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Who was John Hillyard?


jimmyjrg
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I've been working with a DJ Shadow fansite which is compiling interviews and articles with Shadow and his influences, and I've been researching John Hillyard.

It seems like there's a heap of people here like @Robbkwho met John and I was hoping to compile some information for an article, similar to this one I did on Ed Hartman's Record store in Sacramento.

So far I've been able to find a few mentions of John in some old California newspapers, and I'm aware of how he died. But I'm curious when he came from Canada, which record label(s) he worked for, and what his store was called?

If anyone is able to help, or point me in the right direction I'd really appreciate it.

Apologies, I know this is my first post here. But hopefully this is ok.

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6 hours ago, jimmyjrg said:

I've been working with a DJ Shadow fansite which is compiling interviews and articles with Shadow and his influences, and I've been researching John Hillyard.

It seems like there's a heap of people here like @Robbkwho met John and I was hoping to compile some information for an article, similar to this one I did on Ed Hartman's Record store in Sacramento.

So far I've been able to find a few mentions of John in some old California newspapers, and I'm aware of how he died. But I'm curious when he came from Canada, which record label(s) he worked for, and what his store was called?

If anyone is able to help, or point me in the right direction I'd really appreciate it.

Apologies, I know this is my first post here. But hopefully this is ok.

I'm sorry to tell you that Im can't answer any of those questions. I didn't know he had a store.  I used to go to his house in Hollywood, to look through his stock of records for sale (just as I did with John Anderson).  I don't remember him having a physical commercial "store".  And I thought the name of his mail order service was simply his name ("John Hillyard"). I knew him throughout the 1970s, and I believe he came to Los Angeles near the end of the 1960s or near the start of the 1970s.  I think he was from The Toronto Area, as he definitely didn't have a Western Canadian accent.  I haven't kept up with The record Collectors' scene in L.A. since about 1978, so I didn't know John had died.  You mentioned that you know of the circumstances, which makes it seem like he didn't pass on peacefully in his bed at home from natural causes,  unless he had some disease like cancer, which brought him an untimely early demise.  How did he die?

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Hillyard's final years were spent in Merced, California, where he had a "store" for a time. His first foray into the record biz was most likely at Imperial, but I do know for a fact he worked at Riva Records in the late 70s. There is a Riva-produced book from 1979 entitled Trend Setters which contains one of the few vintage Hillyard photos I've seen. According to the book, John was from Montreal.

Edited by Dmc
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7 hours ago, Robbk said:

I'm sorry to tell you that Im can't answer any of those questions. I didn't know he had a store.  I used to go to his house in Hollywood, to look through his stock of records for sale (just as I did with John Anderson).  I don't remember him having a physical commercial "store".  And I thought the name of his mail order service was simply his name ("John Hillyard"). I knew him throughout the 1970s, and I believe he came to Los Angeles near the end of the 1960s or near the start of the 1970s.  I think he was from The Toronto Area, as he definitely didn't have a Western Canadian accent.  I haven't kept up with The record Collectors' scene in L.A. since about 1978, so I didn't know John had died.  You mentioned that you know of the circumstances, which makes it seem like he didn't pass on peacefully in his bed at home from natural causes,  unless he had some disease like cancer, which brought him an untimely early demise.  How did he die?

Thanks for your reply. I'm sorry you didn't know about his death. It sounds like he died of natural causes, but he was living rough at the time.

In September 2001 He was found dead in a shed he'd been renting to store his records. He was 58. 

From what I can piece together it sounds like he had been renting a shop in Merced, but when the rent got increased he put his best records in storage and began living with them.

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40 minutes ago, Dmc said:

Hillyard's final years were spent in Merced, California, where he had a "store" for a time. His first foray into the record biz was most likely at Imperial, but I do know for a fact he worked at Riva Records in the late 70s. There is a Riva-produced book from 1979 entitled Trend Setters which contains one of the few vintage Hillyard photos I've seen. According to the book, John was from Montreal.

Thanks for that tip. I'm seeing if I can get a scan of Trendsetters book.

Here's a photo of DJ Shadow, John, and Lyrics Born circa 1993. From what I've read, it sounds like he had the dreadlocks since the 1980s at least.

3766894410_93e3f537a1_b.jpg

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1 hour ago, jimmyjrg said:

Thanks for your reply. I'm sorry you didn't know about his death. It sounds like he died of natural causes, but he was living rough at the time.

In September 2001 He was found dead in a shed he'd been renting to store his records. He was 58. 

From what I can piece together it sounds like he had been renting a shop in Merced, but when the rent got increased he put his best records in storage and began living with them.

Ha! Ha!  He was ALWAYS living in his record storage bin.  His house was filled to bursting with records.  Yes, he did also have a storage building, too for older, more common stock.  But, in his home, he always had his "hot" recent and new finds, that he advertised.  I wonder why he was in Merced?  His records would melt and warp in the summer and autumn heat.  He'd have to pay a fortune to air condition his "shed".  May Old John rest in peace.

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4 hours ago, The Yank said:

I'm not sure this is the same John Hillyard, but there was someone working for Kim Fowley. This is from Billboard's 1970/ 71 International Buyer's directory - 

 

Hill.jpg

Yes!  That's Old John, alright.  About 1969 or '70, or so, when I first met him, he told me he was working with Kim Fowley.

Edited by Robbk
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1 hour ago, jimmyjrg said:

Thanks for that tip. I'm seeing if I can get a scan of Trendsetters book.

Here's a photo of DJ Shadow, John, and Lyrics Born circa 1993. From what I've read, it sounds like he had the dreadlocks since the 1980s at least.

3766894410_93e3f537a1_b.jpg

That's John alright!  Yes. He started having dreadlocks in the late 1970s.  And now, I remember that he told me he was from Montreal.  But, he had a weird accent.  Not a typical Quebecois or Eastern English Canadian accent.  If I remember correctly, his parents were originally from England.  I guess he moved to Merced for easier access to lower cost marijuana, and a lot lower commercial rental costs to run a store.  A commercial property of the same size in Hollywood would probably have cost 20+ times what it would have cost in Merced.  He looks like a Middle Easterner!  He must have been out a lot in that San Joaquin Valley sun!  His skin was a pasty white (like an albino, when he first moved to California from Montreal.

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How did you all find out about him? Were there specific newspapers or magazines he might have advertised in?

It sounds like he had a lot of customers from the UK who knew about him.

Whenever I look up his name I find a Canadian politician, but I'm guessing there's no relation haha.

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15 minutes ago, jimmyjrg said:

How did you all find out about him? Were there specific newspapers or magazines he might have advertised in?

It sounds like he had a lot of customers from the UK who knew about him.

Whenever I look up his name I find a Canadian politician, but I'm guessing there's no relation haha.

I'd guess they are no relation, as Hillyard is a fairly common name in Canada, as it is in Britain.  But I wouldn't rule it out, altogether, as a lot of much stranger coincidences have happened. 

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1 hour ago, jimmyjrg said:

How did you all find out about him? Were there specific newspapers or magazines he might have advertised in?

It sounds like he had a lot of customers from the UK who knew about him.

Whenever I look up his name I find a Canadian politician, but I'm guessing there's no relation haha.

 

1 hour ago, jimmyjrg said:

How did you all find out about him? Were there specific newspapers or magazines he might have advertised in?

It sounds like he had a lot of customers from the UK who knew about him.

Whenever I look up his name I find a Canadian politician, but I'm guessing there's no relation haha.

I had no idea who he was until this thread, what a character !!!!

John Hilliard aka "Motorcycle John", seems he slept with records (my type of guy)

This may or may not help (seems to have some stuff not mentioned here)

http://www.g45central.com/forum/index.php?threads/merced-memories.1641/

Edited by Blackpoolsoul
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10 hours ago, cover-up said:

Good thread that, sadly I can't add to. But might be worth giving John Manship a phone, he's bound to have encountered him. Or try sending Keb Darge a message on Facebook? Look forward to seeing your finished feature...

Thanks for that. I'll see if I can get in touch with both of them.

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Just a quick bump. I wonder if some of the other people who have met John might be able to chime in? It looks like some of you aren't active currently so apologies for the @ 's 

@Rob Wigley, @Dave Thorley, @Mikevague, @foolish fool , @Arthur Fenn, @Platters 81, @Blake H, @neckender, @JOE TORQUAY

I'd really like to understand how everyone found out about him? If anyone remembers a specific newspaper or magazines he might have advertised in, I'd love to find some of his old ads.

I'm also interested to hear any other recollections about him, to get an idea of what type of person he was. It seems like he was pretty fair on prices, but became quite eccentric in the 90s. Any other anecdotes or thoughts would be great to gather.

Thanks everyone for your help so far.

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On 28/10/2021 at 10:22, The Yank said:

I found this in the June 1983 (#83) and June 1984 (#101) issues of Goldmine- 

 

 

Hill1.jpg

hill2.jpg

Thanks for those photos! Do you mind if I use them in the article?

Also thanks Blake for the extra info too. I'll have to look through the credits of some Phil Spector releases and see if he's credited anywhere. 

I found a rental ad for the 4457 Rosewood Ave property, with the same phone number. It's from Dec 1970 and was $135 a month and is described as a two bedroom place. I'm guessing he moved in around then.

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On 21/10/2021 at 10:38, jimmyjrg said:

I've been working with a DJ Shadow fansite which is compiling interviews and articles with Shadow and his influences, and I've been researching John Hillyard.

It seems like there's a heap of people here like @Robbkwho met John and I was hoping to compile some information for an article, similar to this one I did on Ed Hartman's Record store in Sacramento.

So far I've been able to find a few mentions of John in some old California newspapers, and I'm aware of how he died. But I'm curious when he came from Canada, which record label(s) he worked for, and what his store was called?

If anyone is able to help, or point me in the right direction I'd really appreciate it.

Apologies, I know this is my first post here. But hopefully this is ok.

The article that you mention about Ed Hartman's record store in Sacramento.  Would that be the record store: !Records! 806 K Street, Sacramento ?   If so, i took John Hillyard to that shop in the mid 80s.

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On 07/11/2021 at 23:56, neckender said:

The article that you mention about Ed Hartman's record store in Sacramento.  Would that be the record store: !Records! 806 K Street, Sacramento ?   If so, i took John Hillyard to that shop in the mid 80s.

Yes that's the one. Wow, that's a great coincidence. I'll be sure to mention it in the article about John. 

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Hi, I dealt with John in the 80s and he always had good records. I was introduced to him by Barrie Waddington who had a lot of dealings with him. Barrie went Stateside and I think met him in the 70s/80. Barrie and Steve (Brad) Bradley both knew him around that period and would be worth contacting, it would be nice to see him get some recognition. All best. Ion

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Thanks Ion. I'll check them out. We've had a great response from everyone contacted so far and hopefully we'll get the article up in the new year.

At the moment we're still chasing some leads about John's early life as it's a bit unclear what he was doing before he sold records in California. But hopefully we'll find out more soon. 

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  • 4 weeks later...

Thanks for starting this thread,

So cool to find information about John Hillyard!  I spent many days in the shared brick building of his used record store in downtown Merced, Ca., where I first met John Hillyard in the early 1990s.  I discovered his shop about 1991 in Merced, and remember he shared this giant red brick building visible from highway 99 on W. 16th with two other vendors, and neither were too happy at him the day I went in as John had recently caused a fire in the building he shared, burning candles or incense that I overheard the day I visited.  The fire caused smoke damage to many of his and the others records in the building.  Much of my collection came from John. 

A lot was some real rare stuff, "The Champs" LP for example with the motorcycle front cover, and I was blown away by what he had! 

I visited his shop about twenty times in the early 90s and remember he moved to the last shop I visited on Main St. in downtown Merced, this a much smaller building than the brick building.  I remember talking to him many times about his early music work, and he didn't like to brag, but he was proud of all the bands he had worked with thru the years.  He didn't like taking checks from me as he sadly wanted to go get a few beers from the liquor store across the street as soon as he got some cash.  I had hoped he was still around but knew better.  I was happy to see a picture of him somebody posted, and to find out what finally happened to him. 

thanks,

Steve Russell

Fresno, Ca.

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On 21/12/2021 at 12:20, Godzzla said:

I remember talking to him many times about his early music work, and he didn't like to brag, but he was proud of all the bands he had worked with thru the years.

Thanks for sharing Steve. Do you remember any particular bands he worked with? I've read he worked for Imperial Records, where he met Kim Fowley and then they recorded together. But I haven't found anything else concrete.

It sounds like the store you visited was Steve’s Coins. The other two guys were probably Steve Crissoni and Joe Mendez.

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  • 8 months later...

Sorry for the delay. I'm still working on the article, and hopefully it'll be done soon. I've managed to identify John's parents and some relatives, but unfortunately no one alive who knew him before he left Canada.

I recently found a news clipping from 1993 with John and someone called Andrew J Ornelas. They opened a record store together at 655 W. Main Street, Merced called Hillyard & Ornelas Records. I'm trying to track down Andrew, and was wondering if anyone here knew him? It's the first time I've heard him mentioned. They're pictured together in the attached image from 1993.

Screen Shot 2022-09-18 at 2.57.51 pm.png

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Yes, i met Andrew at their shop in Main street, Merced. I gave John a lift up to Merced and while there i looked at some of the stock in the shop. The next day I left John there and went over to san francisco. I dont know how the shop worked between them because john lived in LA. and he didnt drive.

 

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  • 1 year later...

Thanks for posting that great article about John.  It brings back a lot of memories.   A lot of people were curious about him.  And now they know more.  So his father was a Newfy!  That checks out with him telling me his parents were British, as Newfoundland didn't become part of Canada until 1949.  I had thought John lived mostly on his record sales and only had a few forays into the recording industry.  I never realised John did so much work for record companies (especially in publicity).  We shared something in common other than record collecting.  I worked as an economics consultant for 1st Nation tribes in Canada, and Native American tribes in USA for about 10 years.  And I got involved a bit in their politics, attending some pow wows and other meetings.  We knew some of the same people.  It's a very small World!  Too bad he died so young.  But, unlike a lot of people in "The Western Rat Race", John lived his life the way he wanted.  And that's to his credit.

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Hi Jimmy

Welcome to SS

I've just been flicking through this thread. What a fantastic first post on SS - it has generated some amazing information and responses - with photographs too! This is what SS is all about (imo), I'll bookmark this for a proper read. Thanks for posting and sharing.

All the best.

Peter

Edit - Apologies Jimmy for the late welcome, I've just seen your first post was back in 2021. 

Edited by Peter99
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Thank you both. Since publishing we've had a few more people reach out, so I'm sure there will be an expanded version or follow up article in the future.

Peter, I agree. The threads on SS with images and everyone sharing information are fascinating to read. It's a great community here.

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On 27/10/2021 at 14:01, jimmyjrg said:

Just a quick bump. I wonder if some of the other people who have met John might be able to chime in? It looks like some of you aren't active currently so apologies for the @ 's 

@Rob Wigley, @Dave Thorley, @Mikevague, @foolish fool , @Arthur Fenn, @Platters 81, @Blake H, @neckender, @JOE TORQUAY

I'd really like to understand how everyone found out about him? If anyone remembers a specific newspaper or magazines he might have advertised in, I'd love to find some of his old ads.

I'm also interested to hear any other recollections about him, to get an idea of what type of person he was. It seems like he was pretty fair on prices, but became quite eccentric in the 90s. Any other anecdotes or thoughts would be great to gather.

Thanks everyone for your help so far.

I only ever saw an advert of his in "Goldmine" (as shown above).  But that was a few years after I met him.  I met him at a used record store in Hollywood ("Music Man Murray's").

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On 29/12/2023 at 04:10, Peter99 said:

Hi Jimmy

Welcome to SS

I've just been flicking through this thread. What a fantastic first post on SS - it has generated some amazing information and responses - with photographs too! This is what SS is all about (imo), I'll bookmark this for a proper read. Thanks for posting and sharing.

All the best.

Peter

Edit - Apologies Jimmy for the late welcome, I've just seen your first post was back in 2021. 

Hi Peter,

I've sent you a PM.  (Not a Prime Minister!)

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Firstly i must apologies to the Author for not submitting my recollections of John, not sure what happened but i'm sorry about that.

I met John in 83/4 & had hundreds of 45's off him. He was indeed the most unique dealer/collector i ever met and as reported in the article John was a total gentleman & had the most extensive  knowledge. 

The way it worked with me ( & many others i guess ) was that we drove him around town & treated him to lunch & he would share his "special places" . My strongest memory was sitting in a diner & John proudly showing me a huge Red chili & with that broad smile of his saying " this is the godam hottest thing you can eat". 

I believe most of the meagre profits he made went to the Indian trust.

Just a brilliant guy! 

 

Arthur.

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