{{Short description|British music journalist (1931–2021)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}} {{Infobox person | image = Fred Dellar.png | alt = | caption = | birth_name = Frederick Dellar | birth_date = {{Birth date|1931|5|29|df=y}} | birth_place = Willesden, London, England | death_date = {{Death date and age|2021|5|15|1931|5|29|df=y}} | death_place = | other_names = | occupation = {{hlist|Music writer|journalist}} | years_active = | known_for = | notable_works = | website = }} '''Frederick Dellar''' (29 May 1931 – 15 May 2021) was an English music writer and journalist, regarded in the popular music scene as "the king of trivia".<ref name=guardian/>
==Life and career== Fred Dellar was born in Willesden, London, and lived above a fish and chip shop which was bombed in the Second World War. He undertook National Service in 1950, and was posted to the RAF base at High Wycombe, where he started a jazz club. After returning to London, he worked in factories and warehouses while also producing jazz fanzines. From 1955, he began contributing reviews to magazines including ''Record Mirror'', and liner notes for records. He became the secretary of the Frank Sinatra Appreciation Society in the UK, edited a fanzine, ''Perfectly Frank'',<ref name=guardian/> attended a wide range of jazz and other gigs, and accumulated a collection of magazines and files of information that proved invaluable in later years.<ref name=mojo>"Fred Dellar 1931-2021", ''Mojo'', No.333, August 2021, p.113</ref> He married in 1958, and in 1964 started working for the London Book Centre distribution company, while writing reviews in his spare time.<ref name=guardian/>
In 1971, after being made redundant from a warehouse job in London, he and his wife moved to Northampton. He successfully applied for a job at the ''New Musical Express'', where he served as deputy news editor, compiled music charts, wrote reviews and undertook interviews. He also developed his "Fred Fact" column, answering innumerable questions from readers before the coming of the internet. In 1981 he wrote ''The NME Guide to Rock Cinema'', followed by ''The Illustrated History of Country Music''.<ref name=guardian/> A 1989 report by him on Factory Records was given its own catalogue number - FAC227 - by label boss Tony Wilson. After leaving the ''NME'' in 1996 he contributed to a wide range of music magazines, including ''Smash Hits'', ''Vox'' and ''The Wire''. He also wrote books about Sinatra, jazz, country, and rock music.<ref name=mojo/><ref name=nme>[https://www.nme.com/features/fred-dellar-nme-mojo-journalist-obituary-tribute-2943933 Patrick Humphries, "A tribute to NME legend Fred Dellar, who had more knowledge than we carry in our smartphones", ''NME'', 19 May 2021]. Retrieved 22 June 2021</ref><ref name=freelance>[http://www.londonfreelance.org/fl/2105fred.html Phil Sutcliffe, "Fred Dellar 1931-2021", ''Freelance'', 20 May 2021]. Retrieved 22 June 2021</ref> He contributed crosswords to a number of magazines, including ''Empire''<ref>Liz Beardsworth, "In Memoriam: Fred Dellar", ''Empire'', July 2021, p.121</ref> and ''Mojo''. Dellar contributed for 25 years to the latter magazine, where he was known for features like the "Time Machine" and "Ask Fred" pages.<ref name=guardian>[https://www.theguardian.com/music/2021/jul/12/fred-dellar-obituary Spencer Leigh, "Fred Dellar obituary", ''The Guardian'', 12 July 2021]. Retrieved 12 July 2021</ref>
Dellar died on 15 May 2021, aged 89.<ref name=mojo/> He was predeceased by his wife Pam a year earlier, and survived by his son Glenn.<ref name=guardian/>
==Publications== * ''The Illustrated Encyclopaedia of Country Music'' (1977) * ''NME Guide to Rock Cinema'' (1981) * ''Where Did You Go To, My Lovely?: The Lost Sounds and Stars of the Sixties'' (1983) * ''Rock and Pop Crosswords'' (1983) * ''The Essential Guide to Rock Records'' (with Barry Lazell, 1983) * ''The Country Music Book of Lists'' (1984) * ''The Hip: Hipsters, Jazz and the Beat Generation'' (with Roy Carr and Brian Case, 1987) * ''Sinatra: His Life and Times'' (1995) * ''Excess All Areas. A Who's Who of Rock Depravity'' (with Gary Boiler, 1995) * ''Frank Sinatra: Night and Day - The Man and the Music'' (1997) * ''The Mojo Inquisition: Rock 'n' Roll Quiz and Crossword Book'' (2001)
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== *[https://www.rocksbackpages.com/Library/Writer/fred-dellar Fred Dellar profile] at ''Rock's Back Pages'' * [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lEy6S0k_7vM video interview]
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Dellar, Fred}} Category:1931 births Category:2021 deaths Category:British music journalists Category:20th-century British male writers Category:21st-century British male writers Category:Journalists from London Category:People from Willesden Category:English music critics