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| Strange Fruit Records | |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1986 (1986) |
| Founder | Clive Selwood John Peel |
| Country of origin | United Kingdom |
| Official website | www.strange-fruit-music.co.uk Archived2004-12-08 |
Strange Fruit Records was anindependent record label in theUnited Kingdom.
The label, established byClive Selwood andJohn Peel in 1986, was the primary distributor ofBBC recordings, includingPeel Sessions.[1]
The name came fromthe song written byAbel Meeropol and famously performed byBillie Holiday, itself a reference to racially motivated lynchings.[1] The label had the aim of generating sufficient revenue from recordings of 'big name' artists to allow the release of recordings by lesser-known artists.[1] The label's first release wasNew Order's 1982 Peel Session, in July 1987, and was followed by sessions from some of the biggest names from thepunk rock andpost punk eras. Recordings from as far back as the 1960s were also released by the likes ofJimi Hendrix andBonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band. As well as individual sessions, the label also released albums compiling several sessions by the same artist.[1] Strange Fruit was sufficiently successful that it spawned subsidiary labels including Nighttracks (sessions from radio One's Evening Show),Raw Fruit Records (concert recordings from theReading Festival), and Band of Joy (BBC session recordings from the 1960s and 1970s).[1] In 1994, Peel's BBC colleagueAndy Kershaw started another subsidiary label, Strange Roots, which released session recordings byworld music androots artists from his radio show.[1]
Strange Fruit closed in 2004. It was part of the Zomba Group of companies and was shut down when the label merged with BMG. The last release the label put together was an album of New Order's complete Peel Sessions, fitting as the first release that came out was an EP of New Order's first Peel session. Six months later John Peel died.
Clive Selwood died in June 2020.[2]
A bootleg of the White Power rock bandSkrewdriver's Peel Session exists, in very bad quality and with a cover in the style of the Strange Fruit Peel Session releases. It however is not a Strange Fruit release.
