David Hepworth is a journalist and music writer responsible for the launch of many British magazines.

Born in Dewsbury

Dewsbury

Dewsbury is a minster town in the Metropolitan Borough of Kirklees, in West Yorkshire, England. It is to the west of Wakefield, east of Huddersfield and south of Leeds...

, Yorkshire

Yorkshire

Yorkshire is a historic county of northern England and the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its great size in comparison to other English counties, functions have been increasingly undertaken over time by its subdivisions, which have also been subject to periodic reform...

, Hepworth attended the Queen Elizabeth Grammar School, Wakefield

Queen Elizabeth Grammar School, Wakefield

Queen Elizabeth Grammar School is an independent school in Wakefield, West Yorkshire, England. QEGS is distinct from most other schools in that it was founded by Royal Charter of Queen Elizabeth I in 1591 at the request of leading citizens in Wakefield 75 in total and some of whom formed the...

 and Trent Park College of Education, Barnet (now part of Middlesex University

Middlesex University

Middlesex University is a university in north London, England. It is located in the historic county boundaries of Middlesex from which it takes its name. It is one of the post-1992 universities and is a member of Million+ working group...

). He then worked in Tower Records

Tower Records

Tower Records was a retail music chain that was based in Sacramento, California. It currently exists as an international franchise and an online music store....

 London and for the London office of Beserkley Records

Beserkley Records

Beserkley Records was an independent record label based in Berkeley, California, from 1973 to 1984. Beserkely is usually regarded as a powerpop & rock and roll label; during the seventies, the band released albums by Earth Quake, Greg Kihn, Jonathan Richman and The Modern Lovers, The Rubinoos, and...

, before becoming a freelance journalist.

After working at the music magazines NME and Sounds, he joined the newly-launched Smash Hits

Smash Hits

Smash Hits was a pop music based magazine, aimed at teenagers and young adults and originally published in the United Kingdom by EMAP. It ran from 1978 to 2006 and was issued fortnightly for most of that time...

magazine in 1979, and two years later became its editor. In 1983 he started Just Seventeen

Just Seventeen

Just Seventeen, often referred to as J-17, was a weekly magazine aimed at teenage girls, published by Emap from October 1983 to April 2004. It quickly became the market leading teen magazine until the launch of Sugar in 1994, after which sales began to fall...

, a perennially popular magazine for teenage girls, and in 1984 the magazine Looks. Since then he has launched several further magazines in the entertainment field including Q

Q (magazine)

Q is a popular music magazine published monthly in the United Kingdom.Founders Mark Ellen and David Hepworth were dismayed by the music press of the time, which they felt was ignoring a generation of older music buyers who were buying CDs — then still a new technology...

(1986), More

More (magazine)

More, launched in September 1998, is a women's lifestyle magazine published once a month by the Meredith Corporation with a rate base of 1.3 million and a circulation of 1.5 million...

(1987), Empire

Empire (magazine)

Empire is a British film magazine published monthly by Bauer Consumer Media. From the first issue in July 1989, the magazine was edited by Barry McIlheney and published by Emap. Bauer purchased Emap Consumer Media in early 2008...

(1988), Mojo

Mojo (magazine)

MOJO is a popular music magazine published initially by Emap, and since January 2008 by Bauer, monthly in the United Kingdom. Following the success of the magazine Q, publishers Emap were looking for a title which would cater for the burgeoning interest in classic rock music...

(1993), Heat

Heat (magazine)

Heat is a British entertainment magazine published by German company Bauer Media Group. it is one of the biggest selling magazines in the UK, with a regular circulation over half a million. Its mix of celebrity news, gossip and fashion is primarily aimed at women, although not as directly as in...

(1999), and The Word (2003). He is currently director of the magazine publishing company Development Hell with Mark Ellen

Mark Ellen

Mark Ellen is an award winning magazine editor, journalist and broadcaster who lives in West London.Whilst at Oxford University in the 1970s, he briefly played bass in the band Ugly Rumours alongside Tony Blair...

, a frequent collaborator.

He is the only person to have won both the Periodical Publishers Association's writer of the year and editor of the year award.

In the early 1980s he had a short period as presenter of the BBC music show Old Grey Whistle Test

Old Grey Whistle Test

The Old Grey Whistle Test was an influential BBC2 television music show that ran from 1971 to 1987. It took over the BBC2 late night slot from "Disco Two", which had been running since January 1970, while continuing to feature non-chart music. It was devised by BBC producer Rowan Ayers...

and was one of the presenters of the BBC's coverage of Live Aid

Live Aid

Live Aid was a dual-venue concert that was held on 13 July 1985. The event was organized by Bob Geldof and Midge Ure to raise funds for relief of the ongoing Ethiopian famine. Billed as the "global jukebox", the event was held simultaneously in Wembley Stadium in London, England, United Kingdom ...

. On both of these he worked with Mark Ellen.

David Hepworth is featured in a podcast promoting the "Top of the Pops" boxset alongside Mark Goodier , Miles Leonard and Malcolm McClaren.