David James McAleer (born 4 February 1945) is the main contributor for the ''Virgin Book of British Hit Singles'', ''The Virgin Book of British Hit Albums'' and the ''Virgin Book of Top 40 Charts'', and was the sole Music Consultant for the ''

Guinness World Records ''Guinness World Records'', known from its inception in 1955 until 1999 as ''The Guinness Book of Records'' and in previous United States editions as ''The Guinness Book of World Records'', is a reference book published annually, listing world ...

'' between 1998 and 2011. McAleer is currently the OCC (“Oldies Chart Consultant”) to the Official Charts Company. He was the Chief Consultant/Contributor for the ''

Guinness Book of British Hit Singles & Albums ''British Hit Singles & Albums'' (originally known as ''The Guinness Book of British Hit Singles'' and ''The Guinness Book of British Hit Albums'') was a music reference book originally published in the United Kingdom by the publishing arm of t ...

'' (now discontinued) for nine years, and has written or co-written over forty published music books. One of the UK's first club DJs (1963), before spending 25 years in the record business. McAleer worked in A&R for labels including

RCA Records RCA Records is an American record label currently owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America. It is one of Sony Music's four flagship labels, alongside RCA's former long-time rival Columbia Records; also A ...

Pye Records Pye Records was a British record label. Its best known artists were Lonnie Donegan (1956–1969), Petula Clark (1957–1971), the Searchers (1963–1967), the Kinks (1964–1971), Sandie Shaw (1964–1971), Status Quo (1968–1971) and Brotherho ...

DJM Records DJM Records (also known as Dick James Music) was the British independent record label, set up in the late 1960s by British music publisher Dick James. It was distributed by Pye Records in the UK, and various other companies around the world, ...

Stax Records Stax Records is an American record company, originally based in Memphis, Tennessee. Founded in 1957 as Satellite Records, the label changed its name to Stax Records in 1961. It also shared its operations with sister label Volt Records. Stax was ...

, Chess Records, Disco Demand, Sugarhill, Calibre, Champagne, Hi, Solar,

CTI Records CTI Records (Creed Taylor Incorporated) is a jazz record label founded in 1967 by Creed Taylor. CTI was a subsidiary of A&M before becoming independent in 1970. Its first album was '' A Day in the Life'' by guitarist Wes Montgomery in 1967. Th ...

, TMT and

Buddah Records Buddah Records (later known as Buddha Records) was an American record label founded in 1967 in New York City. The label was born out of Kama Sutra Records, an MGM Records-distributed label, which remained a key imprint following Buddah's foun ...

, and was managing director of

Barry White Barry Eugene Carter (September 12, 1944 – July 4, 2003), better known by his stage name Barry White, was an American singer and songwriter. A two-time Grammy Award winner known for his bass voice and romantic image, his greatest success came ...

's label, 20th Century Records. During this period he was responsible for many chart entries, and helped introduce disco, Northern soul, rap and hip hop in the UK. He was the UK record executive behind the first rap hit, "

Rapper's Delight "Rapper's Delight" is a 1979 hip-hop track by the Sugarhill Gang, produced by Sylvia Robinson. Although it was shortly preceded by the Fatback Band's "King Tim III (Personality Jock)", "Rapper's Delight" is credited for introducing hip-hop mus ...

" by the

Sugarhill Gang Sugar Hill may refer to: Places In the United States: * Sugar Hill, Georgia, a city * Sugar Hill, New Hampshire, a town * Sugar Hill, Manhattan, New York, a section of Harlem * Sugar Hill (New York), a mountain in Schuyler County * Sugar Hi ...

. He managed the RAH Band
Dave McAleer at Discogs and gave the first production jobs to noted DJs

Paul Oakenfold Paul Mark Oakenfold (born 30 August 1963), formerly known mononymously as Oakenfold, is an English record producer, remixer and trance DJ. He has provided over 100 remixes for over 100 artists including U2, Moby, Madonna, Britney Spears, Mas ...

and

Ian Levine Ian Geoffrey Levine (born 22 June 1953) is a British songwriter, producer, and DJ. A moderniser of Northern soul music in the UK, and a developer of the style of Hi-NRG, he has written and produced records with sales totalling over 40 million. ...

. In 1976, was the organiser of the first UK music industry pop quiz.

Author

*''Now That's What I Call a Decade of Hits – The 1980s'' (1989) *''The Omnibus Book of British & American Hit Singles'' (1990) *''Chart Beats'' (1991) *''Beat Boom'' (1992) *''Labatts Top 500 Records'' (1993) *''Hit Parade Heroes: British Beat Before

The Beatles The Beatles were an English rock band, formed in Liverpool in 1960, that comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are regarded as the most influential band of all time and were integral to the developmen ...

'' (1993) *''The Fab British Rock 'n' Roll Invasion of 1964'' (1994) *''All Music Book of Hit Singles'' (1994) *''The Warner Guide to UK & US Hit Albums'' (1995) *''The Warner Guide to UK & US Hit Singles'' (1996) *''The Encyclopedia of Hits – The 1960s'' (1996) *''The Encyclopedia of Hits – The 1950s'' (1997) *''The Book of Hit Singles'' (2001) *''The Music Downloader's Source Book: The Complete A-Z of the World's Best Songs'' (2005) *''Guinness Book of British Hit Singles'' (1999 to 2006) *''Guinness Book of British Hit Singles & Albums'' (2004, 2005, 2006) *''Official Ultimate 80s Pop Quiz Books'' (2009) *''Virgin Book of Hit Albums'' (2009) *''Virgin Book of Top 40 Charts'' (2009) *''Virgin Book of Hit Singles'' (2010) *''Hit Singles: Top 20 Charts from 1954 to the Present Day'' (1999, 2004, 2007, 2010) *''Official Charts Company Book of Million Sellers'' (2012) *''British Hit Singles – The Missing Charts 1940-1952'' (2013) He has also co-written books including ''The NME Rock ’n’ Roll Years'', ''The Guinness Who Who of 50s/60s/70s and Soul Music'', ''The NME Who’s Who of Rock'', ''Guinness Rockopedia'', ''The Guinness Encyclopedia of Popular Music'', ''The Virgin Ultimate Rock Encyclopedia'', ''This Day in Rock'', ''The Virgin Who Who of 50s/60s/70s and Soul Music''. In addition he has compiled/sequenced/written sleeve notes for over 1500 albums for companies such as Universal, EMI, Sony/BMG and Time Life.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:McAleer, Dave 1945 births Living people English writers about music