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| Cherry Red | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Founded | 1978 |
| Founder | Iain McNay Richard Jones |
| Distributor | Proper Music DistributionEMI (Until 2012) |
| Genre | |
| Country of origin | United Kingdom |
| Location | London, England |
| Official website | cherryred |
Cherry Red Records is a Britishindependent record label founded inMalvern, Worcestershire by Iain McNay in 1978. The label has released recordings byDead Kennedys,Everything but the Girl,The Monochrome Set, andFelt, among others, as well as the compilation albumPillows & Prayers. In addition to releasing new music, Cherry Red also acts as an umbrella for individual imprints and catalogue specialists.
Cherry Red was listed byMusic Week[1][full citation needed] as one of the UK's top ten record companies in Q1 2015 for sales of artist albums.
Cherry Red grew from the rock promotion company (similarly named after the song "Cherry Red" byThe Groundhogs) founded in 1971 to promote rock concerts at theMalvern Winter Gardens. In the wake of the independent record boom that followed the advent ofpunk rock, founders Iain McNay (who remains company chairman) and Richard Jones released the label's first single, "Bad Hearts" by punk bandThe Tights in June 1978.
Cherry Red's early roster included releases byMorgan Fisher under variouspseudonyms, using a small studio installed in hisNotting Hill flat, as well as material licensed fromThe Hollywood Brats,Destroy All Monsters andThe Runaways. The latter was the label's biggest seller until McNay invested $10,000 in the recording of the debut studio album bySan Franciscan political punk bandDead Kennedys.Fresh Fruit for Rotting Vegetables (1979) and its attendant singles sold well worldwide. NewA&R head Mike Alway had promoted the Snoopies venue inRichmond, London and been involved with the Scissor Fits, and signed groups includingThe Monochrome Set,Everything But The Girl,Eyeless in Gaza,Felt, andFive Or Six. McNay aspired for Cherry Red to be a label that offered a space for artists who would otherwise not fit the image of some of the more succinctly defined and stylised independents. "Cherry Red Records was always about musical individuality, diversity, character, commitment and passion," he stated in 2008.[2] It also marketed other smaller independent record labels, like Bristol'sHeartbeat Records, which recorded theGlaxo Babies.
Cherry Red's role as one of the keynote labels of the early 1980s independent scene was confirmed by the success of a budget compilation album compiled by Alway and released at Christmas 1982. Retailing for 99p,Pillows & Prayers topped the independent charts for several weeks. The label also released several albums fromAdrian Sherwood and his ON-U Sound Label in the early 1980s.
Cherry Red continued to sign contemporary artists but increasingly moved into thereissue market from the late 1980s onwards. It has a number of subsidiary labels dealing in genre-specific releases, curating many "critically unloved" musical genres, in partial continuation of McNay's earlier advocacy of the unfashionable. The label began to acquire the rights to many independent labels from the 1970s and 1980s, including No Future, Flicknife, Rondelet, Midnight, Temple and In Tape - this spawned the "Collector" series of releases, which saw punk, psychobilly, goth and metal genres covered.[3] Another "Collector" series that proved popular was the label's football releases, which released over 60 CDs of collections of club and country football songs.[4]
The company has also signed agreements with a number of specialist reissue labels, which operate with a degree of autonomy using Cherry Red's logistical and financial support. Mark Stratford's RPM Records label focuses on pop music from the 1960s to the advent of punk.Esoteric Recordings, headed by Mark Powell, specialises inprogressive rock andfolk catalogue. Mark Brennan heads 7T's Records, which reissues albums by that decade'sglam/glitter generation. (Brennan originally helped Cherry Red form one of its first subsidiary labels, Anagram, covering punk, Psychobilly and Goth, which remains active). él Records continues under the auspices of Mike Alway (but purely as a re-release label), alongside other labels including Poker, Giant Steps, Mortarhate, Now Sounds, and Ork. The Cherry Red label group continues to house reissues, but is also active in the release of new studio material by established artists such asSuzi Quatro,Marc Almond,Red Box,Van Der Graaf Generator, Jah Wobble & Keith Levene,Squackett (a collaboration betweenSteve Hackett andChris Squire), Hussey-Regan (a collaboration betweenWayne Hussey andJulianne Regan),Hazel O'Connor,The Christians andKen Hensley.
Still headed by McNay, a fan ofAFC Wimbledon, alongside managing director Adam Velasco, Cherry Red also has interests infootball-related releases, with the most complete catalogue of soccer-related songs extant.
In 2007, the company launched astreaming television service,cherry red TV. It also publishes an in-house magazine and an 'in-house' publishing division, 'Cherry Red Songs'.[5] Cherry Red's previous music publisher, Complete Music, was acquired byBMG Music Publishing in 2006.[6]
In early 2015, Cherry Red Records andPWL reissued the first four Kylie Minogue albums,Kylie,Enjoy Yourself,Rhythm Of Love andLet's Get To It, as deluxe CD/DVD and LP boxsets.[7]
Cherry Red also released a plethora of prestigious frontline albums by established artists that year, including Marc Almond'sThe Velvet Trail, The Zombies'Still Got That Hunger, Sarah Cracknell'sRed Kite, Andy Bell of Erasure'sTorsten The Bareback Saint, Jimmy Somerville'sHomage, The Fall'sSub-Lingual Tablet andWolfgang Flür'sEloquence.
In 2016, Cherry Red had its highest chart position, with the new studio album fromHawkwind,The Machine Stops, reaching No. 29 in theUK Albums Chart in April 2016.[8] It also announced the release of the latest studio album fromVan Der Graaf Generator in September.
In 2017, Cherry Red confirmed it will be representing several label catalogues and artist discographies, includingProcol Harum, The Residents, Arthur Brown, Captain Oi, Glenn Hughes and Tim Blake.[9] It also acquired 13 artist catalogues fromWarner Music Group as part of the major's divestments to independent labels, including Howard Jones,Kim Wilde, Marc Almond,Third Ear Band,Dinosaur Jr.,Mel & Kim,Fourplay (shared with Evolution Media Group),Renaissance (except their debut album, which remained withElektra Records),Be-Bop Deluxe andCurved Air.[10] These catalogues will be distributed worldwide through Absolute Label Services.[11]
The 2017 BPI yearbookAll About The Music included Cherry Red in the 20 Market Share By Corporate Group at number 15, which explained the chart-eligible album sales of all record labels.[12]
In 2018, Cherry Red acquired the extensive catalogue of Witchwood Media, home to the music of the Strawbs and a roster of other related artists.[13]
In late 2019 and early 2020, Cherry Red acquired more label and album catalogue, including Safari Records (Toyah, Jayne County), Emerald Music, Genesis' debut album,From Genesis to Revelation, and Chapter One Records. Cherry Red have also acquired the catalogue from numerous independent labels including Inevitable Records (Dead Or Alive), Attrix Records (Peter & The Test Tube Babies) and Native Records (Screaming Trees). Artist catalogues acquired in 2020 included Glenn Hughes and Trapeze, rock band The Stairs and Edgar Jones, psychedelic rock band July, heavy metal band Sir Lord Baltimore, psychedelic rock band Outskirts Of Infinity, NWOBHM band Spider, guitarist Paul Brett, record producer and musician Tom Newman and Canadian pub rocker Philip Rambow.[14] In late 2020 Cherry Red acquired producer Joe Meek's "Tea Chest Tapes" collection - a host of quarter-inch tapes kept in 67 tea chests.[15]
2021 saw the label acquire the Dissonance Productions label and catalogue from Plastic Head Distribution. The extreme metal label has a catalogue of approximately 130 releases including At The Gates’ Gardens Of Grief, Holy Terror’s Terror & Submission, Nifelheim’s Servants Of Darkness and Ascension Of The Watchers’ Apocrypha.[16] In 2021 and 2022 it released new albums by Agent Steel, Lawnmower Deth and Tokyo Blade.[17] Notable catalogue acquisitions for the label in 2021 included deals for the catalogue of independent labels such as Golf, Abstract, Planet Dog and Peer Music. Artist catalogue the label now wholly or partially represent include Edward Ball (of The Times), Jah Wobble, Ron Geesin, Suzi Quatro, Miki Dallon and Dead Or Alive’s early recordings.[18][19]
In 2023 Cherry Red acquired Peter Hammill's Fie! catalogue from the Van Der Graaf Generator frontman. The Fie! imprint was an output for Hammill's solo material and Cherry Red began a reissue campaign through the Esoteric Recordings imprint.[20] In late 2023, Cherry Red announced a partnership with MVD Entertainment to represent the physical rights to Jay Records; a record label specialising in theatrical recordings of classical and musical theatre.[21] In 2024 Cherry Red began to represent the catalogue of Christian rap artistManafest.[22]
Cherry Red releasedKim Wilde's studio album Closer on 31 January 2025. A sequal to Kim's 1988 album Close, Closer reached 27 in the Official Charts Albums Chart.[23]
In May 2025 Cherry Red acquired the UK contemporary soul labelDome Records, which represents music from artists such as a Lulu, Beverley Knight, Incognito, Hil St Soul, the James Taylor Quartet, Shaun Escoffery and US artists including Brenda Russell, George Duke, Anthony David, Jarrod Lawson and Andrew Gold.[24]
In June 2008 thePillows & Prayers box set won the 'Best Catalogue Release category at that year'sMojo Honours.[25]
At the 2013 Association of Independent Music Awards, Cherry Red won the Special Catalogue Release award forScared To Get Happy - a box set that explored indie pop from 1980 to 1989.[26]
In 2014, Cherry Red artistDave Brock ofHawkwind won the Lifetime Achievement Award at the inauguralProg Progressive Music Awards. They also picked up nominations forMatt Stevens (Breakthrough Artist) and Panic Room (Best Anthem).
The 2015 Progressive Music Awards saw Genesis founderTony Banks receive the Prog God award after his solo material catalogue reissue campaign with Cherry Red that year. The label also picked up nominations[27] forJohn Lodge and Tin Spirits in the Best Anthem category, andBill Nelson andAnthony Phillips in the Storm Thorgerson Grand Design Award category.
Hawkwind'sThe Machine Stops, received a nomination for Album Of The Year in the Progressive Music Awards 2016.[28]
Cherry Red had two albums in theUK Albums Chart Top 40 in 2017. Hawkwind's studio album,Into the Woods charted at No. 34 in May[29] andthe Fall's final album,New Facts Emerge, charted at No. 35 in July.[30]
On 4 September 2018 at the AIM Independent Music Awards, Cherry Red Records Chairman, Iain McNay, won the Special Recognition Award for his service to independent music for over 40 years, as the label celebrated its 40th anniversary.[31]
Hawkwind's studio albumRoad To Utopia charted at No. 44 in the UK Albums Chart in September 2018.[32] Hawkwind's next studio album,All Aboard the Skylark, peaked at No. 34 in the UK Albums Chart in July 2019.[33]
Jim Bob, the former frontman ofCarter the Unstoppable Sex Machine, charted at No. 26 in the UK Albums Chart in August 2020 with his studio albumPop Up Jim Bob.[34] His 2021 album,Who Do We Hate Today, charted at No. 34 on the UK Albums Chart.[35]
Other UK charting albums for the label in 2021 included Hawkwind's studio albumSomnia which entered at No. 57,[36] and Kim Wilde'sPop Don't Stop: Greatest Hits, which peaked at No. 51.[37]
The full repertoire of Cherry Red associated imprint labels as of 2016:[41]
Notable compilations released by Cherry Red Records include:
From July 2018 to August 2020, Cherry Red were the main shirt sponsor forEnglish football league clubWycombe Wanderers.[42][43] They are also the longstanding stadium sponsor forLeague Two clubAFC Wimbledon, both at their originalKingsmeadow ground from 2003 and at the newPlough Lane since 2021.[44]
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