Greensleeves Records
| Greensleeves Records | |
|---|---|
 Logo of the label |
|
| Parent company | VP Records |
| Active years | 1975 (2008 takeover by VP Records) |
| founder | Chris Cracknell & Chris Sedgwick |
| Seat | London, England |
| Website | www.greensleeves.net |
| Label code | LC 05923 |
| Sub-label | UK Bubblers, RAS Records |
| distribution | London, England
New York, USA |
| Genre (s) | Reggae , dancehall |
Greensleeves Records is an English record label . It is considered one of the most important and well-known labels on the reggae and dance hall scene . The best known is the riddim series called Greensleeves Rhythm Album , of which there are over 90 releases. The best known greats from the reggae, roots reggae and dancehall fields have released songs and albums on the label. Including Beenie Man , Eek-a-Mouse , Elephant Man , Gregory Isaacs , Mr. Vegas , Sizzla , Vybz Kartel and Yellowman . To date, the label has released more than 25,000 songs and more than 500 albums.
history
1970s
Greensleeves Records was founded by the two Englishmen Chris Cracknell and Chris Sedgwick in November 1975 as a small shop for reggae records. The first location was in the district of West Ealing in London .
In 1977, after moving to Shepherd's Bush , London, the Greensleeves record label was founded and moved again. This time to Isleworth , Middlesex in London on St. John's Road where the contact address is to this day (2010). At the same time, the two founders opened a sales office in New York , USA . In the same year the newly founded label released the first two 7 ″ singles in quick succession . These came from the Jamaican reagga singer Dr. Alimantado . The name of the first single was "Born For A Purpose" , the following one was called "Where Is Jah" . The first song was a great success. A year later, in 1978, the same artist released the label's first album called "Best Dressed Chicken In Town" . In 1980 the first two albums were released under contract on the label in quick succession. The first album was called "Original Rockers" by Augustus Pablo . After that, the album was released "Both Of Whom" by Barrington Levy .
1980s
Dancehall began to become popular in Jamaica in the early 1980s and Greensleeves Records began to hire musicians in the genre. Including the Jamaican music producer Henry "Junjo" Lawes , one of the pioneers of dancehall. At this time, albums by well-known reggae singers were also released. Including the early works of Black Uhuru , various vocal albums ( a cappella ) by Wailing Souls and albums by Freddie McGregor and Linval Thompson . In the mid-eighties there was almost no reggae or dancehall artist who did not release an album or a single on the label. Many well-known songs have appeared on the label, including hits Wa Do Dem by Eek-a-Mouse , "Zungguzungguguzungguzeng" and nine other albums by Yellowman , Frankie Paul's early hit "Pass The Tu-Sheng-Peng" and Junior Reid's debut album "Boom Shack A Lack " .
An eight-year campaign to support local musicians ended with Tippa Irie's 1986 hit "Hello Darling" , which stayed in the UK top 30 for several weeks. The band Capital Letters from Wolverhampton in England enjoyed great success with their songs "Smoking My Ganja" and "President Amin" , both of which were very successful in Spain , as did Pato Banton from London with many of his early works on the label. The duo Clint Eastwood & General Saint also had chart successes with their songs "Another One Bites The Dust" (nine weeks number 1 in the UK reggae charts) and "Stop That Train" (number 3 in the national charts of the Netherlands) .
1985 appeared with the song "Under Me Sleng Teng" on the Sleng Teng Riddim of the same name by Wayne Smith , which is the first song to be assigned to the Ragga or Raggamuffin music style. From then on, most of the mostly electronically produced publications were ragga or raggamuffin songs. In 1988 the label entered into a long-term partnership with the Jamaican music producer Augustus "Gussie" Clarke , who set many albums by artists to music , such as B. Dennis Brown and Gregory Isaacs, whose single "Rumors" was the best-selling reggae record in 1988. With these songs, especially "Under Me Sleng Teng" , the music genre Ragga / Raggamuffin was born. Greensleeves is the first label to offer records in this genre. For the next two years, productions by Gussie dominated the dancehall and ragga market and he produced many riddims for artists such as Cocoa Tea , Shabba Ranks and the label's own singer Deborahe Glasgow .
In the late 1980s Greensleeves Records took over the license of the leading US reggae label RAS Records , on the songs a. a. by Black Uhuru (including UK top 50 hit "Great Train Robbery" ), Freddie McGregor and Israel Vibration . For some time Greensleeves took over the distribution of other US reggae labels in Europe and the like. a. by VP Records , Heartbeat and Shanachie . After a few years, Greensleeves separated from the others to take care of the in-house label. In the late 1980s Greensleeves Records also released a World Music series, including a. with songs by the Zouk band Kassav .
1990s
In March 1993 Shaggy's world-famous hit "Oh Carolina" reached number one on the UK charts. In Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium the song was in the top ten. This was the label's best-known release to date and Greensleeves Records received worldwide attention. In 1995 the solo debut single of the Jamaican deejay Elephant Man was released with the title "Heng Them" . Also from Jamaica, Red Rat made his debut in 1997 with his album "Oh No ... It's Red Rat" . The early work by Jamaican Sizzla called "Woman & Child" , which received massive criticism, also appeared on the label. Sizzla released his next albums in 1999 ( "Royal Son of Ethiopia" ), 2000 ( " Bobo Ashanti " ) and 2001 ( " Rastafari Teach I Everything" ). Two more Greensleeves releases hit the UK charts in the late 1990s. Beenie Man released his commercially successful hit "Who Am I (Zim Zimma)" in 1998. The song reached number 10. Mr. Vegas , also from Jamaica, reached number 16 with his 1999 debut single "Heads High" . The single was the label's best-selling record at the time. The song got the MOBO Awards .
2000 - until today
In 2000 Greensleeves Records celebrated its 25th anniversary. In keeping with this, an album was released under the name "Greensleeve Classics" , which contained 25 remastered songs from the Greensleeve sampler series, which has existed since 1983 . Later, a series under the name Greensleeves Classics was published at regular intervals. The well-known series Greensleeves Rhythm Album has been published since 2000 . The first riddim under this name was the Bellyas Riddim and was sung about or toasted by twenty deejays . The Diwali Riddim achieved worldwide fame on the "Greensleeves Rhythm Album # 24" , which was sung about and toasted by more than 30 deejays. In 2003 the Jamaican Vybz Kartel's debut album called "Up 2 Di Time" was released . In 2006 Greensleeves was acquired by Zest Group PLC for half a million British pounds . In 2008 Greensleeves Records sold on to VP Records , now the largest reggae and dancehall label, for £ 3.1 million . The label's president has been Olivier Chastan since then. The label still brings out its own releases under the name Greensleeves Records. In 2010 Greensleeves Records celebrated its 30th anniversary.
Well-known artists (selection)
Admiral Tibett , Anthony B. , Black Uhuru , Bounty Killer , Buju Banton , Capleton , Ce'Cile , Jah Cure , Dillinger , Tonton David , Elephant Man , Eek-a-Mouse , Chuck Fenda , Gregory Isaacs , Luciano Red Rat , Papa San , Sean Paul , Shaggy , Sizzla , Lady Saw , Cocoa Tea , Mr. Vegas , Warrior King , Wayne Wonder , Yellowman , Ziggy Marley
Well-known series of publications
- Greensleeves Classics (2000-20 ??)
- Greensleeves Rhythm Album (2000-20 ??)
- Greensleeves Sampler (1983-2000)
- The Biggest Ragga Dancehall Anthems (1999-20 ??)
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c d e Greensleeves: A Brief Biography ( Memento of the original from October 5, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (English)
- ↑ a b Report on the 30th anniversary of Greensleeves Records (English)
- ↑ Tippa Irie - Hello Darling on Discogs
- ↑ Wayne Smith on Discogs
- ↑ Wayne Smith - Under Mi Sleng Teng on Discogs
- ↑ Heng Them on Discogs
- ↑ Oh no its Red Rat on Discogs
- ↑ a b Greensleeves Rhythm Album # 01 with release date on Discogs
- ↑ Up 2 Di Time on Discogs
- ^ Press release on the sales of Greensleeves Records
- ↑ a b Greensleeves bought by VP Records on Music Week (English)
