Chrysalis Records was a British record label

Record label

In the music industry, a record label is a brand and a trademark associated with the marketing of music recordings and music videos. Most commonly, a record label is the company that manages such brands and trademarks, coordinates the production, manufacture, distribution, marketing and promotion,...

 that was created in 1969. The name was both a reference to the pupal stage of a butterfly and a combination of its founders names, Chris Wright and Terry Ellis

Terry Ellis (manager)

Terry Ellis is an English record producer and manager best known for his early work with Jethro Tull, and as co-founder of Chrysalis Music in 1969....

. It started as the Ellis-Wright Agency.

Brief background

Chrysalis was formed through a licensing deal with Chris Blackwell

Chris Blackwell

Christopher Percy Gordon "Chris" Blackwell is a British record producer and businessman, who was the founder of Island Records, acknowledged as the most successful and groundbreaking independent record company in history. Blackwell has been a music industry mogul for over fifty years...

's Island Records

Island Records

Island Records is a record label that was founded by Chris Blackwell in Jamaica. It was based in the United Kingdom for many years and is now owned by Universal Music Group...

 based on the success of bands like Jethro Tull

Jethro Tull (band)

Jethro Tull are a British rock group formed in 1967. Their music is characterised by the vocals, acoustic guitar, and flute playing of Ian Anderson, who has led the band since its founding, and the guitar work of Martin Barre, who has been with the band since 1969.Initially playing blues rock with...

, Cat Stevens

Cat Stevens

Yusuf Islam , commonly known by his former stage name Cat Stevens, is an English singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, educator, philanthropist, and prominent convert to Islam....

, Robin Trower

Robin Trower

Robin Leonard Trower , known professionally as Robin Trower, is an English rock guitarist who achieved success with Procol Harum during the 1960s, and then again as the bandleader of his own power trio.-Biography:...

 and Procol Harum

Procol Harum

Procol Harum are a British rock band, formed in 1967, which contributed to the development of progressive rock, and by extension, symphonic rock. Their best-known recording is their 1967 single "A Whiter Shade of Pale"...

, which were promoted by the label. Jethro Tull signed with Reprise Records

Reprise Records

Reprise Records is an American record label, founded in 1960 by Frank Sinatra. It is owned by Warner Music Group, and operated through Warner Bros. Records.-Beginnings:...

 in the United States, which led Chrysalis to an American distribution deal with Reprise's parent company, Warner Bros. Records

Warner Bros. Records

Warner Bros. Records Inc. is an American record label. It was the foundation label of the present-day Warner Music Group, and now operates as a wholly owned subsidiary of that corporation. It maintains a close relationship with its former parent, Warner Bros. Pictures, although the two companies...

. This lasted from 1972 until U.S. Chrysalis switched to independent distribution in 1976. PolyGram

PolyGram

PolyGram was the name of the major label recording company started by Philips from as a holding company for its music interests in 1945. In 1999 it was sold to Seagram and merged into Universal Music Group.-Hollandsche Decca Distributie , 1929-1950:...

 handled international distribution and Festival Records covered Australia and New Zealand. Towards the end of the 1970s, the Chrysalis offshoot 2 Tone Records

2 Tone Records

2 Tone Records was an English record label that mostly released ska and reggae-influenced music with a punk rock and pop music overtone.-History:...

 brought in bands such as The Specials

The Specials

The Specials are an English 2 Tone ska revival band formed in 1977 in Coventry, England. Their music combines a "danceable ska and rocksteady beat with punk's energy and attitude", and had a "more focused and informed political and social stance" than other ska groups...

 and The Selecter

The Selecter

The Selecter are a 2 Tone ska revival band from Coventry, England, formed in mid 1979.Like many other bands in the ska revival movement, The Selecter featured a racially diverse line-up. Their lyrics featured themes connected to politics and marijuana, set to strong melodies and a danceable beat...

.

In 1979 Chrysalis bought and distributed the U.S. folk label Takoma Records

Takoma Records

Takoma Records was a small but influential record label founded by John Fahey in the late 1950s.. It was named after Fahey's hometown, the Washington, D.C. suburb of Takoma Park, Maryland.-History:...

, naming manager/producer Denny Bruce

Denny Bruce

Denny Bruce is an American record producer and artist manager. He was born in Lancaster, PA on October 4, 1944.In the early 60s, he was a drummer for Frank Zappa but suffered a six-month illness with mononucleosis which cost him his job prior to the recording of Zappa's first album with The Mothers...

 as president, who signed The Fabulous Thunderbirds and T-Bone Burnett.

Chrysalis made history in 1979 by creating the first "music video album", a videocassette featuring a corresponding music video for each song on Blondie

Blondie (band)

Blondie is an American rock band, founded by singer Deborah Harry and guitarist Chris Stein. The band was a pioneer in the early American New Wave and punk scenes of the mid-1970s...

's Eat to the Beat

Eat to the Beat

Eat to the Beat is the fourth studio album by the American rock band Blondie. It reached no.1 on the UK album charts in October 1979, no.9 in Australia and no.17 in the US.-History:...

album (released at the same time as the LP).

The 1980s

In the 1980s, Chrysalis was at the forefront of the British New Romantic

New Romantic

New Romanticism , was a pop culture movement in the United Kingdom that began around 1979 and peaked around 1981. Developing in London nightclubs such as Billy's and The Blitz and spreading to other major cities in the UK, it was based around flamboyant, eccentric fashion and new wave music...

 movement with bands such as Ultravox

Ultravox

Ultravox is a British New Wave rock band. They were one of the primary exponents of the British electronic pop music movement of the late 1970s/early 1980s. The band was particularly associated with the New Romantic and New Wave movements....

 and Spandau Ballet

Spandau Ballet

Spandau Ballet are a British band formed in London in the late 1970s. Initially inspired by, and an integral part of, the New Romantic fashion, their music has featured a mixture of funk, jazz, soul and synthpop. They were one of the most successful bands of the 1980s, achieving ten Top Ten singles...

.

The '80s proved to be the most successful time for the label, whose roster then included arena-fillers Billy Idol

Billy Idol

William Michael Albert Broad , better known by his stage name Billy Idol, is an English rock musician. A member of the Bromley Contingent of Sex Pistols fans, Idol first achieved fame in the punk rock era as a member of the band Generation X...

 and Pat Benatar

Pat Benatar

Pat Benatar is an American singer and four-time Grammy winner. She had considerable commercial success particularly in the United States...

, seminal new-wavers Blondie

Blondie (band)

Blondie is an American rock band, founded by singer Deborah Harry and guitarist Chris Stein. The band was a pioneer in the early American New Wave and punk scenes of the mid-1970s...

 and top 40 "hit machines" like Huey Lewis and the News

Huey Lewis and the News

Huey Lewis and the News is an American rock band based in San Francisco, California. They had a run of hit singles during the 1980s and early 1990s, eventually scoring a total of 19 top-ten singles across the Billboard Hot 100, Adult Contemporary and Mainstream Rock charts...

. Chrysalis also distributed Animal Records, the short-lived label founded by Blondie

Blondie (band)

Blondie is an American rock band, founded by singer Deborah Harry and guitarist Chris Stein. The band was a pioneer in the early American New Wave and punk scenes of the mid-1970s...

 guitarist Chris Stein

Chris Stein

Christopher "Chris" Stein is co-founder and guitarist in the New Wave band, Blondie. He is also a producer and performer for the classic soundtrack of the hip hop film Wild Style....

. In early 1983 Daniel Glass

Daniel Glass

Daniel Glass is an American music industry executive whose output has included work with artists Billy Idol, Wilson Phillips, Sinéad O'Connor, Jon Secada, Warren Zevon, Blur, Goldfinger, Reel Big Fish, Erykah Badu, Baha Men, Kurupt, Susan Tedeschi, The Pretenders, Zakk Wylde’s Black Label Society,...

 moved to Chrysalis as Director of New Music Marketing, advancing later to Senior Vice President.

EMI era

The Chrysalis Records label was sold 50% in 1990, then the remaining half in 1991 to EMI

EMI

The EMI Group, also known as EMI Music or simply EMI, is a multinational music company headquartered in London, United Kingdom. It is the fourth-largest business group and family of record labels in the recording industry and one of the "big four" record companies. EMI Group also has a major...

 with catalogue and artists such as Starsailor

Starsailor (band)

Starsailor is an English post-britpop band, formed in Leigh, Warrington and Greater Manchester. By 2009, they had four charting albums and ten Top 40 singles in the UK since 2001.-Early history:...

 being shifted to the main EMI

EMI

The EMI Group, also known as EMI Music or simply EMI, is a multinational music company headquartered in London, United Kingdom. It is the fourth-largest business group and family of record labels in the recording industry and one of the "big four" record companies. EMI Group also has a major...

 imprints. Chrysalis Records folded into EMI subsidiary & flagship label EMI Records

EMI Records

EMI Records is the flagship record label founded by the EMI company in 1972 and launched in January 1973 as the successor to its Columbia label. The EMI label was launched worldwide...

 in 2005.

For a full overview of the remaining activities, see Chrysalis Group

Chrysalis Group

Chrysalis Group is a UK media company. It was founded by Chris Wright, who remains chairman and was listed the 1,000th richest person in the UK in The Times Rich List 2009...

. These included music publishing, radio, books and ringtones for mobile phones.

Artists

• Mick Abrahams
  Mick Abrahams
  Michael Timothy 'Mick' Abrahams was the original guitarist for Jethro Tull. He recorded the album This Was with the band in 1968, but conflicts between Abrahams and Ian Anderson over the musical direction of the band led Abrahams to leave once the album was finished...
  
  /Mick Abrahams Band
  Mick Abrahams
  Michael Timothy 'Mick' Abrahams was the original guitarist for Jethro Tull. He recorded the album This Was with the band in 1968, but conflicts between Abrahams and Ian Anderson over the musical direction of the band led Abrahams to leave once the album was finished...
  
  
• Adam F
  Adam F
  Adam F is an English jungle and drum and bass DJ, and film actor.-Career:An early album was the techstep effort, Metropolis/Mother Earth, released in 1997 on the Metalheadz record label. His other early successes were the tracks "F-Jam" and "Circles"...
  
  
• Ian Anderson
  Ian Anderson
  Ian Anderson may refer to:* In music:**Ian Anderson , head of the rock band Jethro Tull**Ian A. Anderson , folk musician and editor of Roots magazine**Ian M...
  
  
• The Angels
  The Angels (Australian band)
  The Angels are a hard rock band that formed in Adelaide, Australia in 1970. The band later relocated from Adelaide to Sydney and enjoyed huge local success until well into the 1990s. For the purposes of international release, their records were released under the names Angel City and later The...
  
   / Angel City
  The Angels (Australian band)
  The Angels are a hard rock band that formed in Adelaide, Australia in 1970. The band later relocated from Adelaide to Sydney and enjoyed huge local success until well into the 1990s. For the purposes of international release, their records were released under the names Angel City and later The...
  
  
• Armored Saint
  Armored Saint
  -Early career:Armored Saint was formed in 1982 by brothers Phil Sandoval and Gonzo Sandoval , and guitarist David Prichard, while attending South Pasadena High School. Next to join were singer John Bush also a South Pasadena High School Alumni and bassist Joey Vera...
  
  
• Arrested Development
  Arrested Development (hip hop group)
  Arrested Development is an American alternative hip hop group, founded by Speech and Headliner as a positive, Afrocentric alternative to the gangsta rap popular in the early 1990s.-History:...
  
  
• Arrow
  Arrow (band)
  Arrow is a male vocalist from Monserrat who had two UK chart singles during the 1980s. "Hot Hot Hot" was released on the Cooltempo label, and entered the charts on 28 July 1984. It reached a high of number 59, and remained in the chart for five weeks...
  
  
• Art of Noise
• Auracle
• Bahamadia
  Bahamadia
  Bahamadia is a Philadelphia-born hip hop artist born in 1970, and a DJ who later became an MC. As a member of Gang Starr Foundation, she released her critically acclaimed debut album entitled Kollage in 1996. The album featured production by Guru and DJ Premier of Gang Starr...
  
  
• The Babys
  The Babys
  The Babys were a British rock/pop group best known for their songs "Isn't It Time," and "Every Time I Think of You." Both songs were composed by Jack Conrad and Ray Kennedy, and reached #13 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart in the late 1970s...
  
  
• Claudja Barry
  Claudja Barry
  Claudja Barry, is a singer and actress who has performed in the European versions of the stage musicals Hair and Catch My Soul.-Early music career:...
  
  
• Edyta Bartosiewicz
  Edyta Bartosiewicz
  Edyta Bartosiewicz is a Polish rock singer, composer and songwriter. Her career has been awarded by five Fryderyks. In Poland, she's known for her highly reflective and unusual lyrics.- Early career :...
  
  
• Toni Basil
  Toni Basil
  Antonia Christina Basilotta , better known by her stage name Toni Basil, is an American singer-songwriter, actress, filmmaker, film director, choreographer, and dancer, best known for her multi-million-selling worldwide #1 hit "Mickey" from 1982.-Early life:Basil was born Antonia Christina...
  
  
• Bedlam
• Pat Benatar
  Pat Benatar
  Pat Benatar is an American singer and four-time Grammy winner. She had considerable commercial success particularly in the United States...
  
  
• The Bible
  The Bible (band)
  The Bible are an English rock band. The band released two critically acclaimed albums in the mid 1980s and are best known for the independent chart hits "Graceland" and "Mahalia"...
  
  
• Rory Block
  Rory Block
  -Festival appearances:*Long Beach Blues Festival - 1993*San Francisco Blues Festival - 1999*Notodden Blues Festival - 2006-See also:*List of blues musicians*List of contemporary blues musicians*List of Austin City Limits performers-External links:****...
  
  
• Blodwyn Pig
  Blodwyn Pig
  Blodwyn Pig were a British blues–rock group founded by guitarist–vocalist–songwriter Mick Abrahams, after he left Jethro Tull in 1968 due to a falling-out with Tull leader Ian Anderson.-Career:...
  
  
• Blonde on Blonde
  Blonde on Blonde (band)
  Blonde on Blonde was a guitar-led psychedelic rock group from South Wales.The band was originally formed in Newport in 1967 by vocalist/guitarist Ralph Denyer, drummer Les Hicks, bassist/organist Richard Hopkins and guitarist/sitar player Gareth Johnson...
  
  
• Blondie
  Blondie (band)
  Blondie is an American rock band, founded by singer Deborah Harry and guitarist Chris Stein. The band was a pioneer in the early American New Wave and punk scenes of the mid-1970s...
  
  
• The Blue Aeroplanes
  The Blue Aeroplanes
  The Blue Aeroplanes are an English rock band from Bristol, the mainstays of which: Gerard Langley, brother John Langley and dancer Wojtek Dmochowski originate from the earlier New Wave “Art band” Art Objects .-History:...
  
  
• Len Boone
• Broken Glass
• Gary Brooker
  Gary Brooker
  Gary Brooker, MBE, is an English singer, songwriter, pianist and founder of the rock band Procol Harum. Brooker was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire in the Queen's Birthday Honours on 14 June 2003, in recognition of his charitable services.-Early life:Brooker was born in...
  
  
• Enrique Bunbury
  Enrique Bunbury
  Enrique Ortiz de Landázuri Izardui , born August 11, 1967 is a Spanish rock singer-songwriter.Bunbury was born in Zaragoza, Spain. He got involved in music in the early 1980s, making his debut in a high school band called Apocalipsis, and later played along with Proceso Entrópico...
  
  
• Butt Trumpet
  Butt Trumpet
  Butt Trumpet was a Los Angeles punk band that was known more for its crass lyrics and deliberately offensive style than its music. The group featured two bassists among its members...
  
  
• Cajun Moon
  Cajun Moon
  "Cajun Moon is a 1986 single written by Jim Rushing and recorded Ricky Skaggs. "Cajun Moon" was Ricky Skaggs' tenth number one on the country chart. The single went to number one for one week and spent thirteen weeks on the country chart ....
  
  
• Belinda Carlisle
  Belinda Carlisle
  Belinda Jo Carlisle is an American singer who gained worldwide fame as the lead vocalist of the Go-Go's, one of the most successful all-female bands and the first such group whose members wrote their own songs and played their own instruments...
  
  
• Paul Carrack
  Paul Carrack
  Paul Carrack is an English singer, songwriter and musician. Carrack has been a member of several bands including Ace, Squeeze, Mike + The Mechanics, and Roxy Music, been a session and touring musician for several others including Nick Lowe, and has enjoyed success as a solo artist as well...
  
  
• Catherine Wheel
  Catherine Wheel
  Catherine Wheel were a four-piece alternative rock band from Great Yarmouth, England. The band was active from 1990 to 2000, experiencing fluctuating levels of commercial success, and embarking on many lengthy tours.-Biography:...
  
  
• Carter USM
  Carter USM
  Carter the Unstoppable Sex Machine is a British indie rock band formed in 1988 by singer Jim "Jim Bob" Morrison and guitarist Les "Fruitbat" Carter. They made their name with a distinctive style of power pop, fusing samples, sequenced basses and drum machines with rock 'n' roll guitars and...
  
  
• Chick Churchill
  Chick Churchill
  Chick Churchill is the keyboard player of the British late 1960s to 70s rock band, Ten Years After.-Career:...
  
  
• Child's Play
  Child's Play (band)
  Child's Play is a hard rock band from East Baltimore, Maryland. The group was formed in 1983 in with Larry Hinshaw , Brian Jack , Phil Wiser , Jimmy Shafer , and Steve Albinak . The group quickly evolved with the addition of John Allen on drums and Nicky Kay on lead guitar...
  
  
• Clouds
  Clouds (60s rock band)
  Clouds were a 1960s Scottish rock band that disbanded in October 1971. The band consisted of Ian Ellis , Harry Hughes and Billy Ritchie .- Early days: The Premiers :...
  
  
• Alice Cohen
  Alice Cohen
  Alice Cohen is a New York City based American singer, songwriter and fine artist.-The Vels:Cohen is best known for her years as the primary songwriter and lead singer of The Vels, the Philadelphia band she co-created in the early 1980s. They were signed in 1984 to the Mercury label under which...
  
  
• The Colourfield
  The Colourfield
  The Colourfield were a British band formed in 1984 in Manchester, when former Specials and Fun Boy Three frontman, Terry Hall, joined up with ex-Swinging Cats members Toby Lyons and Karl Shale...
  
  
• D Generation
  D Generation
  D Generation are an American glam punk band formed in 1991 in New York City. The band broke up in 1999, but will reunite in 2011 for shows. During its history the band released three albums, to much critical acclaim...
  
  
• Daddy Freddy
  Daddy Freddy
  S. Frederick Small , better known as Daddy Freddy is a ragga vocalist.-Early life:Small was born in Kingston, Jamaica and grew up in the city's Trenchtown district. His house was a few minutes walk from Coxsone Dodd's influential record studio Studio One.His neighbours were Jacob Miller and...
  
  
• Jimmy Destri
  Jimmy Destri
  Jimmy Destri is an American musician. He played keyboards in the rock band Blondie, and is one of the principal songwriters for the band along with Chris Stein and Deborah Harry. Destri stopped touring with the band in 2004, but remained an official member of the band for several more years...
  
  
• Device
  Device (band)
  Device was a short-lived American pop-rock trio formed by keyboardist, bassist and vocalist Holly Knight, vocalist Paul Engemann and guitarist Gene Black....
  
  
• Divinyls
  Divinyls
  Divinyls were an Australian rock band formed in Sydney in 1980 and featuring vocalist Christina Amphlett and guitarist Mark McEntee. As the focal point, Amphlett performed on stage wearing a school uniform and fishnet stockings, often using an illuminated neon tube as a prop and displaying...
  
  
• Micky Dolenz
  Micky Dolenz
  George Michael "Micky" Dolenz, Jr. is an American actor, musician, television director, radio personality and theater director, best known as a member of the 1960s made-for-television band The Monkees.-Biography:...
  
  
• The Fabulous Thunderbirds
  The Fabulous Thunderbirds
  The Fabulous Thunderbirds are an American, Grammy-nominated Blues rock band, formed in 1974.-Career:After performing for several years in the Austin, Texas blues scene, the band won a recording contract with Takoma/Chrysalis Records, and later on signed with Epic Records.Their first two albums,...
  
  
• Feline
• Flash Fearless vs. the Zorg Women
• Matt Fretton
• Fun Boy Three
  Fun Boy Three
  Fun Boy Three were a short-lived but successful English New Wave Pop band which ran from 1981 to 1983 and was formed by singers Terry Hall, Neville Staple and Lynval Golding after they left The Specials.-History:...
  
  
• Fun Lovin' Criminals
  Fun Lovin' Criminals
  The Fun Lovin' Criminals is an American alternative hip hop / alternative rock group from New York City. Their musical style is primarily eclectic, covering styles such as hip hop, rock, funk, blues and jazz. Their songs often deal with life in New York City, as well as urban life in general...
  
  
• Rory Gallagher
  Rory Gallagher
  William Rory Gallagher, ; 2 March 1948  – 14 June 1995, was an Irish blues-rock multi-instrumentalist, songwriter, and bandleader. Born in Ballyshannon, County Donegal, Ireland, and raised in Cork, Gallagher recorded solo albums throughout the 1970s and 1980s, after forming the band Taste...
  
  
• Lee Garrett
  Lee Garrett
  Lee Garrett is an American rhythm and blues singer-songwriter, most famous for co-writing the song "Signed, Sealed, Delivered I'm Yours".-Career:...
  
  
• Gang Starr
  Gang Starr
  Gang Starr was an influential East Coast hip hop duo that consisted of the late MC Guru and DJ/producer DJ Premier. Their style combined elements of New York jazz and hip hop.-Background:...
  
  
• Generation X
  Generation X (band)
  Generation X was a British punk rock band, formed on 21 November 1976 by Billy Idol, Tony James and John Towe.-History:...
  
  /Gen X
  Generation X (band)
  Generation X was a British punk rock band, formed on 21 November 1976 by Billy Idol, Tony James and John Towe.-History:...
  
  
• Gentle Giant
  Gentle Giant
  Gentle Giant were a British progressive rock band active between 1970 and 1980. The band was known for the complexity and sophistication of its music and for the varied musical skills of its members. All of the band members, except the first two drummers, were multi-instrumentalists...
  
   (except US and Canada)
• Ghost Dance
  Ghost Dance (band)
  Ghost Dance were a British gothic rock and post-punk band. formed in 1985 by Gary Marx and Anne-Marie Hurst as both were leaving their respective bands...
  
  
• Nick Gilder
  Nick Gilder
  Nicholas George "Nick" Gilder , is an English-Canadian musician who first came to prominence as the frontman for the glam rock band Sweeney Todd. He later had a successful solo career as a singer as well as a songwriter.-Biography:...
  
  
• Go West
  Go West (band)
  Go West is an English pop duo, formed in 1982 by lead vocalist and drummer Peter Cox ; and guitarist and vocalist Richard Drummie...
  
  
• Phillip Goodhand-Tait
  Phillip Goodhand-Tait
  Phillip Goodhand-Tait is a singer-songwriter, record producer and keyboard player.-Life and career:Goodhand-Tait is his real surname, although at school and into the mid 1960s, he was known as Phil Tait. His mother taught piano and his father was an active Trades Unionist...
  
  
• Bobcat Goldthwait
  Bobcat Goldthwait
  Robert Francis "Bobcat" Goldthwait is an American actor, comedian, screenwriter, and film and television director. He is commonly known for his energetic, ravenous stage personality, his dark, acerbic black comedy, and his gruff but high-pitched voice.- Early life :Goldthwait was born in Syracuse,...
  
  
• Grand Prix
• David Grant
  David Grant (singer)
  David Grant is an English pop singer and celebrity vocal coach.-Career:Grant became famous in the early 1980s as a member of UK soul/funk duo, Linx, whose biggest hit was Intuition in 1981. He began a solo career in 1983 with the Top 40 hit "Stop and Go"...
  
  
• The Great Fiction
• Max Gronenthal
• Guru
  Guru (rapper)
  Keith Edward Elam , better known by his stage name Guru, was an American emcee and member of the hip-hop duo Gang Starr, along with DJ Premier. He was born in Roxbury, Massachusetts...
  
  
• Steve Hackett
  Steve Hackett
  Stephen Richard Hackett is a British singer-songwriter and guitarist. He gained prominence as a member of the British progressive rock group Genesis, which he joined in 1970 and left in 1977 to pursue a solo career...
  
   (US)
• Geri Halliwell
  Geri Halliwell
  Geraldine Estelle "Geri" Halliwell is an English pop singer-songwriter, author and actress. After coming to international prominence in the late 1990s as Ginger Spice, a member of the girl group the Spice Girls, Halliwell launched her solo career in 1998 and released her album Schizophonic...
  
  
• Paul Hardcastle
  Paul Hardcastle
  Paul Hardcastle is an English composer and musician, specialising in the synthesizer.-Discography:In the early 1980s, Hardcastle played the keyboards on several singles on the Oval record label by the dance music groups Direct Drive and First Light, before going solo.He achieved some acclaim for...
  
  
• Roy Harper
  Roy Harper
  Roy Harper is an English folk / rock singer-songwriter and guitarist who has been a professional musician since the mid 1960s...
  
   (US)
• Debbie Harry
  Debbie Harry
  Deborah Ann "Debbie" Harry is an American singer-songwriter and actress, best known for being the lead singer of the punk rock and new wave band Blondie. She has also had success as a solo artist, and in the mid-1990s she performed and recorded as part of The Jazz Passengers...
  
  
• Chesney Hawkes
  Chesney Hawkes
  Chesney Lee Hawkes , is an English pop singer, songwriter, and occasional actor. He is best known for his 1991 single "The One and Only", which topped the charts in the UK and reached the Top 10 in the U.S.-Life and career:...
  
  
• Boo Hewerdine
  Boo Hewerdine
  Boo Hewerdine is an English singer-songwriter. His work includes lead singer and creative force behind The Bible, formed in the 1980s, and reformed in 1994, as well as solo recordings and work for film. He lives in Ely....
  
  
• Housemartins
• Ian Hunter
  Ian Hunter (singer)
  Ian Hunter Patterson is an English singer-songwriter. He was the lead singer of the English rock band Mott the Hoople from its inception in 1969 to its dissolution in 1974, and he again fronted them at the time of their 2009 reunion. Hunter was a musician and songwriter before Mott The Hoople, and...
  
  
• Icehouse
  Icehouse (band)
  Icehouse is an Australian rock band, formed as Flowers in 1977 in Sydney. Initially known in Australia for their pub rock style, they later achieved mainstream success playing new wave and synthpop style music and attained Top Ten singles chart success in both Europe and the U.S...
  
  
• Billy Idol
  Billy Idol
  William Michael Albert Broad , better known by his stage name Billy Idol, is an English rock musician. A member of the Bromley Contingent of Sex Pistols fans, Idol first achieved fame in the punk rock era as a member of the band Generation X...
  
  
• Innocence
  Innocence (band)
  Innocence was a British R&B band fronted by Gee Morris, that achieved some success in the UK in the early 1990s.Masterminded by the production team of Anna Jolley, Mark Jolley and Brian Harris, Innocence's sound was similar to then-popular group Soul II Soul, but also addied elements of downtempo...
  
  
• Jazz Got Soul
• Jellybean
  John Benitez
  John Benitez, better known as "Jellybean Benitez" is an American drummer, guitarist, songwriter, DJ, remixer and music producer of Puerto Rican descent...
  
  
• Jethro Tull
  Jethro Tull (band)
  Jethro Tull are a British rock group formed in 1967. Their music is characterised by the vocals, acoustic guitar, and flute playing of Ian Anderson, who has led the band since its founding, and the guitar work of Martin Barre, who has been with the band since 1969.Initially playing blues rock with...
  
  
• Joan Jett
  Joan Jett
  Joan Jett is an American rock guitarist, singer, songwriter, producer and actress.She is best known for her work with Joan Jett & the Blackhearts including their hit cover "I Love Rock 'n' Roll", which was #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 from March 20 to May 1, 1982, as well as for their other popular...
  
  
• Bob Johnson
  Bob Johnson (musician)
  Robert "Bob" Johnson is a British guitarist formerly in the electric folk band Steeleye Span from 1972–77 and again from 1980-2001....
  
   & Pete Knight
• Mickey Jupp
  Mickey Jupp
  Michael 'Mickey' Jupp is an English musician and songwriter, mainly associated with the Southend music scene....
  
  
• Kino
  Kino
  Kino may refer to:In film and theatre:* Kino , a worldwide group of amateur filmmakers* Kino Flo, a manufacturer of lighting equipment for use in motion pictures.* Kino International, a movie theater in Berlin...
  
  
• Kiss Like This
• Leo Kottke
  Leo Kottke
  Leo Kottke is an acoustic guitarist. He is widely known for his innovative fingerpicking style, which draws on influences from blues, jazz, and folk music, and his syncopated, polyphonic melodies...
  
  
• Greg Lake
  Greg Lake
  Gregory Stuart "Greg" Lake is an English musician, songwriter and producer, best known as a vocalist and bassist of King Crimson, and the bassist, guitarist, vocalist, and lyricist of Emerson, Lake & Palmer.-1960s: King Crimson:...
  
  
• Amanda Lear
  Amanda Lear
  Amanda Lear is a French singer, lyricist, composer, painter, TV presenter, actress and novelist....
  
  

• Alvin Lee
  Alvin Lee
  Alvin Lee is an English rock guitarist and singer. He began playing guitar at the age of 13, and with Leo Lyons formed the core of the band Ten Years After in 1960...
  
  
• Huey Lewis and the News
  Huey Lewis and the News
  Huey Lewis and the News is an American rock band based in San Francisco, California. They had a run of hit singles during the 1980s and early 1990s, eventually scoring a total of 19 top-ten singles across the Billboard Hot 100, Adult Contemporary and Mainstream Rock charts...
  
  
• Leyton Buzzards
  Leyton Buzzards
  The Leyton Buzzards aka The Buzzards were a British rock band, active between 1976 and 1980, best known for their minor hit single, "Saturday Night ".-Career:...
  
  
• Linx
  Linx (band)
  Linx were a British soul/funk band consisting of David Grant, Bob Carter , Andy Duncan , Canute Edwards and Peter Martin . After their first hit in 1980, the band slimmed down to a duo of Grant and Martin. They had six entries on the UK Singles Chart from mid 1980 until mid 1982...
  
  
• Living in a Box
  Living in a Box
  Living in a Box were a British band from the 1980s and early 1990s. They are best known for their eponymous debut single, produced by Richard James Burgess.-Formation and split up:...
  
  
• Mandalaband
  Gravy Train (Rock Group)
  Gravy Train were a progressive rock group from Lancashire, England, formed by vocalist and guitarist Norman Barratt in 1969. Together with J.D. Hughes , Lester Williams and Barry Davenport they recorded four studio albums. The first two were released on the Vertigo label, and the latter two by...
  
  
• Masters of Reality
  Masters of Reality
  Masters of Reality is a hard rock group formed in 1981 by guitarist and singer Chris Goss and Tim Harrington in Syracuse, New York. The band is sometimes associated with the "Palm Desert Scene", which includes bands like Kyuss, Queens of the Stone Age and many other stoner rock or "desert rock"...
  
  
• Mutha's Day Out
  Mutha's Day Out
  Mutha's Day Out was an alternative metal band formed in November 1991 from the town of Batesville, Arkansas. The band consisted of: Mikal Moore , Brice Stephens , Chuck Schaaf , Jeff Morgan , and Rodney Moffitt...
  
  
• The Next School
• Sinéad O'Connor
  Sinéad O'Connor
  Sinéad Marie Bernadette O'Connor is an Irish singer-songwriter. She rose to fame in the late 1980s with her debut album The Lion and the Cobra and achieved worldwide success in 1990 with a cover of the song "Nothing Compares 2 U"....
  
  
• Pat Benatar
  Pat Benatar
  Pat Benatar is an American singer and four-time Grammy winner. She had considerable commercial success particularly in the United States...
  
  
• Pere Ubu
  Pere Ubu (band)
  Pere Ubu is an experimental rock music group formed in Cleveland, Ohio, in 1975. Despite many long-term band members, singer David Thomas is the only constant...
  
  
• Plain Sailing
• Cozy Powell
  Cozy Powell
  Colin Flooks , better known as Cozy Powell, was an English rock drummer who made his name with many major rock bands.-Early history:...
  
  
• Power Station
  Power Station (band)
  Power Station was a 1980s supergroup made up of singer Robert Palmer, former Chic drummer Tony Thompson, and Duran Duran members John Taylor and Andy Taylor . Bernard Edwards, also of Chic, was involved on the studio side as recording producer. For a short time he also functioned as Power...
  
   (except the US)
• Maddy Prior
  Maddy Prior
  Maddy Prior is an English folk singer, best known as the lead vocalist of Steeleye Span.-Early life:...
  
   & June Tabor
  June Tabor
  June Tabor is an English folk singer.- Early years :June Tabor was inspired to sing by hearing Anne Briggs' EP Hazards of Love in 1965. "I went and locked myself in the bathroom for a fortnight and drove my mother mad. I learned the songs on that EP note for note, twiddle for twiddle. That's how I...
  
  
• The Proclaimers
  The Proclaimers
  The Proclaimers are a Scottish band composed of identical twin brothers, Charlie and Craig Reid . They are probably best known for the songs "Letter from America", "I'm On My Way" and "I'm Gonna Be ". The band tours extensively throughout Europe and other continents...
  
  
• The Permanent Cure
  The Permanent Cure
  The Permanent Cure is an Irish folk band based in Germany. The songs commute between Irish folk, bluegrass, country and roots music.- History :The Permanent Cure was formed in 1976 on St. Stephen's Green in Dublin, Ireland...
  
  
• Procol Harum
  Procol Harum
  Procol Harum are a British rock band, formed in 1967, which contributed to the development of progressive rock, and by extension, symphonic rock. Their best-known recording is their 1967 single "A Whiter Shade of Pale"...
  
  
• Proper
• Brian Protheroe
  Brian Protheroe
  Brian Protheroe , of a Welsh father and English mother, is a musician and actor.-Career:Protheroe joined a local church choir when he was twelve years old, and started piano lessons at about the same time. The music of Cliff Richard and The Shadows inspired him to start learning the guitar...
  
  
• Q-Tips
  Q-Tips (band)
  Q-Tips were an English blue-eyed soul and rock band, first formed in 1979 from the remnants of the 1970s rock outfit Streetband. Saddled with the novelty song "Toast", a B-side made successful from incessant airplay by Capital Radio's’s Kenny Everett, and despite two albums, Streetband had failed...
  
  
• Trevor Rabin
  Trevor Rabin
  Trevor Charles Rabin is a South African born musician, best known as a guitarist, vocalist and songwriter for the British progressive rock band Yes from 1983–1994, and since then, as a film composer.- Early years :...
  
   (except South Africa)
• Racing Cars
  Racing Cars
  Racing Cars are a Welsh pop band, formed in the Rhondda Valley, Wales in 1973.-Career:They were signed to one of the biggest British record labels of the time, Chrysalis Records. Racing Cars's debut album yielded their only hit single with "They Shoot Horses, Don't They?"...
  
  
• Ramones
  Ramones
  The Ramones were an American rock band that formed in the New York City neighborhood of Forest Hills, Queens, in 1974. They are often cited as the first punk rock group...
  
   1989-2006 (UK only)
• Rappin' 4-Tay
  Rappin' 4-Tay
  Anthony Forté , better known by his stage name Rappin' 4-Tay, is an American rapper from the Fillmore District of San Francisco, California.-Music career:...
  
  
• John Dawson Read
  John Dawson Read
  John Dawson Read is an English singer-songwriter.Born in Wokingham, Berkshire, England, Read first came to prominence in 1975 with his debut album A Friend of Mine Is Going Blind, released on Chrysalis Records. The album's title song was written by Read for a friend of his who suffered from...
  
  
• Ruby
• Runrig
  Runrig
  Runrig are a Scottish Celtic rock group formed in Skye, in 1973 under the name 'The Run Rig Dance Band'. Since its inception, the band's line-up has included songwriters Rory Macdonald and Calum Macdonald. The current line-up also includes longtime members Malcolm Jones, Iain Bayne, and more...
  
  
• Bridget St. John
• Sassafras
• Leo Sayer
  Leo Sayer
  Leo Sayer is a British singer-songwriter, musician, and entertainer whose singing career has spanned four decades. Sayer became a naturalised Australian citizen in 2009. Sayer was a top singles and album act on both sides of the Atlantic in the 1970s...
  
   (except US and Canada)
• The Michael Schenker Group
• 2nd Vision
  2nd Vision
  2nd Vision was a British jazz-rock band notable for including guitarist John Etheridge and violinist Ric Sanders, both former members of Soft Machine...
  
  
• Sea Hags
  Sea Hags
  Sea Hags was an American glam metal band from San Francisco, California. Their style has primarily been referred to as sleaze metal.-History:...
  
  
• The Selecter
  The Selecter
  The Selecter are a 2 Tone ska revival band from Coventry, England, formed in mid 1979.Like many other bands in the ska revival movement, The Selecter featured a racially diverse line-up. Their lyrics featured themes connected to politics and marijuana, set to strong melodies and a danceable beat...
  
  
• Lucie Silvas
  Lucie Silvas
  Lucie Silvas is a British singer-songwriter.- Early life :...
  
  
• Simple Minds
  Simple Minds
  Simple Minds are a Scottish rock band who achieved worldwide popularity from the mid-1980s to the early 1990s. The band produced a handful of critically acclaimed albums in the early 1980s and best known for their #1 US, Canada and Netherlands hit single "Don't You ", from the soundtrack of the...
  
  
• 60 West
• Slaughter
  Slaughter (band)
  Slaughter is an American heavy metal band formed in Las Vegas, Nevada by lead vocalist/rhythm guitarist Mark Slaughter and bassist Dana Strum. The band reached stardom in 1990 with their first album, Stick It to Ya which spawned several hit singles including "Up All Night", "Spend My Life", "Mad...
  
  
• Sonia
• Split Enz
  Split Enz
  Split Enz were a New Zealand band of the 1970s and early 1980s featuring Phil Judd and brothers Tim Finn and Neil Finn. They achieved chart success in New Zealand, Australia, and Canada during the early 1980s ‒ most notably with the single "I Got You", and built a cult following elsewhere...
  
   (except New Zealand and Australia)
• Spandau Ballet
  Spandau Ballet
  Spandau Ballet are a British band formed in London in the late 1970s. Initially inspired by, and an integral part of, the New Romantic fashion, their music has featured a mixture of funk, jazz, soul and synthpop. They were one of the most successful bands of the 1980s, achieving ten Top Ten singles...
  
  

• Stage Dolls
  Stage Dolls
  Stage Dolls is a Norwegian hard rock/glam metal band based in Trondheim, Norway. In 1982, Erlend Antonsen and Terje Storli played at local clubs in and around Trondheim. In need of a guitarist they called on Torstein Flakne, who by then had finished playing in The Kids...
  
  
• Starsailor
  Starsailor (band)
  Starsailor is an English post-britpop band, formed in Leigh, Warrington and Greater Manchester. By 2009, they had four charting albums and ten Top 40 singles in the UK since 2001.-Early history:...
  
  
• Chrissy Steele
• Steeleye Span
  Steeleye Span
  Steeleye Span are an English folk-rock band, formed in 1969 and remaining active today. Along with Fairport Convention they are amongst the best known acts of the British folk revival, and were among the most commercially successful, thanks to their hit singles "Gaudete" and "All Around My Hat"....
  
  
• Stiff Little Fingers
  Stiff Little Fingers
  Stiff Little Fingers are a punk rock band from Belfast, Northern Ireland. They formed in 1977, at the height of the Troubles. They started out as a schoolboy band called Highway Star , doing rock covers, until they discovered punk. They split up after six years and four albums, although they...
  
  
• Karlheinz Stockhausen
  Karlheinz Stockhausen
  Karlheinz Stockhausen was a German composer, widely acknowledged by critics as one of the most important but also controversial composers of the 20th and early 21st centuries. Another critic calls him "one of the great visionaries of 20th-century music"...
  
  
• Strife
• Laurie Styvers
• Supertramp
  Supertramp
  Supertramp are a British rock band formed in 1969 under the name Daddy before renaming to Supertramp in early 1970. Though their music was initially categorised as progressive rock, they have since incorporated a combination of traditional rock and art rock into their music...
  
   (except the US)
• Sylvester
  Sylvester James
  -Studio albums:-Live albums:-Compilation albums:* Mighty Real UK #62* 12 By 12 * Immortal -Singles:-Additional recordings:*Lights Out San Francisco...
  
  
• Ten Years After
  Ten Years After
  Ten Years After is an English blues-rock band, most popular in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Between 1968 and 1973, Ten Years After scored eight Top 40 albums on the UK Albums Chart...
  
  
• Ian Thomas Band
  Ian Thomas (Canadian musician)
  Ian Thomas is a singer, songwriter, actor and author. He is younger brother to famed comedian and actor Dave Thomas.-Career:...
  
  
• Richard & Linda Thompson
• 3 Man Island
• Tír na nÓg
  Tír na nÓg (band)
  Tír na nÓg are an Irish folk band formed in Dublin, Ireland, in 1969 by Leo O'Kelly and Sonny Condell. They are often considered as one of the first progressive folk bands with other artists like Nick Drake or group like Pentangle...
  
  
• Mary Travers
• Robin Trower
  Robin Trower
  Robin Leonard Trower , known professionally as Robin Trower, is an English rock guitarist who achieved success with Procol Harum during the 1960s, and then again as the bandleader of his own power trio.-Biography:...
  
  
• Trouble Tribe
• 21st Century Girls
• 2 Tribes
• Bonnie Tyler
  Bonnie Tyler
  Bonnie Tyler is a Welsh singer, most notable for her hits in the 1970s and 1980s including "It's a Heartache", "Holding Out for a Hero" and "Total Eclipse of the Heart".-Early life:...
  
   (US)
• Judie Tzuke
  Judie Tzuke
  Judie Tzuke is an English singer/songwriter. She is most well known for her 1979 hit "Stay With Me Till Dawn", which reached no.16 on the UK Singles Chart.-Early life:...
  
  
• UFO
  UFO (band)
  UFO are an English heavy metal and hard rock band, who were formed in 1969. UFO became a transitional group between early hard rock and heavy metal and the New Wave of British Heavy Metal...
  
  
• Ultravox
• Midge Ure
  Midge Ure
  James "Midge" Ure, OBE is a Scottish guitarist, singer, keyboard player, and songwriter...
  
  
• Uriah Heep
  Uriah Heep (band)
  Uriah Heep are an English rock band formed in London in 1969 and regarded as a seminal classic hard rock act of the 1970s. Uriah Heep's progressive/art rock/heavy metal fusion's distinctive features have always been massive keyboards sound, strong vocal harmonies and David Byron's operatic vocals...
  
   (US)
• The Venetians
• Vigil
  Vigil (band)
  Vigil was a mid to late 1980s modern rock band based out of Baltimore, Maryland.-Biography:The band formed originally under the name Here Today out of the Baltimore's modern rock/gothic music scene in the early 80's. A single drew some attention from CBS Records, and the band was signed. In...
  
  
• Vinnie Vincent Invasion
  Vinnie Vincent Invasion
  Vinnie Vincent Invasion was an American heavy metal/glam metal band formed in 1984 by former KISS guitarist Vinnie Vincent.-Biography:Initially forming the band in the mid-80's, Vincent recruited bassist Dana Strum, who had also served as a talent scout of sorts in L.A., recruiting band members for...
  
  
• John Waite
  John Waite
  John Charles Waite is an English rock singer and musician. He was lead vocalist for The Babys and Bad English. As a solo artist, he scored several international hits, including 1984's "Missing You", a top ten hit on the US Billboard Hot 100 and the UK Singles Chart, reaching #1 in the...
  
  
• Wartime
  Henry Rollins
  Henry Rollins is an American singer-songwriter, spoken word artist, writer, comedian, publisher, actor, and radio DJ....
  
  
• Was (Not Was)
  Was (Not Was)
  -Studio albums:-Compilation albums:-Singles:-Contributions:* A Christmas Record - "Christmas Time In The Motor City"* That's The Way I Feel Now: A Tribute to Thelonious Monk - "Ba-Lue-Bolivar-Ba-Lues-Are"...
  
   (US)
• Waysted
  Waysted
  Waysted are a heavy metal band formed by UFO bassist Pete Way and Scottish rocker Fin Muir in 1983. Recruiting Frank Noon , Ronnie Kayfield and Paul Raymond, Waysted signed to Chrysalis Records and released Vices in 1983....
  
  
• Wolf
• Wild Turkey
  Glenn Cornick
  Glenn Douglas Barnard Cornick was the bespectacled, first bass guitar player in the progressive rock band, Jethro Tull....
  
  
• Robbie Williams
  Robbie Williams
  Robert Peter "Robbie" Williams is an English singer-songwriter, vocal coach and occasional actor. He is a member of the pop group Take That. Williams rose to fame in the band's first run in the early- to mid-1990s. After many disagreements with the management and certain group members, Williams...
  
  
• The Winkies
  The Winkies
  The Winkies were an English pub rock group. During their career, the group primarily consisted of Philip Rambow, Michael Desmarais, Guy Humphreys, and Brian Turrington.-Biography:...
  
  
• Wireless
  Wireless
  Wireless telecommunications is the transfer of information between two or more points that are not physically connected. Distances can be short, such as a few meters for television remote control, or as far as thousands or even millions of kilometers for deep-space radio communications...
  
  
• World Party
  World Party
  World Party is a British pop/alternative rock band, which is essentially the solo project of its sole member, Karl Wallinger. He started the band in 1986 in London after leaving The Waterboys.-Career:...
  
  
• Year Zero
• Zephyr
  Zephyr (band)
  Zephyr was a blues-based hard rock band formed in 1969 in Boulder, Colorado by guitarist Tommy Bolin, keyboardist John Faris, David Givens on bass guitar, Robbie Chamberlin on drums and Candy Givens on vocals. Although the charismatic performances by Candy Givens were originally the focal point for...