Barney Tabasco lives on in our memories
Barry McIlheney was one of the all-time greats of magazine publishing. Not just because of the titles he edited or the successes he racked up, there were many, but because of the way he made people feel. Warm, funny, generous and endlessly creative, Barry brought something rare and human to everything he did.
Barry McIlheney
Credit: Campaign
I met Barry when he was on the board of our magazine publishing company UpperCase Media, a joint venture between Media24 and Emap International. At the time, we published FHM and heat in South Africa under licence from Emap, where Barry held a senior role. Before we met, I had made a point of triple checking the spelling of his surname. McIlheney is not the kind of name you want to get wrong on a masthead. At his first board meeting in Johannesburg, Barry greeted me with a grin and said he appreciated that we’d spelled it right. “Not many do,” he said. From that moment on, we got on brilliantly.
We became mates over the years. One of my clearest memories is of Barry singing old Irish songs, late one evening in the bar at the Table Bay Hotel in Cape Town, after the second FHM International Conference we hosted there. He sang with soul and spirit. It was completely in the moment and deeply moving. Barry had that effect. He could go from mischief to meaning in a heartbeat.
His career was legendary. From editing Smash Hits in its pop glory days to founding editor of Empire and making it one of the world’s best-loved movie magazines, Barry had the sharp instincts of a great editor and the charm to build something lasting. At Emap, he played a key oversight role in the success of some of Britain’s most influential magazines, Q, Mojo, FHM, heat and more. (At one point he also oversaw the fashion magazine Arena Homme +, an experience about which he could recall a good few, almost-absurd tales from the trenches.) Later, as CEO of the Professional Publishers Association, he stood up for the industry with insight and humour, helping it navigate its way through digital disruption without losing its soul.
Barry’s passion for music was a constant throughout his life. In the early 1980s, during his tenure at Smash Hits, he worked alongside Neil Tennant, who would later co-found the Pet Shop Boys. Their professional collaboration blossomed into a lasting friendship. Before his editorial career, Barry was the lead vocalist for the Belfast post-punk band Shock Treatment. The band was active in the late 1970s and early 1980s, performing at venues such as The Harp Bar and supporting acts such as U2 at the Ulster Hall. These experiences placed Barry in close proximity to the burgeoning Irish music scene, including interactions with Bono and the early U2. In 2024, Barry reunited with Shock Treatment to record the album Exclusive Photos, marking a celebrated return to his musical roots.
Barry reunited with his post-punk outfit Shock Treatment as lead singer last year
Credit: Danny Meegan (as it appears in the Belfast Telegraph)
Then there’s the story behind the nickname Barney Tabasco, which Barry loved to tell. During the early days of Empire, he made the trip to Los Angeles to introduce the new magazine to the Hollywood studios. He knew he had to be there in person if Empire was going to be taken seriously. As the story goes, he arrived at one of the big studios and presented himself at the front desk. The American receptionist, unfamiliar with his Irish accent, struggled to catch his name. After a few confused exchanges, she gave up and cheerfully announced over the phone, “Barney Tabasco is here to see you.” Barry let it ride. And the nickname stuck.
It was funny, offbeat and slightly ridiculous, which is why he loved it. It suited him perfectly.
Barry passed away peacefully in his sleep in late-May 2025, at home in Spain, aged 65. The tributes poured in from across the publishing and music worlds. People spoke of his brilliance, his mentorship, his kindness, his humour. He was a magazine man through and through, but never took himself too seriously. He understood the power of storytelling, of connection and of giving people something worth reading.
His legacy lives on in the magazines he shaped, online and in print, the people he mentored and the friends he made. And in the spirit of good publishing, which he championed to the very end.
Thank you Barry, for the stories, the songs and the spark. And for letting Barney Tabasco through the door.
