Blue Horizon Records was a British

blues Blues is a music genre and musical form that originated among African Americans in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues has incorporated spiritual (music), spirituals, work songs, field hollers, Ring shout, shouts, cha ...

independent record label An independent record label (or indie label) is a record label that operates without the funding or distribution of major record labels; they are a type of small and medium-sized enterprise, small- to medium-sized enterprise, or SME. The labels ...

, founded by Mike Vernon and Neil Slaven in 1965, as an adjunct to their

fanzine A fanzine (blend word, blend of ''fan (person), fan'' and ''magazine'' or ''zine'') is a non-professional and non-official publication produced by enthusiasts of a particular cultural phenomenon (such as a literary or musical genre) for the pleas ...

, ''R&B Monthly'', Mike Vernon, ''The Blue Horizon story 1965-1970 vol.1'', notes of the booklet of the Box Set (60 pages) and was the foremost label at the time of the British blues boom in the mid to late 1960s.

History

Blue Horizon's first release was a 45 rpm single by Hubert Sumlin, then working as

Howlin' Wolf Chester Arthur Burnett (June 10, 1910January 10, 1976), better known by his stage name Howlin' Wolf, was an American blues singer, guitarist and harmonica player. He was at the forefront of transforming acoustic Delta blues into electric Chica ...

's guitarist. Other releases soon followed on the Outasite and Purdah labels, the latter of which released just four 7" singles; including "Flapjacks" by Stone's Masonry (featuring Martin Stone, later to join Savoy Brown and Mighty Baby); and the

John Mayall John Brumwell Mayall (29 November 1933 – 22 July 2024) was an English blues and Rock music, rock musician, songwriter and producer. In the 1960s, he formed John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers, a band that has counted among its members some of ...

and

Eric Clapton Eric Patrick Clapton (born 1945) is an English Rock music, rock and blues guitarist, singer, and songwriter. He is regarded as one of the most successful and influential guitarists in rock music. Clapton ranked second in ''Rolling Stone''s l ...

release "Lonely Years", featuring the

B-side The A-side and B-side are the two sides of phonograph record, vinyl records and Compact cassette, cassettes, and the terms have often been printed on the labels of two-sided music recordings. The A-side of a Single (music), single usually ...

, "Bernard Jenkins". Pressings were limited to avoid purchase tax, with estimates for the number of copies of each single issued varying from 99 to 1000. 45 rpm releases continued on the Blue Horizon label, generally reissues of rare and hard-to-find singles from a handful of American blues musicians, although two releases – one by guitarist J.B. Lenoir, and another, by Champion Jack Dupree and British guitarist Tony McPhee – presented new material. Blue Horizon's first album was by

one-man band A one-man band is a musician who plays a number of instruments simultaneously using their hands, feet, limbs, and various mechanical or electronic contraptions. One-man bands also often sing while they perform. The simplest type of "one-man ban ...

Doctor Ross, recorded in a London hotel room while he was on tour with the 1965 American Folk Blues Festival. A worldwide licensing and distribution deal with CBS, reached late in 1967, heralded the glory years of the label. Starting with two 7" singles with combined CBS/Blue Horizon stamps featuring Peter Green's

Fleetwood Mac Fleetwood Mac are a British-American Rock music, rock band formed in London in 1967 by the singer and guitarist Peter Green (musician), Peter Green. Green named the band by combining the surnames of the drummer, Mick Fleetwood, and the bassis ...

and Aynsley Dunbar's band, Retaliation, there followed a string of singles and albums by both British and American blues artists, both licensed and newly recorded. The label's second LP, a compilation entitled ''Let Me Tell You About the Blues'', continues to rank among the most collectible vinyls. Some releases featured Mike Vernon produced recordings of US artists, such as

Otis Spann Otis Spann (March 21, 1924, or 1930April 24, 1970) was an American blues musician many consider the leading postwar Chicago blues pianist. Early life Sources differ over Spann's early years. Some state that he was born in Jackson, Mississippi, ...

and Champion Jack Dupree, backed by

British blues British blues is a form of music derived from American blues that originated in the late 1950s, and reached its height of mainstream popularity in the 1960s. In Britain, blues developed a distinctive and influential style dominated by electric g ...

players including Peter Green, Paul Kossoff, Stan Webb,

Pete Wingfield William Peter Wingfield (born 7 May 1948) is an English record producer, Keyboardist, keyboard player, songwriter, singer, and music journalism, music journalist. Career Whilst at Sussex University, Wingfield and three other students formed ...

and Ireland's

Rory Gallagher William Rory Gallagher ( ; 2 March 1948 – 14 June 1995) was an Irish musician, singer, and songwriter. Regarded as "Ireland's first rock star", he is known for his virtuosic style of guitar playing and live performances. He has sometim ...

. Other UK artists signed to the label included

Chicken Shack Chicken Shack are a British blues band, founded in the mid-1960s by Stan Webb (guitarist), Stan Webb (guitar and vocals), Andy Silvester (bass guitar), and Alan Morley (drums), who were later joined by Christine McVie, Christine Perfect (later ...

, Duster Bennett, Key Largo, Gordon Smith, Jellybread and Christine Perfect (later to be Christine McVie). The label produced

's 1969 release " I'd Rather Go Blind" and several

chart A chart (sometimes known as a graph) is a graphics, graphical representation for data visualization, in which "the data is represented by symbols, such as bars in a bar chart, lines in a line chart, or slices in a pie chart". A chart can repres ...

hit single A hit song, also known as a hit record, hit single, or simply hit, is a recorded song or instrumental that becomes broadly popular or well-known. Although ''hit song'' means any widely played or big-selling song, the specific term ''hit record'' ...

s for

, including " Need Your Love So Bad", " Black Magic Woman" and the UK number one hit "

Albatross Albatrosses, of the biological family Diomedeidae, are large seabirds related to the procellariids, storm petrels, and diving petrels in the order Procellariiformes (the tubenoses). They range widely in the Southern Ocean and the North Paci ...

". In the same year, the label linked up with

Sire Records Sire Records (formerly Sire Records Company) is an American record label owned by Warner Music Group and distributed by Warner Records. History Beginnings The label was founded in 1966 as Sire Productions by Seymour Stein and Richard Gotteh ...

in the US. Albums were often housed in imaginative sleeves, mostly designed by Terence Ibbott. The distinctive blue label singles eventually gave way to red and then no-centre white labels as the blues boom died away, although further chart success was realised when " Hocus Pocus" by Dutch band

Focus Focus (: foci or focuses) may refer to: Arts * Focus or Focus Festival, former name of the Adelaide Fringe arts festival in East Australia Film *Focus (2001 film), ''Focus'' (2001 film), a 2001 film based on the Arthur Miller novel *Focus (2015 ...

climbed into the UK top 20. The label ceased production in 1972, and while vinyl re-releases by Sire Records in the US kept interest alive, CD reissues were limited until Vernon himself re-emerged in the 21st century to remaster some of the material. The Fleetwood Mac's sessions for the label were released in 1999 as a

box set A boxed set or (its US name) box set is a set of items (for example, a compilation of books, musical recordings, films or television programs) traditionally packaged in a box, hence 'boxed', and offered for sale as a single unit. Music Artists ...

. In 2010, it was reported that the label would be reactivated by

Seymour Stein Seymour Steinbigle (April 18, 1942 – April 2, 2023), known professionally as Seymour Stein, was an American entrepreneur and music executive. He co-founded Sire Records and was vice president of Warner Bros. Records. With Sire, Stein signed ba ...

and

Richard Gottehrer Richard Gottehrer (born June 12, 1940) is an American songwriter, record producer and record label executive. His career began as a Brill Building songwriter in the 1960s. His first number one record as a songwriter and producer was " My Boyfr ...

, whom with Mike and Richard Vernon were the US and UK directors of Blue Horizon Records, although it would not have access to the original catalogue. In 2012, ''Tank Full of Blues'' by Dion was issued. On 12 June 2012,

BBC Radio 4 BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. The station replaced the BBC Home Service on 30 September 1967 and broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes from the BBC's headquarters at Broadcasti ...

broadcast ''Cerys Matthews' Blue Horizon'', a documentary about Blue Horizon Records. The label was lampooned by The Liverpool Scene with their song, "I've Got These Fleetwood Mac, Chicken Shack, John Mayall Can't Fail Blues".

References

Bibliography

* Bob Brunning, ''Blues: The British Connection'', Helter Skelter Publishing, London 2002, – First edition 1986 – Second edition 1995 ''Blues in Britain'' * Bob Brunning, ''The

Story: Rumours and Lies'', Omnibus Press London, 1990 and 1998, * Martin Celmins, '' Peter Green'' – ''Founder of

'', Sanctuary London, 1995, foreword by B. B. King, * Dick Heckstall-Smith, ''The safest place in the world: A personal history of British Rhythm and blues'', 1989 Quartet Books Limited, – Second Edition : ''Blowing The Blues – Fifty Years Playing The

British Blues British blues is a form of music derived from American blues that originated in the late 1950s, and reached its height of mainstream popularity in the 1960s. In Britain, blues developed a distinctive and influential style dominated by electric g ...

'', 2004, Clear Books, * Christopher Hjort, ''Strange brew:

and the

boom, 1965-1970'', foreword by

, Jawbone 2007, * Paul Myers, '' Long John Baldry and the Birth of the

'',

Vancouver Vancouver is a major city in Western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the cit ...

2007, GreyStone Books, * Harry Shapiro, ''

Alexis Korner Alexis Andrew Nicholas Koerner (19 April 1928 – 1 January 1984), known professionally as Alexis Korner, was a British blues musician and radio broadcaster, who has sometimes been referred to as "a founding father of British blues". A major i ...

: The Biography'', Bloomsbury Publishing PLC, London 1997, Discography by Mark Troster, * Mike Vernon, ''The Blue Horizon story 1965-1970 vol.1'', notes of the booklet of the Box Set (60 pages)

External links

Acerecords.co.uk

Rateyourmusic.com – Label discography
{{Authority control British record labels Blues record labels Record labels established in 1966 Record labels disestablished in 1971 1966 establishments in the United Kingdom

History

See also

References

Bibliography

External links