Larry LeBlanc

Journalist, broadcaster and researcher Larry LeBlanc has been a leading figure in Canadian music for three decades. He co-founded the Canadian music trade magazine The Record and has served as Canadian editor for the U.S. trade magazine Billboard from 1991 to 2007. This lifelong music aficionado was the associate producer of the 1996 four-CD box Oh What A Feeling, a comprehensive retrospective of Canadian music, which sold an unprecedented 250,000 copies in seven weeks. Larry has always had an uncanny knack for playing the music people want to hear. He’s been doing just that since high school where he convinced the principal to let him take over the P.A. system and broadcast songs until the morning bell rang. That proved to be the first of his many music shows. Larry has had his own programs on such Toronto radio stations as Q107, CKFM and CJCL. He has worked extensively for CBC Radio, including serving as music producer for Morningside and Dayshift. He was a regular music commentator on CTV’s Canada AM for 25 years and has been featured on numerous network television programs. He also writes about music, and his byline has appeared in such publications as Rolling Stone, Guitar Player and Maclean’s. “Music is a wonderful outlet because it lets you feel like a kid,” said Larry. “The way I see it, the world can be broken down into two types of people: those who sing holding hairbrushes, and those who sing holding broomsticks.”