A huge asset to our industry, from EMI via Polydor (he put out my Leap Up And Down Wave Your Knickers In The Air), WEA, BPI and Jive/Zomba (he took me on as a consultant in the early 90's)... lovely guy (awful moustache)... RIP

Hi Jonathan,

Couldn't agree more. I was very saddened to hear this news - although I only knew John in 1987 / 88 while I was working at Battery Studios (Willesden), he left a lasting impression and I always remembered him well. As you say, a great guy. RIP, JF.

Music Week had this to say (the link is www.musicweek.com/features/feature_page.asp?featureid=12301 but it's broken and I had to use Google's cache, so am quoting direct):

01 November 2006

John Fruin, one of the architects of the modern music business, passed away on Saturday aged 76.

Fruin, who held the top job at two major labels and also had a stint running the BPI, leaves a wife and two children. His funeral takes place on November 8 at Ruislip crematorium.

Fruin had a remarkable career. He started as an office boy at EMI in the mid-forties and worked his way up through the company before taking on the managing director role at Polydor in 1970. He left there in 1977 to work at WEA before quitting in 1980 to start a new career on the distribution side of the business. Fruin only recently ended his working days - as a consultant to his long standing friend Clive Calder at Zomba.

Jack Florey, who joined EMI with Fruin, says

Happened to have a few spare minutes, got to thinking about past careers and googled John (Johnny, thanks B.A.) Fruin and came upon the link to this forum.
Sadly didn't realise he had died. He was MD of WEA when I worked for them. He certainly was the king of sales and distribution and a very nice man to boot.

I was there during the World in Action documentary period and wonder if the true story of how it all came about AND the extent of chart manipulation will ever be told. But then, does anybody really need to know about that now, or care; it did give WEA some unlikely chart success back then!

Welcome to our forum Tartan Red; we get new visitors all the time and are always delighted to hear from "older" members of our rapidly decreasing music community.

I remain very fond indeed of JF.

Thanks JK
Not too keen on the 'older' members bit but I guess it's accurate enough!
Keep well
TR