Joel Whitburn, BILLBOARD Chart Historian and Reference Book Author, Dies at 82

Joel Whitburn, one of the pre-eminent chart historians of the last 50-plus years, has died. The news was first shared on Facebook by Whitburn’s protégé, longtime friend and Record Research co-worker Paul Haney, who wrote that the legendary industry figure “passed away peacefully overnight” on Tuesday [[June 14). “He had been having some serious health issues recently, but his passing still comes as a shock,” Haney continued. Whitburn was 82.

The rest of the article is at this link. It is an interesting read. He was interested with the Billboard Charts since his childhood. After he discovered the magazine, he coaxed his dad to get him a subscription at ten dollars a year. He was fascinated with the charts.

https://www.billboard.com/music/char...ch-1235087319/

https://www.billboard.com/wp-content...size=681%2C383

https://soulfuldetroit.com/showthrea...rn-passed-away

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Originally Posted by sansradio

https://soulfuldetroit.com/showthrea...rn-passed-away

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Thanks. Did not look in Clubhouse before posting. I did the same as Joel as a kid, but with Cashbox, not to the same degree as Joel, though. The local record shop would give me the prior week's Cashbox and I would study the charts. Eventually, I got my own subscription at fifteen dollars a year.

I enjoyed his books and still refer to some of them on occasion

just to let you know, I posted it in our SoulfulDetroit clubhouse forum, & I emailed Ralph T about it.. It's fine that it is mentioned in 2 places here

edafan

I salivate watching this video. What a collection.

Joel Whitburn is probably my #1 contemporary hero. Taking a love and passion and making a life mission out of it for the benefit of all. He lived a great life.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j3m1DwU0ImI

At 12:50+ Motown is represented.

I always said I’d love to be invited to his house. I would have been like a kid at Disney going through his collection. I hope we willed his collection to someone who will take as much pride and care as he did.

Had a great phone call with this man over a decade ago. What most people don't know about Joel Whitburn is that he was a big collector of 45 picture sleeves. He was very interested in the Funkadelic Uncle Jam picture sleeve. What he was offering in trade escapes me for the moment. Very nice gentleman regardless.

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Originally Posted by milven

Thanks. Did not look in Clubhouse before posting. I did the same as Joel as a kid, but with Cashbox, not to the same degree as Joel, though. The local record shop would give me the prior week's Cashbox and I would study the charts. Eventually, I got my own subscription at fifteen dollars a year.

I enjoyed his books and still refer to some of them on occasion

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I did exactly this with Billboard and got a job at the record store which so many other kids wanted. We traded my Billboard for their Cashbox.

I had this idea of going to Motown to try and produce records; but R Dean Taylor did that and I went to Law School

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Originally Posted by jobeterob

I did exactly this with Billboard and got a job at the record store which so many other kids wanted. We traded my Billboard for their Cashbox.

I had this idea of going to Motown to try and produce records; but R Dean Taylor did that and I went to Law School

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Similar experience for me. After graduating high school, I went to college at night part time and had a job in a supermarket in day. The owner of the record shop told me to quit the supermarket and gave me a job there and it changed my life. I learned a whole lot about business working there. The place was like a magnet to me, but the pay sucked. I tried other things, went back there a few times between other jobs, dropped out of night college - I wasn't college materiel, got drafted into the army, and moved onto other jobs after the army but always was hanging out in that little store . Eventually, I bought it, moved it to a larger location and used it as the foundation to build my own business which I expanded. I think that little store was my college. I learned a whole lot about business in that little record store.

I don't think any of this would have happened had I not spent so much time in that record shop in my high school years bothering the owner to let me have the store's old copies of Cash Box. The owner took me out of the supermarket and put me where I belonged. Around music and around business . Thank you Cash Box