the vocal department at the Musicians Institute in Los Angeles. [More]
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LYNN FAINCHTEIN, 61
Image credit: Presley Ann/FilmMagic
March 1st
The Mexican music director and producer was known for her work as music supervisor on films such as Alejandro González Iñárritu's Amores Perros and Alfonso Cuarón's Academy Award-winning Roma. [More]
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BOB HEIL, 83
Image credit: Derik Holtmann/Belleville News-Democrat/Tribune News Service via Getty Images
February 28
An accomplished live music sound designer known as the inventor of the Heil Talk Box — synonymous with Peter Frampton (“Show Me the Way”), Joe Walsh (“Rocky Mountain Way”) and other guitarists who want to manipulate guitar tones their. own voice. [More]
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TIGER HINSANDONG, 40
Image credit: Yang Ji-ung/Yonhap/AP
February 23
Born Lee Ho-yang in Pohang, South Korea, the songwriter and music producer has achieved great heights collaborating with K-pop artists including EXID, Beast, T-ara and HyunA. [More]
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EDDIE CHEEBA, 67
Image credit: Johnny Nunez/WireImage
February 13
A DJ considered the founder of hip-hop for his innovative style of rapping over recorded tracks in New York clubs in the 1970s. [More]
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STEVE WRIGHT, 69
Image credit: Evening Standard/Hulton Archive/Getty Images
February 12
Legendary British broadcaster and BBC Radio 1 presenter Steve Wright in the afternoonamong other programs, he also dabbled in mainstream television programs such as Top of the Pops. He died a day after recording his Valentine's Day version Love songs radio show. [More]
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MOJO NIXON, 66
Image credit: Paul Natkin/Getty Images
February 7
While perhaps best known for his revamped rockabilly hits like “Elvis Is Everywhere” and “Don Henley Must Die,” Nixon was also a longtime Cincinnati radio personality and SiriusXM host. Loon in the afternoon on Steven Van Zandt's Outlaw Country Channel. [More]
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TOBY KEITH, 62
Image credit: Jon Kopaloff/FilmMagic
5 February
The “How do you like it now?” and the “Beer for My Horses” singer helped Scott Borchetta (with whom he worked during his Dreamworks days) launch Big Machine along with his own record label, Show Dog Nashville. [More]
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MARTIN KIRKUM, 75
Image credit: Getty Images for City of Hope
February 4th
Katy Perry's longtime manager and co-founder — along with Steven Jensen — of Direct Management Group. Over the decades, he also worked closely with the B-52s, Tracy Chapman, kd lang, the Go-Go's, Counting Crows and many others. [More]
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FRANK FARIAN, 82
Image credit: Fryderyk Gabowicz/image alliance via Getty Images
January 23rd
The German producer and occasional singer (see: Boney M) will forever be known for inventing Milli Vanilli, the pop vocal group featuring two dancers (Fab Morvan and Rob Pilatus) who didn't sing a single note. [More]
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ANNIE NIGHTINGALE, 83
Image credit: Peter Stone/Mirrorpix via Getty Images
January 12
The London native has achieved a long string of 'firsts' — BBC Radio 1's first female DJ, the first woman to host a solo TV rock show (The Old Gray Whistle Test) and is still ranked No.1 in the charts longest-serving female radio host over 50 years. [More]
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MIKE TAYLOR, 54
Image source: Courtesy photo
January 11
The American-born music executive made his mark in Australia, where he was head of A&R at Sony Music for many years before a 15-year stint at Universal Music Australia, where he was founding general manager and head of Island Records Australia. [More]
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LEON WILDES, 90
Image credit: James Garrett/New York Daily News Archive via Getty Images
January 8
While initially brought in to help John Lennon and Yoko Ono extend their visas, the prominent immigration attorney soon had to fend off efforts by the Nixon administration to deport the couple. He eventually won and Lennon got his green card. [More]
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DEL PALMER, 71
Image credit: Dave Hogan/Getty Images
January 5th
The English musician and songwriter has been involved – both professionally and romantically – with Kate Bush for decades and is best known for engineering and mixing her classic albums. Hounds of Love, The sensual world and The Red Shoesincluding.
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BOB FEAD, 89
Image credit: Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty Images
January 2
Edwin Jackson of the music biz, Fead (pictured, left) held key positions at a host of labels over the decades, including A&M Records, Liberty Records, RCA, Alfa Records (which he launched), Monument Records, Pacific Arts Video , Famous Music and Warner Chappell Music. “Both [his] Opinion and advocacy changed lives!” said ASCAP President Paul Williams. [More]
