Lava Records is an American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 based 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,...

, owned by Universal Music Group

Universal Music Group

Universal Music Group is an American music group, the largest of the "big four" record companies by its commanding market share and its multitude of global operations...

, and operated through Universal Republic Records.

Company history

Lava Records was established in 1995

1995 in music

This is a list of notable events in music that took place in the year 1995.- January–February :*January 18 – Jerry Garcia crashes his rented BMW into a guard rail near Mill Valley, California, USA, but is not injured in the accident....

 as a joint venture between Atlantic Records

Atlantic Records

Atlantic Records is an American record label best known for its many recordings of rhythm and blues, rock and roll, and jazz...

 and Jason Flom

Jason Flom

Jason Flom is an American music industry executive. He has served as the Chairman and CEO of music labels including Atlantic Records, Virgin Records, and the Capitol Music Group. In 1995, he founded Lava Records...

, who began his career with Atlantic Records

Atlantic Records

Atlantic Records is an American record label best known for its many recordings of rhythm and blues, rock and roll, and jazz...

. One of the most accomplished A&R people in the music industry, in his early career Flom was responsible for signing such artists as Zebra

Zebra (band)

Zebra is a hard rock band founded in 1975 in New Orleans, Louisiana. It features Randy Jackson , Felix Hanemann and Guy Gelso . Their mainstream debut on Atlantic Records was in 1983 with their eponymous album, highlighted by the singles "Tell Me What You Want" and "Who's Behind The Door"...

, Twisted Sister

Twisted Sister

Twisted Sister is an American heavy metal band from Long Island. Musically, the band implements elements of traditional heavy metal bands such as Iron Maiden and Judas Priest, along with a style that is similar to early glam metal bands...

, Skid Row, White Lion

White Lion

White Lion is an American/Danish hard rock/heavy metal band that was formed in New York City in 1983 by Danish vocalist Mike Tramp and American guitarist Vito Bratta. Mainly active in the 1980s and early 1990s, the band achieved double platinum status with their #8 hit "Wait" and #3 hit "When the...

, and Tori Amos

Tori Amos

Tori Amos is an American pianist, singer-songwriter and composer. She was at the forefront of a number of female singer-songwriters in the early 1990s and was noteworthy early in her career as one of the few alternative rock performers to use a piano as her primary instrument...

, as well as helping launch the careers of Stone Temple Pilots

Stone Temple Pilots

Stone Temple Pilots is an American rock band from San Diego, California that consists of Scott Weiland , brothers Robert DeLeo and Dean DeLeo , and Eric Kretz ....

 and Collective Soul

Collective Soul

Collective Soul is an American rock band originally formed in Stockbridge, Georgia. Collective Soul broke into mainstream popularity with their first hit single, "Shine", which came from their debut album Hints, Allegations, and Things Left Unsaid, released in 1993...

. Since Lava's inception, among the artists the label has brought to prominence are Authority Zero

Authority Zero

Authority Zero is a punk rock band from Mesa, Arizona. The band's style is rooted in reggae and skate punk, with Bad Religion, Pennywise, and Sublime cited as influences. The band also draws from Spanish/Portuguese influences.-History:...

, Antigone Rising

Antigone Rising

Antigone Rising is an all-female New York City based rock band. Their music is influenced by classic rock from the 1970s such as The Eagles and Fleetwood Mac, mixed with pop overtones and at times folk and country elements...

, Kid Rock

Kid Rock

Robert James "Bob" Ritchie , known by his stage name Kid Rock, is an American singer-songwriter, musician and rapper with five Grammy Awards nominations...

, Matchbox Twenty

Matchbox Twenty

Matchbox Twenty is an American rock band, formed in Orlando, Florida in 1995...

, Porcupine Tree

Porcupine Tree

Porcupine Tree is a progressive rock band formed by Steven Wilson in 1987 in Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire, England. Their music is difficult to categorise, being associated with both psychedelic rock and progressive rock, yet having been influenced by trance, krautrock and ambient due to Steven...

, Skillet

Skillet (band)

Skillet is an American Christian rock band formed in Memphis, Tennessee in 1996. The band currently consists of husband and wife John and Korey Cooper , along with Jen Ledger and lead guitarist Seth Morrison. The band has released eight albums, two receiving Grammy nominations: Collide and Comatose...

, Smile Empty Soul

Smile Empty Soul

Smile Empty Soul is an American post-grunge band from Santa Clarita, California.-History:Smile Empty Soul formed in 1998, while its original members were attending different high schools in the Santa Clarita area...

, Sugar Ray

Sugar Ray

Sugar Ray is a band from Orange County, California. The band, starting off more as an alternative metal band, first gained fame in 1997 with their release of the song "Fly". This song's success, coupled with its pop rock sound that was quite different from the rest of their material at the time,...

, The Corrs

The Corrs

The Corrs are an Irish band which combine pop rock with traditional Celtic folk music. The brother and sisters are from Dundalk, Ireland. The group consists of the Corr siblings: Andrea ; Sharon ; Caroline ; and Jim .The Corrs came to international prominence with their performance at the...

, Uncle Kracker

Uncle Kracker

Matthew Shafer is an American rock musician known as Uncle Kracker. His singles include "Follow Me", "Smile", and "Drift Away". His music was more rap rock-based at the start of his career before turning in a more rock and Top 40 style music direction on later releases.-Biography:Shafer was born...

, Vanessa Williams

Vanessa L. Williams

Vanessa Lynn Williams is an American pop-R&B recording artist, producer, dancer, model, actress and showgirl. In 1983, she became the first woman of African-American descent to be crowned Miss America, but a scandal generated by her having posed for nude photographs published in Penthouse magazine...

, Trans-Siberian Orchestra

Trans-Siberian Orchestra

Trans-Siberian Orchestra is an American progressive metal band founded in 1993 by producer, composer, and lyricist Paul O'Neill, who brought together Jon Oliva and Al Pitrelli and keyboardist and co-producer Robert Kinkel to form the core of the creative team. Since then, TSO sold nearly 8...

, and Simple Plan

Simple Plan

Simple Plan is a Canadian pop punk band from Montréal, Québec. The band has had no line up changes since its inception in 1999. Members are Pierre Bouvier , Jeff Stinco , Sébastien Lefebvre , David Desrosiers and Chuck Comeau...

.

In August 2005, Flom resigned as chairman and chief executive of Atlantic Records, ending a 26 year career within the company. Flom was named chairman and CEO of Virgin Records U.S., following the departure of Matt Serletic

Matt Serletic

Matt Serletic is a record producer who has worked with several popular bands and artists for Atlantic Records, including Collective Soul, Matchbox Twenty, Blessid Union of Souls, Edwin McCain, Stacie Orrico, Taylor Hicks, Rob Thomas, and singer/songwriter Angie Aparo. Serletic will be working with...

 that same month. In October 2005, Warner Music Group combined Lava Records with its Atlantic Records Group. Warner originally planned the move following Flom's resignation.http://www.grammy.com/Recording_Academy/news/Default.aspx?newsID=1978&newsCategoryID=4

In early 2009, Flom reclaimed the Lava Records imprint from Warner and revived the label under the Universal umbrella. Flom described the rebirth as: "A new start with the same philosophy: find great artists in the rock and pop genre, develop them, work with good partners, and make the biggest records in the business." Lava operates as joint venture with Universal Republic, who provide promotion, marketing, sales and distribution services. Flom said that he wanted to work with co-presidents Avery and Monte Lipman

Monte Lipman

Monte Lipman is an American music industry executive. He is presently the President and CEO of Universal Republic Records.In the current era of record company transition, Lipman transformed his own start-up label, Republic Records, into an autonomous imprint in 2005 – Universal Republic Records,...

 because "[they] are among the best in the business at breaking new artists".

Lava has signed artists including Jessie J, Kaile Goh, and Black Veil Brides

Current artists

• 30 MILES
• Jessie J
  Jessie J
  Jessica Ellen Cornish , better known by her stage name Jessie J, is an English recording artist currently signed to Island Records. She began her career as a songwriter for artists including Chris Brown and Miley Cyrus. Her debut single, "Do It Like a Dude", was released in November 2010 and peaked...
  
  
• Black Veil Brides
  Black Veil Brides
  Black Veil Brides is an American rock band based out of Hollywood, California. The group is composed of Andrew Biersack , Ashley Purdy , Jake Pitts , Jinxx , and Christian "CC" Coma...
  
  
• Kaile Goh
• Alysha Brillinger
  Alysha Brillinger
  Alysha Sarah Brillinger is a Canadian musician. Born in Mississauga, Ontario and raised in Kitchener, Ontario, Brillinger started singing in her early teens in local bands and at various festivals, including the Coalflats and Kitchener Blues Festival, where she was the 2008 winner of the Grande...
  
  

Past artists

• Authority Zero
  Authority Zero
  Authority Zero is a punk rock band from Mesa, Arizona. The band's style is rooted in reggae and skate punk, with Bad Religion, Pennywise, and Sublime cited as influences. The band also draws from Spanish/Portuguese influences.-History:...
  
  
• Bif Naked
  Bif Naked
  Bif Naked is a Juno Award-winning, Indian-born American-Canadian multi-platinum record selling, rock singer, writer, poet, motivational speaker and actress.-Personal life:...
  
  
• The Boondock Saints
  The Boondock Saints
  The Boondock Saints is a 1999 American action comedy film written and directed by Troy Duffy. The film stars Sean Patrick Flanery and Norman Reedus as Irish fraternal twins, Connor and Murphy MacManus, who become vigilantes after killing two members of the Russian Mafia in self-defense...
  
  
• CIV
• Course of Nature
  Course of Nature
  Course of Nature is an alternative rock band formed in Enterprise, Alabama in 2001, and now based in Los Angeles. The band was co-founded by lead singer and rhythm guitarist Mark Wilkerson, and currently includes Sean Kipe , Jackson Eppley and Shane Lenzen O'Connell .-History:Before Course Of...
  
  
• Cold
  Cold (band)
  Cold is an American post-grunge band, formed in 1996 in Jacksonville, Florida. With two gold-albums Cold has sold over 1.2 million records in the US alone. On November 17, 2006, Ward announced on MySpace that, after a period of uncertainty since that February, the group had decided to disband. In...
  
  
• The Corrs
  The Corrs
  The Corrs are an Irish band which combine pop rock with traditional Celtic folk music. The brother and sisters are from Dundalk, Ireland. The group consists of the Corr siblings: Andrea ; Sharon ; Caroline ; and Jim .The Corrs came to international prominence with their performance at the...
  
  
• The Cult
  The Cult
  The Cult are a British rock band that was formed in 1983. They gained a dedicated following in Britain in the mid 1980s as a post-punk band with singles such as "She Sells Sanctuary", before breaking mainstream in the United States in the late 1980s as a hard rock band with singles such as "Love...
  
  
• Egypt Central
  Egypt Central
  Egypt Central is an American rock band from Memphis, Tennessee.-Formation and debut album :Egypt Central was formed on October 2, 2002. They wrote and recorded for one year until generating a buzz in their hometown of Memphis, Tennessee. After eight shows, they caught the attention of former Lava...
  
  
• Willa Ford
  Willa Ford
  Amanda Lee Modano , known professionally as Willa Ford and often as Mandy Modano, is an American singer, songwriter, dancer, model, television personality and film actress. She released her debut album, Willa Was Here, in 2001...
  
  
• Grade 8
  Grade 8 (band)
  -Background:Grade 8 formed in 1996 in the Los Angeles area. They signed with Lava Records in 2002, and released their self-titled debut album grade 8 on February 11, 2003...
  
  
• Hot Action Cop
  Hot Action Cop
  Hot Action Cop is an American alternative rock band. The group released their self-titled debut album on Lava/Atlantic Records in 2003. Rob Werthner formed the band back in the 1990s with bassist Luis Espaillat, drummer Kory Knipp and Nashville guitarist Tim Flaherty, Later before the 2003 tour...
  
  
• Little-T And One Track Mike
  Little-T and One Track Mike
  Little-T and One Track Mike is a hip-hop duo from New Jersey, USA. It is mostly remembered for its only hit, "Shaniqua," which was popular on MTV during 2001.-History:...
  
  
• Matchbox 20
• Edwin McCain
  Edwin McCain
  Edwin McCain is an American singer-songwriter and musician.-Career:While his albums are released under his name, he does have a permanent band, referred to as the Edwin McCain Band...
  
  
• Nonpoint
  Nonpoint
  Nonpoint is an American nu metal band formed in 1997. The band consists of Elias Soriano and Rob Rivera . Currently they are signed to Razor & Tie and working on new a record which is expected to be released in Spring 2012....
  
  
• Needtobreathe
  Needtobreathe
  Needtobreathe is an American rock band from Seneca, South Carolina. The band has charted on mainstream rock/pop charts, but have had their greatest number of singles on Christian music charts...
  
  
• Outspoken
  OutSPOKEN
  outSPOKEN is a screen reader for computers running Microsoft Windows and Mac OS. First developed and released for Macintosh in the late 1980s, it was ported to Windows and was one of the first screen readers to be released for that platform in the early 1990s. The technology was developed by...
  
  
• Franky Perez
  Franky Perez
  Franky Perez is an American musician best known as the guitarist for Scars on Broadway as well as being a solo artist. He has released two solo albums, Poor Man's Son and My 4th of July, and performed with Velvet Revolver guitarist Slash in his live band before Slash has assembled the tour band...
  
  
• Porcupine Tree
  Porcupine Tree
  Porcupine Tree is a progressive rock band formed by Steven Wilson in 1987 in Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire, England. Their music is difficult to categorise, being associated with both psychedelic rock and progressive rock, yet having been influenced by trance, krautrock and ambient due to Steven...
  
  
• Reach 454
• Smile Empty Soul
  Smile Empty Soul
  Smile Empty Soul is an American post-grunge band from Santa Clarita, California.-History:Smile Empty Soul formed in 1998, while its original members were attending different high schools in the Santa Clarita area...
  
  
• Jill Sobule
  Jill Sobule
  Jill Sobule is an American singer-songwriter best known for the 1995 single "I Kissed a Girl", and "Supermodel" from the soundtrack of the 1995 film Clueless...
  
  
• Sugar Ray
  Sugar Ray
  Sugar Ray is a band from Orange County, California. The band, starting off more as an alternative metal band, first gained fame in 1997 with their release of the song "Fly". This song's success, coupled with its pop rock sound that was quite different from the rest of their material at the time,...
  
  
• Unwritten Law
  Unwritten Law
  Unwritten Law is an American rock band formed in 1990 in Poway, California and currently recording for Suburban Noize Records. They have released seven full-length studio albums and have toured internationally, including performances on the Warped Tour...
  
  
• Vanessa Williams
  Vanessa L. Williams
  Vanessa Lynn Williams is an American pop-R&B recording artist, producer, dancer, model, actress and showgirl. In 1983, she became the first woman of African-American descent to be crowned Miss America, but a scandal generated by her having posed for nude photographs published in Penthouse magazine...
  
  
• Antigone Rising
  Antigone Rising
  Antigone Rising is an all-female New York City based rock band. Their music is influenced by classic rock from the 1970s such as The Eagles and Fleetwood Mac, mixed with pop overtones and at times folk and country elements...
  
  
• Basement Jaxx
  Basement Jaxx
  Basement Jaxx are a British electronic dance music duo from London, England consisting of Felix Buxton born 1971 and Simon Ratcliffe born 1 December 1969. They first rose to popularity in the late 1990s...
  
  
• Blue Man Group
  Blue Man Group
  Blue Man Group is an organization founded by Chris Wink, Matt Goldman and Phil Stanton. The organization produces theatrical shows and concerts featuring popular music, comedy and multimedia; recorded music and scores for film and television; television appearances for shows such as The Tonight...
  
  
• Joe Brooks
• John Butler Trio
  John Butler Trio
  The John Butler Trio are an eclectic roots and jam band from Australia led by guitarist and vocalist John Butler. They formed in Fremantle in 1998 with Jason McGann on drums and Gavin Shoesmith on bass guitar...
  
  
• Cherie
  Cherie
  Cherie is a French pop and dance music singer whose 2004 hit "I'm Ready" hit #1 on the Hot Dance Music/Club Play chart.- Singles :*I'm Ready*Older Than My Years *Betcha Never-See also:...
  
  
• The Click Five
  The Click Five
  The Click Five is an American power pop band from Boston, Massachusetts. The original members, most of them students at Berklee College of Music, started on January 1, 2003 and played in various local venues. They then quickly got the attention of talent scout Wayne Sharp...
  
  
• Embrace
  Embrace (UK band)
  Embrace are an English post-Britpop band from Bailiff Bridge, Brighouse, West Yorkshire. To date they have released five studio albums, one singles album and one B-sides compilation. The band consists of brothers singer Danny McNamara and guitarist Richard McNamara, bassist Steve Firth,...
  
  
• Kid Rock
  Kid Rock
  Robert James "Bob" Ritchie , known by his stage name Kid Rock, is an American singer-songwriter, musician and rapper with five Grammy Awards nominations...
  
  
• Toby Lightman
  Toby Lightman
  Toby Lightman is an American singer-songwriter. Her first album, Little Things, was released in 2004 on Lava/Atlantic. Her second album, Bird on a Wire was released in 2006. During her career, she has toured and performed with bands such as OAR, Rob Thomas, Jewel, Gavin DeGraw, Train, Prince, and...
  
  
• O.A.R.
  Of a Revolution
  O.A.R. is an American rock band composed of Marc Roberge , Chris Culos , Richard On , Benj Gershman , and Jerry DePizzo...
  
  
• Simple Plan
  Simple Plan
  Simple Plan is a Canadian pop punk band from Montréal, Québec. The band has had no line up changes since its inception in 1999. Members are Pierre Bouvier , Jeff Stinco , Sébastien Lefebvre , David Desrosiers and Chuck Comeau...
  
  
• Skillet
  Skillet (band)
  Skillet is an American Christian rock band formed in Memphis, Tennessee in 1996. The band currently consists of husband and wife John and Korey Cooper , along with Jen Ledger and lead guitarist Seth Morrison. The band has released eight albums, two receiving Grammy nominations: Collide and Comatose...
  
  
• Skindred
  Skindred
  Skindred is a Welsh rock band from Newport. The band was formed in 1998 following the disbandment of vocalist Benji Webbe's previous band, Dub War. Skindred's musical style mixes alternative rock, heavy metal, punk rock and reggae...
  
  
• Throwing Gravity
• Trans-Siberian Orchestra
  Trans-Siberian Orchestra
  Trans-Siberian Orchestra is an American progressive metal band founded in 1993 by producer, composer, and lyricist Paul O'Neill, who brought together Jon Oliva and Al Pitrelli and keyboardist and co-producer Robert Kinkel to form the core of the creative team. Since then, TSO sold nearly 8...
  
  
• Uncle Kracker
  Uncle Kracker
  Matthew Shafer is an American rock musician known as Uncle Kracker. His singles include "Follow Me", "Smile", and "Drift Away". His music was more rap rock-based at the start of his career before turning in a more rock and Top 40 style music direction on later releases.-Biography:Shafer was born...
  
  
• Vaux
  Vaux (band)
  -History:Vaux was formed in 1997 in Denver, Colorado, under the original name Eiffel. They released a 7" single themselves, To Write A Symphony, in 1998. Indie label Undecided Records signed the band after they had toured the East Coast extensively for two years, and the band's debut album...
  
  
• Brittney White