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(Source: The Sunday Observer newspaper)
Island Records: 50 years and still going strong
DIANE ABBOTT
Sunday, April 19, 2009
THIS year is the 50th anniversary of Island Records. The company was Britain's biggest and most influential independent record company. And it was founded by a Jamaican, Chris Blackwell.
DIANE ABBOTT
Island Records began in Jamaica. The label's very first release was entitled Lance Hayward at the Half Moon and featured a Bermudian jazz group that Blackwell had come across while running a water-skiing school at his cousin's property, the Half Moon. The next year he opened an office in Kingston. Within two years he had released 26 singles. When Blackwell realised how well his records were selling amongst the Jamaican community in England, he moved the company's headquarters to London. In London, Blackwell personally promoted his music. He would haul copies of his new releases to record shops catering to the black community in the back of his Mini Cooper. Chris Blackwell is a descendant of the very top levels of white Jamaican society. But it is one of the paradoxes of the Island Records story: he made his fortune selling records to the poorest of black Jamaicans exiled in London.
In 1963, Blackwell hit the jackpot with Millie Small and her record My Boy Lollipop. I was a child then but I clearly remember when the record came out. It caused a sensation. Caribbean music up until then had meant relatively sedate calypsos. It was my parents' music. The infectious Millie Small was targeted at the pop generation. She was to sell six million records worldwide.
Island also diversified into pop music and signed some of the biggest rock bands of the era including, Stevie Windwood; Free; Emerson Lake & Palmer; Mott The Hoople; Jethro Tull; Cat Stevens, and Robert Palmer. Island also entered the British folk rock genre with a roster including Sandy Denny, Richard Thompson and Nick Drake.
But the artiste with whom Island Records will always be associated is Bob Marley and the Wailers. Island has gone on to sign other exciting artistes like Roxy Music, Grace Jones and the controversial Amy Winehouse. But Bob Marley towers above them all, not just because of the many millions that he made for Chris Blackwell, but for his profound cultural influence.
BLACKWELL... considered a musical icon
The 50th anniversary of Island will be marked here in London with a series of concerts at the end of May. The first concert features Paul Weller - star of eighties bands the Jam and the Style Council - the Jamaican jazz guitarist Ernest Ranglin and the progressive rock legends Spooky Tooth. At another, Cat Stevens, the singer-songwriter now known as Yusuf, will be joined by Senegal's Baaba Maal. On the closing night, the label's biggest contemporary star, Amy Winehouse, will perform after a set from reggae giants Toots & the Maytals.
But perhaps Island's lasting legacy is not its music. Chris Blackwell may have come from grand white Jamaican stock, but he made his fortune with no capital to begin with; just a belief in Jamaican talent and a willingness to hustle. Fifty years later it is still a relevant model.
Island Records: 50 years and still going strong
DIANE ABBOTT
Sunday, April 19, 2009
THIS year is the 50th anniversary of Island Records. The company was Britain's biggest and most influential independent record company. And it was founded by a Jamaican, Chris Blackwell.
DIANE ABBOTT
Island Records began in Jamaica. The label's very first release was entitled Lance Hayward at the Half Moon and featured a Bermudian jazz group that Blackwell had come across while running a water-skiing school at his cousin's property, the Half Moon. The next year he opened an office in Kingston. Within two years he had released 26 singles. When Blackwell realised how well his records were selling amongst the Jamaican community in England, he moved the company's headquarters to London. In London, Blackwell personally promoted his music. He would haul copies of his new releases to record shops catering to the black community in the back of his Mini Cooper. Chris Blackwell is a descendant of the very top levels of white Jamaican society. But it is one of the paradoxes of the Island Records story: he made his fortune selling records to the poorest of black Jamaicans exiled in London.
In 1963, Blackwell hit the jackpot with Millie Small and her record My Boy Lollipop. I was a child then but I clearly remember when the record came out. It caused a sensation. Caribbean music up until then had meant relatively sedate calypsos. It was my parents' music. The infectious Millie Small was targeted at the pop generation. She was to sell six million records worldwide.
Island also diversified into pop music and signed some of the biggest rock bands of the era including, Stevie Windwood; Free; Emerson Lake & Palmer; Mott The Hoople; Jethro Tull; Cat Stevens, and Robert Palmer. Island also entered the British folk rock genre with a roster including Sandy Denny, Richard Thompson and Nick Drake.
But the artiste with whom Island Records will always be associated is Bob Marley and the Wailers. Island has gone on to sign other exciting artistes like Roxy Music, Grace Jones and the controversial Amy Winehouse. But Bob Marley towers above them all, not just because of the many millions that he made for Chris Blackwell, but for his profound cultural influence.
BLACKWELL... considered a musical icon
The 50th anniversary of Island will be marked here in London with a series of concerts at the end of May. The first concert features Paul Weller - star of eighties bands the Jam and the Style Council - the Jamaican jazz guitarist Ernest Ranglin and the progressive rock legends Spooky Tooth. At another, Cat Stevens, the singer-songwriter now known as Yusuf, will be joined by Senegal's Baaba Maal. On the closing night, the label's biggest contemporary star, Amy Winehouse, will perform after a set from reggae giants Toots & the Maytals.
But perhaps Island's lasting legacy is not its music. Chris Blackwell may have come from grand white Jamaican stock, but he made his fortune with no capital to begin with; just a belief in Jamaican talent and a willingness to hustle. Fifty years later it is still a relevant model.
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