First Avenue Records (also known as 1st Avenue and First Avenue Management) 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, ...
,
publishing company
Publishing is the activities of making information, literature, music, software, and other content, physical or digital, available to the public for sale or free of charge. Traditionally, the term publishing refers to the creation and distribu ...
and
music management
A talent manager (also known as an artist manager, band manager, or music manager) is an individual who guides the professional career of artists within the entertainment industry. The responsibility of a talent manager is to oversee the day- ...
company. The publishing side of the company was acquired by
BMG Music Publishing
Bertelsmann Music Group (BMG) was a division of a German media company Bertelsmann before its completion of sale of the majority of its assets to Sony Corporation of America on 1 October 2008.
Although it was established in 1987, the music com ...
in 2002. After
Universal Music Publishing
Universal Music Publishing Group (UMPG) is a global Music publisher (popular music), music publishing company and is part of the Universal Music Group. Universal Music Publishing has been ranked the #1 music publisher in market share by Billboar ...
's acquisition of BMG Music Publishing in 2004, First Avenue Music then belonged to Universal Music Publishing.
The brain behind First Avenue Records was Oliver Smallman. They handled
artist management
A talent manager (also known as an artist manager, band manager, or music manager) is an individual who guides the professional career of artists within the entertainment industry. The responsibility of a talent manager is to oversee the day- ...
, signed and developed acts, pretty much acting as A&R for record labels. Licensed acts included Quartz, record producers/DJs/remixers Dave Rawlings and Ronnie Herel -
PolyGram,
Dina Carroll
Geraldine "Dina" Carroll (born 21 August 1968) is an English singer. She had a string of hits during the 1990s, including the UK top ten singles "It's Too Late (Carole King song)#Quartz version, It's Too Late" (1991), "Don't Be a Stranger (Din ...
-
A&M,
Michelle Gayle
Michelle Patricia Gayle (born 2 February 1971) is a British singer, songwriter, actress and writer. Gayle had success as a Contemporary R&B, soul and R&B singer in the 1990s, having achieved seven top 40 single (music), singles in the UK Single ...
-
RCA
RCA Corporation was a major American electronics company, which was founded in 1919 as the Radio Corporation of America. It was initially a patent pool, patent trust owned by General Electric (GE), Westinghouse Electric Corporation, Westinghou ...
,
Eternal
Eternal(s) or The Eternal may refer to:
* Eternity, an infinite amount of time, or a timeless state
* Immortality or eternal life
* God, the supreme being, creator deity, and principal object of faith in monotheism
Comics, film and television
* ...
,
Louise and
Dana Dawson
Dana Dawson (August 7, 1974 – August 10, 2010) was an American actress and singing, singer.
Early life and career
Dawson made her acting debut at the age of 7 in a national tour of ''Annie (musical), Annie''. She was an understudy of the char ...
-
EMI
EMI Group Limited (formerly EMI Group plc until 2007; originally an initialism for Electric and Musical Industries, also referred to as EMI Records or simply EMI) was a British transnational conglomerate founded in March 1931 in London. At t ...
,
MN8
MN8 are a British R&B- pop group. They consisted of KG (lead vocalist), Kule T (lead vocalist, songwriter), G-Man (lead vocalist), and Dee Tails (rapper, stylist and choreographer).
Career
MN8's 1995 debut hit single, " I've Got a Little So ...
-
Columbia, the
Honeyz
The Honeyz are a British Contemporary R&B, R&B girl group currently composed of members Célena Cherry, Heavenli Abdi and Cherry's sister, Candace Cherry, as a touring member. The group had five UK top 10 hits between 1998 and 2000, with "Final ...
-
Mercury, and
Kele Le Roc
Kelly Biggs (born 5 October 1975 in East Ham, London), better known by her stage name Kele Le Roc, is an English singer.
Career
Biggs began singing at the age of three, and she attended Langdon Comprehensive School in East Ham. She first found ...
-
Polydor
Polydor Limited, also known as Polydor Records, is a British record label that operates as part of Universal Music Group. It has a close relationship with Universal's Interscope Geffen A&M Records label, which distributes Polydor's releases in ...
/Wildcard Records, Kes Ingoldsby.
The label launched in 1991 with a dance cover of
Carole King
Carole King Klein (born Carol Joan Klein; February 9, 1942) is an American singer-songwriter and musician renowned for her extensive contributions to popular music. She wrote or co-wrote 118 songs that charted on the Billboard Hot 100, ''Billbo ...
's "
It's Too Late" by Quartz featuring
Dina Carroll
Geraldine "Dina" Carroll (born 21 August 1968) is an English singer. She had a string of hits during the 1990s, including the UK top ten singles "It's Too Late (Carole King song)#Quartz version, It's Too Late" (1991), "Don't Be a Stranger (Din ...
which was a hit, reaching No. 8 in the
UK Singles Chart and introducing Carroll who later released ''
So Close''. These were followed by another million seller, Eternal's ''
Always & Forever''. Success continued until the late 1990s with most of their acts being dropped from their labels.
Artists
*
Dana Dawson
Dana Dawson (August 7, 1974 – August 10, 2010) was an American actress and singing, singer.
Early life and career
Dawson made her acting debut at the age of 7 in a national tour of ''Annie (musical), Annie''. She was an understudy of the char ...
*
Dina Carroll
Geraldine "Dina" Carroll (born 21 August 1968) is an English singer. She had a string of hits during the 1990s, including the UK top ten singles "It's Too Late (Carole King song)#Quartz version, It's Too Late" (1991), "Don't Be a Stranger (Din ...
*
Eternal
Eternal(s) or The Eternal may refer to:
* Eternity, an infinite amount of time, or a timeless state
* Immortality or eternal life
* God, the supreme being, creator deity, and principal object of faith in monotheism
Comics, film and television
* ...
*
Honeyz
The Honeyz are a British Contemporary R&B, R&B girl group currently composed of members Célena Cherry, Heavenli Abdi and Cherry's sister, Candace Cherry, as a touring member. The group had five UK top 10 hits between 1998 and 2000, with "Final ...
*
Kéllé Bryan
Kéllé Bryan (born 12 March 1975) is an English singer and actress. Known as one of the founding members of girl group Eternal, she sold more than 10 million records and achieved the UK number-one single, " I Wanna Be The Only One" alongside ...
*
Kele Le Roc
Kelly Biggs (born 5 October 1975 in East Ham, London), better known by her stage name Kele Le Roc, is an English singer.
Career
Biggs began singing at the age of three, and she attended Langdon Comprehensive School in East Ham. She first found ...
*
Louise
*
Märy Kiani
*
Michelle Gayle
Michelle Patricia Gayle (born 2 February 1971) is a British singer, songwriter, actress and writer. Gayle had success as a Contemporary R&B, soul and R&B singer in the 1990s, having achieved seven top 40 single (music), singles in the UK Single ...
*
MN8
MN8 are a British R&B- pop group. They consisted of KG (lead vocalist), Kule T (lead vocalist, songwriter), G-Man (lead vocalist), and Dee Tails (rapper, stylist and choreographer).
Career
MN8's 1995 debut hit single, " I've Got a Little So ...
*
Thunderbugs
* Kes Ingoldsby.
See also
*
List 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
Smallman and Harrison Evolve with new partnership , Music Week*
British record labels
Defunct record labels of the United Kingdom
Contemporary R&B record labels
{{UK-record-label-stub