David Kent (historian)
| David Kent | |
|---|---|
| Born | David Kent 1941 (age 75–76) Sydney, Australia |
| Occupation | Music history, writer |
| Nationality | Australian |
| Genre | music culture |
| Subject | Rock music, popular culture |
| Notable works | Kent Music Report, Australian Music Report |
| Website | |
| www |
|
David Kent (born 1941) is an Australian music historian and pop culture writer. Kent produced the Kent Music Report, compiling the national music chart from May 1974 to 1996; it was known as the Australian Music Report from 1987. The music reports were a weekly listing of the National Top 100 chart positions of singles and albums. Kent's music reports were used by Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA) as its 'official' ARIA Charts from mid-1983 until July 1988 when ARIA developed an in-house chart.
Kent continued to publish his Australian Music Report on a weekly basis until 1996. In 1993, Kent collated his charts into a book, Australian Chart Book, 1970–1992. He followed with Australian Chart Book (1940–1969) in 2005,Australian Chart Book (1993–2005) in 2006, and The Australian top 20 book (1940–2006) in 2007.
David Kent was born in Sydney, Australia. He listened to local radio broadcasts of top hits such as "Rock Around the Clock" by Bill Haley in 1955.
When Kent was a youth, Australia had no nationwide chart system for singles or albums, and Kent kept his own tally of the positions provided by Sydney radio stations. In 1958, radio station 2UE provided the first give-away charts in record stores, with the first national charts compiled for Go-Set by rock journalist, Ed Nimmervoll appearing in October 1966. Kent worked for record companies, EMI and Polygram, and avidly collected record charts as a hobby. For 18 months, Kent researched Australian music charts and developed a ranking system based on radio station charts from around the country, from May 1974 he assembled the Kent Music Report. Kent's purposes were to provide the Australian music industry with information on singles and albums, and to chronicle the history of music tastes. The Kent Music Report was sold commercially from July 1974 and became the sole nationwide chart after Go-Set folded in August.
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