Farnon began as an unpaid volunteer in Could 1957 — when the Academy was simply in its formative phases — and rose to turn into govt vp.
Christine Farnon, the Recording Academy’s first full-time worker and one among its longest-serving, died on Monday Oct. 24 within the Los Angeles space of pure causes. She was 97.
Farnon began as an unpaid volunteer in Could 1957 — when the Academy was simply in its formative phases — and rose to turn into govt vp. From 1957 by way of 1987, she labored alongside a succession of 18 elected, volunteer presidents. These males — and sure, they had been all males — served their phrases and moved on. Farnon offered continuity and stability. In early 1988, Michael Greene turned the Academy’s first paid, everlasting president. Farnon stayed on by way of 1992, to make sure a clean transition.
Farnon acquired a trustees award from the Academy upon her retirement. An appreciation in that yr’s Grammy program ebook was fittingly titled “The Recording Academy’s Guiding Gentle.”
In asserting the glory for Farnon earlier in 1992, Greene mentioned, “The Recording Academy owes a lot of what it's as we speak to the selfless, conscientious dedication that Christine has exhibited in her years of contributions to the Recording Academy. Chris is an important member of our [Academy] household and is most deserving of the trustees award.”
The late musicologist George T. Simon, who wrote the aforementioned appreciation, famous, “Chris has all the time been an integral a part of the group — a seemingly not possible mixture of guiding gentle and regular anchor. Deeply concerned from the beginning in all of the Academy’s actions, this heat, clever, soft-spoken, delicate woman has helped tremendously, usually main the best way, in chartering and steering the course of [the Academy].”
Simon’s piece quoted Farnon as saying “This has been a uncommon alternative, to have probably the most difficult and rewarding careers anybody might want for, and to work with and for a number of the best individuals within the recording area.”
Billboard included Farnon in a gallery of groundbreaking feminine executives that appeared within the Feb. 26, 2022 subject, noting “Many years earlier than Deborah Dugan turned the Recording Academy’s first feminine president/CEO in 2019, Farnon was the highest govt on the group — and whereas she by no means held the large title, there was no query of who was in cost.”
Farnon’s obligations on the Academy included sustaining contact with disc jockeys and radio personnel and growth of annual mailers and particular albums designed for radio stations highlighting Grammy nominees. Farnon was a expertise coordinator for many of the seven Grammy-branded Finest on File TV exhibits that aired on NBC. From 1971, when the Grammy Awards turned a reside telecast, till 1992, when Farnon retired, she was an integral a part of the Academy’s TV committee, which oversaw format growth, contract negotiations and TV scripts. She finally acquired on-screen credit score within the crawl on the finish of the telecast.
Folklorist and writer Invoice Ivey, the one particular person in Academy historical past to serve two, non-consecutive stints as chairman of the board of trustees (1981-83 and 1989-91), gave Farnon quite a lot of credit score in an interview with this author a decade in the past for a Grammy.com piece on the Academy’s early days.
“Chris Farnon was central to the Academy’s success,” he mentioned. “She was fairly ferocious in defending the integrity of Grammy and the telecast.… Largely as a result of she was so conservative and protecting, Chris handed future leaders an asset of great potential worth that transformed to incomes energy as sponsorships and TV revenues actually took off within the ’90s.”
In an interview for that very same piece, Farnon mentioned that she was “gratified and delighted” to have performed a task within the Academy’s development, although, characteristically, she shared the credit score. “The Academy’s current achievements are one thing that everybody, previous and current, will be very happy with,” she mentioned.
“The unique imaginative and prescient of what the Academy was meant to be and do hasn’t modified,” Farnon added. “Lots of its vital packages had their roots within the Academy’s unique objectives, though they function on a a lot wider and grander scale as we speak.”
Farnon was nonetheless capable of tick off the Academy’s early objectives. “Within the early years its objectives included the annual Grammy Awards on reside TV, scholarships, college programs on the recording arts and sciences, open membership conferences the place main recording people explored developments within the recording area, and magazines and/or newsletters to members. Sadly, some years most of those packages didn’t come off as a result of there wasn’t sufficient cash or help workers to provide them.”
The Academy was capable of understand extra of its objectives after it struck a greater cope with CBS, the longtime community of the Grammy Awards. “By the point I ended my 35-year profession on the Recording Academy, the rising revenue made it doable for the Academy to be taken to a different degree,” Farnon mentioned.
Farnon held numerous positions with the Recording Academy. Within the early Sixties, she was named govt director of the Los Angeles chapter. In 1971, she was promoted to nationwide govt director, and in 1986 was appointed govt vp, a place she held till her retirement.
Farnon additionally belonged to the native chapter of the American Society of Affiliation Executives (ASAE); the California Copyright Convention; and was a co-founder of the primary Toastmistress Chapter in Hollywood — the very identify of the latter group is an indication of the instances through which Farnon got here up.
Farnon died three years after her ex-husband, Dennis Farnon, who had been the final surviving founder of the Recording Academy. Dennis Farnon died in Could 2019 at age 95. Christine Farnon and Dennis Farnon had been divorced in 1960.
Dennis Farnon co-founded the Academy in 1957 with Sonny Burke, who died in 1980; Lloyd W. Dunn, who died in 1991; Paul Weston, who died in 1996; and Jesse Kaye, whose date of demise is unknown. All 5 founders had been prime executives at main document firms of the interval. Farnon was from RCA; Burke, from Decca; Dunn, from Capitol; Weston, from Columbia; and Kaye, from MGM.
Following her retirement, Farnon spent greater than 20 years learning portray and was given three commissions of her work, plus recognition by the Chatsworth (Calif.) Advantageous Arts Council for her work.
Farnon is survived by one daughter, Joanna, in addition to nieces, nephews and cousins.
A gathering of household and buddies will probably be held at a future date. Condolences to her household could also be despatched to: P.O. Field 150, Ripton VT 05766.
This story first appeared on Billboard.com.