Biography
Born on 21 December 1940 in New York, USA, and passing away on 29 February 1996 at Fisher Island, Florida, USA, Farrell earned recognition as one of pop’s most adept entrepreneurs. Early in the 1960s he gained attention through his connection to Luther Dixon, collaborating on multiple Shirelles tracks such as the frenetic R&B number ‘Boys’, which the Beatles later recorded. He subsequently took an A&R role at Roosevelt Music, where he brought aboard Neil Diamond along with the Feldman/Gottehrer/Goldstein team and demonstrated a keen instinct for straightforward pop via his ties to Jay And The Americans. For that act he supplied two signature singles, ‘Come A Little Bit Closer’ and ‘Let’s Lock The Door (And Throw Away The Key)’; both became major US successes and opened a stretch of substantial commercial gain. His Picturetone publishing firm gained prominence in the ‘teenybop’ sector, while his production work with the Cowsills and Every Mother’s Son—material he placed with MGM Records—yielded further hits. Brief involvement with Boston’s Beacon Street Union marked an excursion into underground rock before he returned to ‘bubblegum’ fare through the hugely popular Partridge Family and sustained momentum with Tony Orlando And Dawn. A companion television series enabled the latter group to notch five US Top 20 entries in 1970/1. Farrell subsequently established the Chelsea label, which emerged as a prominent force in the disco period, before succumbing to cancer in 1996.