| Island Records | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Parent company | Universal Music Group (UMG) |
| Founded | 4 July 1959; 66 years ago (1959-07-04) |
| Founder | Chris Blackwell Graeme Goodall Leslie Kong |
| Distributors | Republic (US) EMI/Island UK (UK) Universal Music Group (international) Island Def Jam (France) Island Philippines (Philippines) Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (most ofIsland Pictures film library) |
| Genre | Various |
| Location |
|
| Official website | islandrecords |
Island Records is a multinationalrecord label owned byUniversal Music Group. It was founded inJamaica byChris Blackwell,Graeme Goodall, andLeslie Kong in 1959,[1] and was eventually sold toPolyGram in 1989. Island andA&M Records, another label recently acquired by PolyGram, were both at the time the largestindependent record labels in history, with Island having exerted a major influence on the progressive music scene in the United Kingdom in the early 1970s.
Island Records operates four international divisions: Island US, Island UK, Island Australia, and Island France (known as Vertigo France until 2014). Current key people include Imran Majid and Justin Eshak who were named co-CEOs of Island Records in 2021. Partially due to its significant legacy, Island remains one of UMG's pre-eminent record labels.
Island Records was founded in Jamaica on 4 July 1959 byChris Blackwell,Graeme Goodall andLeslie Kong, and financed by Stanley Borden fromRKO. Its name was inspired by theHarry Belafonte song "Island in the Sun".[2][3] Blackwell stated in 2009: "I loved music so much, I just wanted to get into it, or be as close to it as I could."[2] Blackwell's first album wasLance Hayward at the Half Moon Hotel, which was recorded in late 1959.[4]
Tom Hayes, the label's sales manager between 1965 and 1967, referred to the early period of the label in the UK as "organized chaos". The 1964 hit, "My Boy Lollipop", sung by Jamaican singerMillie Small (1947–2020), was the label's first success in the UK and led to a world tour that also involved Blackwell. In a 50th anniversary documentary, Blackwell stated that he was only interested in building long-term careers at that stage in time, rather than short-term projects.[2] Suzette Newman has been a close colleague of Chris Blackwell's since working together in the early days of Island Records, and while there she ran the Mango world music label.[5] Suzette Newman and Chris Salewicz were the editors for the bookThe Story of Island Records:Keep On Running.[6]
Blackwell relocated to England in May 1962 to garner greater levels of attention after the local Jamaican sound systems proved to be overwhelmingly successful. The label was based at a now demolished basement inKilburn,London Borough of Brent, in a property that was used bySonny Roberts'sPlanetone label and whose landlord wasLee Gopthal who would later createTrojan Records.[7][8] The vast majority of the artists who had signed to Blackwell's fledgling label while he was in Jamaica agreed to allow the musical entrepreneur to release their music in the UK. While in England, Blackwell travelled throughout the city carrying his stock with him and sold to record stores in the city. He did not provide any copies to radio stations, as they would not play any of the Island music; the music was also not reviewed by the press.[2] Meanwhile, Goodall left to start theDoctor Bird record label in 1965.[9]
Blackwell signed theSpencer Davis Group to the label (at that time, many Island releases were being distributed byPhilips/Fontana). The group became very popular and Island started their own independent series to spotlight UK rock talent. They signed artists such asJohn Martyn,Fairport Convention,Free, and greatly influenced the growingFM radio market. By the late 1960s and early 1970s, they were a major label in England with artists includingRoxy Music,King Crimson,Sparks,Traffic,the Wailers,Cat Stevens,Steve Winwood and many others. (In the US, many of their releases were licensed to A&M prior to signing up distribution deals withCapitol and laterAtlantic, and also independent distribution.)
ForToots and the Maytals, the group that introduced the term "reggae" in song with their 1968 single "Do the Reggay",[10] Chris Blackwell was the one who decided on the line-up of the group before introducing them to an international audience. Blackwell had signedBob Marley, and now Toots and the Maytals. In November 2016,Jackie Jackson described the formation of the group in a radio interview for Kool 97 FM Jamaica.[11] Accompanied byPaul Douglas and Radcliffe "Dougie" Bryan in studio, Jackson explained:
We're all original members of Toots and the Maytals band. First it was Toots and the Maytals, three guys:Toots, Raleigh, and Jerry. ... And then they were signed to Island Records, Chris Blackwell. And we were their recording band. One day we were summoned to Chris' house. And he says, "Alright gentleman, I think it's time. This Toots and the Maytals looks like it's going to be a big thing". By this time he had already signed Bob (Marley). So in his camp, Island Records, there was Toots and the Maytals], the late Bob Marley; we were talking about reggae is going international now. We kept on meeting and he (Blackwell) decided that the backing band that back all of the songs, the recording band, should be the Maytals band. So everything came under Toots and the Maytals. So we became Maytals also. And then we hit the road in 1975 ... we were the opening act for theEagles,Linda Ronstadt, andJackson Browne. We were the opening act forThe Who for about two weeks.[11][citation needed]
In 1969, Island Records acquired a deconsecrated 17th century church building at 8-10 Basing Street, in theLadbroke Grove area ofNotting Hill inWest London. The building was refurbished to create theIsland Studios recording studio, while also serving as the new location for Island Records' offices.[12]
The first Toots and the Maytals album released and distributed by Chris Blackwell's Island Records wasFunky Kingston.The Maytals had recently added a full-time backing band that included drummerPaul Douglas and bassist Jackie Jackson, and Chris Blackwell joined the group in the studio as a co-producer for the album.[13] Music criticLester Bangs described the album inStereo Review as "perfection, the most exciting and diversified set of reggae tunes by a single artist yet released."[14] As Blackwell says, "The Maytals were unlike anything else ... sensational, raw and dynamic."[15] Blackwell had a strong commitment to Toots and the Maytals, saying: "I've known Toots longer than anybody – much longer than Bob (Bob Marley). Toots is one of the purest human beings I've met in my life, pure almost to a fault."[16]
Despite the initial establishment work that Blackwell completed almost single-handedly, Island struggled as a business in the late 1970s and early 1980s.Bob Marley's 1981 death was detrimental to the label, especially after its having engineered Marley's international breakthrough only a few years earlier, while Irish rock bandU2, which had signed to Island in March 1980, was growing in popularity, but had not yet reached the international superstar status that was to come. In 1981, Blackwell also used the label to finance a new film production and distribution company, producing the filmCountryman.[17] In 1982,Paul Morley and producerTrevor Horn started theZTT label under the Island banner and Blackwell was known to approve excessive spending by the label.[1] Morley recalls in a 2009 book about Island Records:
I eventually grew to appreciate how Chris Blackwell, and therefore Island Records, was not about one thing, or one style, or one system, or one way of doing things ... [I began] reflecting how the world functions and reinvents itself precisely because it is a fluid, sometimes dangerous, always exhilarating union of systems and beliefs and the best way of allowing the world to progress is to mix up and place in glorious conflict these various systems and beliefs.[18]
In 1983, the film production company formed a partnership withShep Gordon's Alive Enterprises to form Island Alive and had success withKiss of the Spider Woman,Koyaanisqatsi, andStop Making Sense.[17] The partnership was dissolved in 1985.[17] In August 1987, the company was not able to pay US$5 million that it owed to U2 in royalties forThe Joshua Tree album, as it had diverted the funds to finance several unsuccessful films. U2 responded by negotiating a deal whereby they received a stake in the label that was estimated to be around 10 per cent.[19]
The label's4th & Broadway division, operating since the mid-1980s, achieved some success marketing alternativehip hop and dance-pop music with artists such asEric B. and Rakim and theStereo MCs. Mango (Chaka Demus and Pliers) was another Island dance-oriented subsidiary, while it was singerRobert Palmer who achieved worldwide success with the rock song "Addicted to Love" in 1986. African musicians such asKing Sunny Adé andAngélique Kidjo were also championed by Blackwell.[1]
In July 1989, Blackwell sold Island Records and Island Music to the PolyGram UK Group for £180 million;[18] he explained in 2009: "It became too big and too corporate for me and I couldn't really handle it."[citation needed] Following the sale, Island was no longer an independent company, but Blackwell was given a position on PolyGram's board and stayed on as CEO of PolyGram's new Island Entertainment division for ten years.[20] PolyGram immediately began reissuing much of the Island back catalogue on compact disc and expanded Island's reach through its global manufacturing and distribution network, but the label was relatively unfocused in the 1990s.[citation needed] Between 1993 and 1995, Island had asub-label called theIsland Red Label, which focused on independent artists.[21]
Blackwell eventually ended his association with the company in 1997, as the corporate life hindered the independent ethos of his personal life. "I never really had a job until I sold Island to PolyGram in 1989. It had gotten too corporate," he commented afterwards. After Blackwell left, PolyGram closed Island's film business.[22] Blackwell left to found thePalm Pictures company and run a chain of boutique hotels in Miami, US and the Caribbean, including the very exclusiveGoldeneye, once the Jamaican home ofJames Bond creatorIan Fleming.[2] Then in May 1998, all of PolyGram and its associated labels were purchased bySeagram which announced its plan to integrate PolyGram with UMG to produce an estimated cost savings, within a couple of years, of between US$275 million and $300 million annually. Seagram further explained that the acquisition would unite a significant international presence with a thriving domestic business, as more than three-quarters of PolyGram's sales were outside the US.[23]
In December 1998 and the first three months of 1999, UMG placed three divisions under the management of the Island brand: one in the UK, one in the US, and one in Germany.[citation needed] In each territory, these companies were merged under umbrella groups:
However, in 2001, UMG was merged with French companyVivendi S.A. to create Vivendi Universal S.A.; but the music company remains under the name Universal Music Group (UMG).[25]
In the US, Island became a predominantly pop/rock label, as their urban artists were assigned to either Def Jam or Def Soul, a new Island/Def JamR&B imprint.[citation needed] Following the takeover of Island by UMG, flagship band U2 were dissatisfied after chiefJason Iley moved to the Mercury label in the mid-2000s and signed with Mercury for the UK andInterscope Records for the US.[26] However, successful artists such asTricky andPJ Harvey were impressed by the label and signed on as artists. Tricky explained: "I knew I could get freedom. I knew I could do what I wanted to do.",[2] while Harvey later stated:
I came to work with them, sort of fully formed—the way that I looked, the way that I sounded: that was already there. And I felt, like, that they just supported where that was going to go.[2]
The label celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2009.
In 2009, Island Records marked the 50th anniversary of its foundation inJamaica by Chris Blackwell with a series of live concerts and an exhibition under the Island 50 banner. The events were a celebration of the street-cool, independent outlook and striking visual imagery at the label's creative core. These festivities centred around a week-long run of shows at Shepherd's Bush Empire andBush Hall in London. The concerts featured performances tracing the label's history from its reggae and jazz roots to the modern era. Among the artists who appeared wereSly & Robbie,Ernest Ranglin,Paul Weller,the I Threes,Aswad,Kid Creole & the Coconuts,Grace Jones,Steel Pulse,Keane,Tom Tom Club,Toots & the Maytals,the Mighty Diamonds, Yusuf Islam/Cat Stevens,Bombay Bicycle Club,Baaba Maal andU2.[27] Another Island 50 tribute event was held over four nights at theMontreux Jazz Festival in Switzerland, withMarianne Faithfull, Grace Jones and Sly & Robbie all appearing, and Chris Blackwell holding a Question & Answer session.[citation needed]
There was also a major exhibition at theVinyl Factory Gallery in Soho, held in an open space beneath the record shop Phonica. The exhibition featured a display of treasured musical artefacts, including theTrabant car from the sleeve ofU2'sAchtung Baby,Nick Drake's guitar, the dress worn byAmy Winehouse at the 2008 Grammy Awards, the handwritten lyric sheet for Winehouse's song "Love Is a Losing Game" and Bob Marley's passport application form. The exhibition contained 800 prints showcasing the work for Island of the photographers Adrian Boot,Jean-Paul Goude,Anton Corbijn,Gered Mankowitz,Keith Morris and Brian Cooke, and the London exhibition also featured live performances at the Vinyl Factory Gallery byDJ Shadow andPJ Harvey.[citation needed]
Following its 50th anniversary in 2009, Island Records entered its sixth decade on a tide of optimism. The years that followed saw fresh success for a number of established acts, includingPJ Harvey,Keane,Paul Weller andBombay Bicycle Club and an exciting wave of new signings. In its largest live production since its 2009 anniversary, the label also staged a concert bythe Weeknd andJack Garratt onOsea Island, a small island inEssex, as part of a bespoke one-day festival for 400 guests, including label staff, media and 200 fans who obtained tickets via a ballot. in this same year Island Records appointedMark DiDia as the new executive vice-president and general manager of Island Records.[28]
2016 proved a particularly successful year for the label in the UK: over a seven-week period between April and June, four separate Island acts spent at least one week at number one. The albums concerned werePJ Harvey'sThe Hope Six Demolition Project,Drake'sViews (which spent two weeks at number one),Ariana Grande'sDangerous Woman andCatfish and the Bottlemen'sThe Ride.
PJ Harvey's eighth studio album, 2011'sLet England Shake, was one of the key records of Island's sixth decade. Made in a cliff-top church inDorset, it won the 2011Mercury Music Prize, making Harvey the only artist to land the prestigious award twice (she had prevailed ten years previously withStories From The City, Stories From The Sea).Mumford & Sons, who grew out of a series of jam sessions in London in 2007, signed a licensing deal with Island in 2009. Heralded as standard bearers for a vibrant new wave of folkish, countrified rock, their debut album,Sigh No More, sold two million, reaching number two in Britain and America. It also won best British album at theBRIT Awards in February 2011. The follow-up,Babel, did even better in 2012, becoming the UK's fastest-selling album of that year, going to number one in Britain and the US and winning album of the year at the 2013Grammy Awards. Island also secured the signing of Englishindie rock bandFlorence and the Machine whose debut studio albumLungs (2009) sold four million copies, and spent over 12 months on theUK Albums Chart before being crowned British Album Of The Year at the 2010 BRIT Awards ceremony.Lungs was followed by the studio albumsCeremonials (2011), andHow Big, How Blue, How Beautiful (2015).
Keane were another of the big successes of Island's sixth decade. Having topped the charts with their five million-selling debut albumHopes and Fears in 2004, they went on to secure five consecutive number-one albums in the UK (a feat bettered only byThe Beatles), with subsequent releasesUnder the Iron Sea (2006),Perfect Symmetry (2008),Night Train (2010) andStrangeland (2012) all topping the charts.Paul Weller's relationship with Island dates back to his fourth solo album, 1997'sHeavy Soul, and its 2000 follow-upHeliocentric. He returned to the label in 2008 and began an outstanding trilogy of releases that contained some of his strongest solo work22 Dreams (2008), theMercury Music Prize-nominatedWake Up The Nation (2010) andSonik Kicks (2012).
North London quartetBombay Bicycle Club also released four albums on Island, with each one signalling a change of direction: the indie-rock of 2009'sI Had The Blues But I Shook Them Loose paved the way for 2010's folkierFlaws, the modern rock of 2011'sA Different Kind Of Fix and the broad-based invention of 2014'sSo Long, See You Tomorrow. Having built a loyal live following,Catfish & The Bottlemen signed to Island in 2014. After reaching platinum sales status in the UK with their Top Ten debut album,The Balcony, the Welsh rock band won the BBC Introducing Award at the firstBBC Music Awards in 2014 and were crowned British Breakthrough Act at theBRIT Awards in 2016 (an award voted for byRadio 1 listeners). Their second album, 2016'sThe Ride, was a UK number one.
Island was also responsible for securing major British breakthroughs for two of the 21st century's biggest international superstars inDrake andThe Weeknd. The success of Toronto hip-hop artist Drake came after the label had worked patiently to build his profile over a number of years, culminating in the success of his fourth albumViews and its attendant singles in 2016. "One Dance", Drake's first number one single in the UK, had 1.95 million sales[29] to become Britain's biggest-selling single of 2016. The single's 15-week run at number one equalled the mark for the second longest in UK chart history. With the Island-signedMike Posner having held the number one spot with "I Took a Pill in Ibiza" for four consecutive weeks before being replaced by "One Dance", Island held the top spot in the UK singles chart for 19 consecutive weeks between March and August 2016. To crown a record-breaking year, Drake was named the world's best-selling recording artist of 2016 by international music industry organisationIFPI in February 2017.
Canadian singer and songwriterThe Weeknd also cemented his position as one of the world's leading recording artists, with the 2016 success of his third albumStarboy. Its success was the culmination of a strategy that had seen Island build his UK profile over a four-year period that dated from his 2013 studio albumKiss Land. Island's commitment to further nurturing the careers of global superstars was reiterated in June 2016 with the signing ofSean Paul. The Jamaican singer, rapper and songwriter released "No Lie" (featuring the Youngest English-AlbanianDua Lipa), his first single for Island, in November 2016.
Signed to Island via a licensing deal with independent label PMR,Disclosure were formed by two brothers fromReigate inSurrey, Guy and Howard Lawrence. The duo discovered the joys of ninetieshouse,techno andtwo-step garage while studying music production at college, and went on to enjoy success with their two Island albumsSettle (2013) andCaracal (2015), making extensive use of an array of guest vocalists includingSam Smith,Jamie Woon,Eliza Doolittle,Lorde andGregory Porter. One of the acts who guested onSettle wasAlunaGeorge, a boy-girl duo from London (singer Aluna Francis and musician and producer George Reid), who released their debut album,Body Music, on Island in 2013. Like Disclosure,Jessie Ware signed to Island through a link with independent labelPMR. A soulful singer-songwriter from Brixton, Ware was nominated for the 2012Mercury Music Prize with her smooth debut album,Devotion, and enjoyed further success with 2014'sTough Love. Another Island act to enjoy a significant breakthrough was Yorkshire singerJohn Newman, who topped the UK charts with his first solo single, "Love Me Again", and his debut albumTribute.
In May 2018, incumbent presidentDavid Massey left Island to joinSony Music Entertainment's relaunch ofArista Records.Darcus Beese,OBE took on the role of president upon Massey's departure. To make the transition, Beese relocated from the United Kingdom to Island's offices atUniversal Music Group's New York City building.[30]
In June 2021, Imran Majid and Justin Eshak were named co-CEOs of Island Records. They assumed the position on 1 January 2022.[31]
On 23 July 2020, Universal Music Group and its local subsidiaryMCA Music launchedIsland Records Philippines, the firstSoutheast Asian branch of the 61-year old label.[32][33][34] The Philippines branch is led by formerSony Music Philippines and Sindikato Management executive Enzo Valdez.
2021 saw Island sign American singer and actressSabrina Carpenter.[35] She released her first single under the label,"Skin", on 22 January 2021.[36] The song peaked at number 48 and 33 on theBillboard Hot 100 and theBillboard Global 200, becoming her first entry on both charts.[37][38] Since signing with the label, she has gone on to have a major worldwide breakthrough, releasing three hit albums:Emails I Can't Send (2022),Short n' Sweet (2024) andMan's Best Friend (2025).[39]
Island World Communications, under the leadership of Blackwell and Andy Frain, createdManga Entertainment Ltd, the anime and live action Japanese film division of Island in 1991.[40][41][42][43] and the distribution of what was the label's first release is considered a crucial milestone in the establishment of anime in the UK.[44] In 1994, Island sold the distribution licences for most of Manga's releases to Siren Entertainment, an independent entertainment company in Australia. Those rights were then given to Madman Entertainment in 1999 when Siren became solely an acquisitions company.[citation needed]
The recording roster of Island Records, both past and present, has been and continues to be diverse. The label continues to champion new music, a practice that was highlighted at the Island Records 50th anniversary event, at which new artists provided the entertainment.[45]
This list is probably incomplete, and some of the dates are uncertain.
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| Artists | |
| Other | |
