Charisma Records (also known as The Famous Charisma Label) was a British
record label
"Big Three" music labels
A record label or record company is a brand or trademark of Sound recording and reproduction, music recordings and music videos, or the company that owns it. Sometimes, a record label is also a Music publisher, ...
founded in 1969 by former journalist
Tony Stratton Smith.
He had previously acted as manager for rock bands such as
The Nice, the
Bonzo Dog Band and
Van der Graaf Generator
Van der Graaf Generator are an English progressive rock band, formed in 1967 in Manchester by singer-songwriters Peter Hammill and Judge Smith, Chris Judge Smith. They were the first act signed by Charisma Records. They did not experience much ...
.
Gail Colson was label manager and joint managing director.
The label's most successful acts were
Genesis,
Peter Gabriel,
Julian Lennon, and
Monty Python.
The first release was the eponymous debut LP by
Rare Bird, in December 1969, who gave Charisma its first hit single, "
Sympathy
Sympathy is the perception of, understanding of, and reaction to the Mental distress, distress or need of another life form.
According to philosopher David Hume, this sympathetic concern is driven by a switch in viewpoint from a personal perspe ...
", in early 1970. (Sympathy was a reworking of Giazotto's 'reconstruction' of Albinoni's Adagio.)
Charisma's first UK label was a distinctive magenta scroll design (though it is generally referred to in record collecting circles as "pink scroll") – magenta was the colour that Stratton Smith chose to represent the label, and this was reflected in his later horseracing colours, red for Manchester United, green for Brazil, and magenta for Charisma. Its second logo (used beginning in 1972) of Sir
John Tenniel
John Tenniel (; 28 February 182025 February 1914) was an English illustrator, graphic humourist and political cartoonist prominent in the second half of the 19th century. An alumnus of the Royal Academy of Arts in London, he was knight bachelor ...
's drawing of the
Mad Hatter (sometimes combined with a
montage of other images from ''
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland
''Alice's Adventures in Wonderland'' (also known as ''Alice in Wonderland'') is an 1865 English Children's literature, children's novel by Lewis Carroll, a mathematics university don, don at the University of Oxford. It details the story of a ...
'') made the label instantly recognizable. Much of the early distinctive artwork used by the label was created by
Paul Whitehead. Whitehead's original illustrations for three Genesis albums were stolen from the Charisma archives when it was sold to
Virgin Records
Virgin Records is a British record label owned by Universal Music Group. They were originally founded as a British independent record label in 1972 by entrepreneurs Richard Branson, Simon Draper, Nik Powell, and musician Tom Newman (musician), ...
in 1983. Whitehead claimed that Charisma staff got wind of the imminent sale and proceeded to loot its office.
The label also released material by
The Nice,
Robert John Godfrey,
Lindisfarne
Lindisfarne, also known as Holy Island, is a tidal island off the northeast coast of England, which constitutes the civil parishes in England, civil parish of Holy Island in Northumberland. Holy Island has a recorded history from the 6th centu ...
and
Alan Hull,
Hawkwind,
The Alan Parsons Project
The Alan Parsons Project was a British rock music, rock duo formed in London in 1975. Its core membership consisted of producer, audio engineer, musician and composer Alan Parsons, and singer, songwriter and pianist Eric Woolfson. They shared w ...
,
Clifford T. Ward,
String Driven Thing,
Jack The Lad,
Audience
An audience is a group of people who participate in a show or encounter a work of art, literature (in which they are called "readers"), theatre, music (in which they are called "listeners"), video games (in which they are called "players"), or ...
,
Vivian Stanshall,
Brand X
Brand X were a British jazz rock band formed in London in 1974. They were initially active until 1980, followed by reformations between 1992–1999 and 2016–2021.
Despite sometimes being considered to be a Phil Collins side project (due t ...
, Sir
John Betjeman,
Malcolm McLaren and
Afraid of Mice.
1970s solo albums of
Peter Hammill,
Tony Banks and
Steve Hackett
Stephen Richard Hackett (born 12 February 1950) is an English guitarist who gained prominence as the lead guitarist of the progressive rock band Genesis (band), Genesis from 1971 to 1977. Hackett contributed to six Genesis studio albums, three l ...
were also on Charisma.
Gail Colson left Charisma in the late 1970s to form her own management company, Gailforce.
In 1983, Charisma Records was acquired by
Virgin Records
Virgin Records is a British record label owned by Universal Music Group. They were originally founded as a British independent record label in 1972 by entrepreneurs Richard Branson, Simon Draper, Nik Powell, and musician Tom Newman (musician), ...
and continued to operate until 1986, when Virgin absorbed the label.
In 1992, Virgin was purchase by
EMI, then known as
Thorn EMI. A new version of Charisma, with no connection to the original label other than the name, operated between 1990 and 1992, with a street-oriented and independently distributed subsidiary called Cardiac Records. Some Charisma Records recordings were re-issued on the EMI label. In the UK, the label was revived by EMI's
Angel Records in 2007.
With most of EMI's purchase by
Universal Music Group
Universal Music Group N.V. (often abbreviated as UMG and referred to as Universal Music Group or Universal Music) is a Netherlands, Dutch–United States, American multinational Music industry, music corporation under Law of the Netherlands, ...
, Charisma returned to
Virgin Records
Virgin Records is a British record label owned by Universal Music Group. They were originally founded as a British independent record label in 1972 by entrepreneurs Richard Branson, Simon Draper, Nik Powell, and musician Tom Newman (musician), ...
.
Distribution
Charisma was initially manufactured and distributed in the United Kingdom via a licensing deal with Lee Gopthal's
B&C Records, sharing the B&C catalogue series for both singles and albums, prior to B&C ceasing to release records on the B&C label, when it concentrated on marketing instead. In early 1972, B&C brokered a deal with Precision Tapes to manufacture and distribute Charisma's albums in tape format. From early 1970, Charisma's European distribution was handled by
Phonogram Inc.
In the United States and Canada, Charisma recordings were initially licensed to other labels. These included
ABC Records
ABC Records was an American record label founded in New York City in 1955. It originated as the main popular music label operated by the Am-Par Record Corporation. Am-Par also created the Impulse! jazz label in 1960. It acquired many labels bef ...
, along with subsidiaries,
Impulse,
Probe and
Dunhill. Artists included Van der Graaf Generator and Genesis.
Elektra Records
Elektra Records (or Elektra Entertainment) is an American record label owned by Warner Music Group, founded in 1950 by Jac Holzman and Paul Rickolt. It played an important role in the development of contemporary folk and rock music between the ...
in the US released records by Charisma artists Atomic Rooster, Audience, Lindisfarne and Jack the Lad.
In 1971, Charisma entered into a distribution agreement with
Buddah Records and began to release albums on the Charisma label in the US. These included ''
Pawn Hearts
''Pawn Hearts'' is the fourth album by English progressive rock band Van der Graaf Generator, released on 12 November 1971 on Charisma Records. The original album features just three tracks, including the side-long suite "A Plague of Lighthouse ...
'' by
Van der Graaf Generator
Van der Graaf Generator are an English progressive rock band, formed in 1967 in Manchester by singer-songwriters Peter Hammill and Judge Smith, Chris Judge Smith. They were the first act signed by Charisma Records. They did not experience much ...
and ''
Nursery Cryme
''Nursery Cryme'' is the third studio album by the English rock band Genesis, released on 12 November 1971 on Charisma Records. It was their first to feature drummer/vocalist Phil Collins and guitarist Steve Hackett. The album received a mixed ...
'', ''
Foxtrot'' and ''
Genesis Live'' by Genesis.
Atlantic Records
Atlantic Recording Corporation (simply known as Atlantic Records) is an American record label founded in October 1947 by Ahmet Ertegun and Herb Abramson. Over the course of its first two decades, starting from the release of its first recor ...
also later released Charisma recordings in the United States from 1973 to 1974 including many Genesis titles.
In 1973, Atlantic stopped distributing Charisma in America; as a result, in the US Charisma's bands signed to various labels such as
Mercury Records
Mercury Records is an American record label owned by Universal Music Group. It had significant success as an independent operation in the 1940s and 1950s. Smash Records and Fontana Records were sub labels of Mercury. Mercury Records released ...
(Van der Graaf Generator) and
Arista Records
Arista Records ( ) is an American record label owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America, the American division of the Japanese conglomerate Sony. The label was previously a division of Bertelsmann Music G ...
(Monty Python). Genesis records were released in the US under Atlantic's subsidiary label
Atco Records
ATCO Records is an American record label founded in 1955. It is owned by Warner Music Group and operates as an imprint of Atlantic Records. After several decades of dormancy and infrequent activity under alternating Warner Music labels, the com ...
from 1974 to 1976. In 1976, Charisma signed a new distribution deal in the UK with
Polydor that lasted until 1980. In Canada, many Charisma releases were distributed by GRT and
PolyGram Canada.
Between 1980 and 1982, Charisma operated a subsidiary called Pre Records, who were devoted to
new wave and
reggae
Reggae () is a music genre that originated in Jamaica during the late 1960s. The term also denotes the modern popular music of Jamaica and its Jamaican diaspora, diaspora. A 1968 single by Toots and the Maytals, "Do the Reggay", was the first ...
acts. Pre's roster included
Scars,
Prince Far I,
Delta 5,
Gregory Isaacs,
The Monochrome Set and
Congo Ashanti Roy, amongst others. Pre also licensed albums by
The Residents and
Tuxedomoon from the American label
Ralph Records. In Europe, Pre's releases were issued on the Charisma label.
Collectable "pink scroll" label design
Most Charisma artists were relatively unknown early on, so original pressings have become quite rare and sought after by collectors. The "pink scroll" label was first used in the UK from 1969 until mid-1972.
This was replaced by the Mad Hatter label, designed by Paul Whitehead. In the US, the pink scroll labels were used in late 1973 and early 1974 on releases distributed by Buddah.
Releases distributed by Atlantic Records used a variation of the Mad Hatter design.
Notable releases
Albums
1: On
Virgin Records
Virgin Records is a British record label owned by Universal Music Group. They were originally founded as a British independent record label in 1972 by entrepreneurs Richard Branson, Simon Draper, Nik Powell, and musician Tom Newman (musician), ...
in Australia,
Atlantic Records
Atlantic Recording Corporation (simply known as Atlantic Records) is an American record label founded in October 1947 by Ahmet Ertegun and Herb Abramson. Over the course of its first two decades, starting from the release of its first recor ...
in the US
2: On
Island Records
Island Records is a multinational record label owned by Universal Music Group. It was founded in Jamaica by Chris Blackwell, Graeme Goodall, and Leslie Kong in 1959, and was eventually sold to PolyGram in 1989. Island and A&M Records, another ...
in the US
3: On
Geffen Records
Geffen Records (formerly The David Geffen Company from 1980 to 1992 and Geffen Records Inc. from 1993 to 2004) is an American record label, founded in late 1980 by David Geffen. Originally a music subsidiary of the company known as Geffen Pi ...
in the US
Singles
1: On
Atlantic Records
Atlantic Recording Corporation (simply known as Atlantic Records) is an American record label founded in October 1947 by Ahmet Ertegun and Herb Abramson. Over the course of its first two decades, starting from the release of its first recor ...
in Canada, New Zealand and the US
2: On
Geffen Records
Geffen Records (formerly The David Geffen Company from 1980 to 1992 and Geffen Records Inc. from 1993 to 2004) is an American record label, founded in late 1980 by David Geffen. Originally a music subsidiary of the company known as Geffen Pi ...
in Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the US
Compilation / sampler albums
See also
*
Lists of record labels
File:Alvinoreyguitarboogie.jpg
File:AmMusicBunk78.jpg
File:Bingola1011b.jpg
Lists of record labels cover record labels, brands or trademarks associated with marketing of music recordings and music videos. The lists are organized alphabetically, ...
References
External links
The Famous Charisma Discography– Book with foreword by Michael Palin
Collectors Website– Contains discography
Tony Stratton Smith and The Marquee ClubColin Richardson was International Manager for Charisma between 1972 and 1976Current Charisma label from Angel Music Group UKCharisma Labelography*
{{Authority control
British record labels
EMI
Universal Music Group
Progressive rock record labels
1969 establishments in England
1986 disestablishments in England
1990 establishments in England
1992 disestablishments in England
Record labels established in 1969
Record labels disestablished in 1986
Record labels established in 1990
Record labels disestablished in 1992
Re-established companies
Rock record labels
Defunct record labels of the United Kingdom