RAK Records
| RAK Records | |
|---|---|
| Active years | 1969-1986 |
| founder | Peter Grant , Mickie Most |
| Seat | London |
| Website | http://www.rakpublishing.com/ |
| distribution | EMI |
| Genre (s) | Rock, pop |
RAK Records was a British record label that produced great successes mainly in the 1970s with so-called "teenage music". The associated music publisher was called RAK Music Publishing .
The company was founded in December 1969 by music producers Peter Grant and Mickie Most . However, since Grant became manager of the Yardbirds almost at the same time , Most soon took sole control.
RAK Record's first 27 releases all made it into the UK Top50. In 1973 alone, 14 of 18 publications reached the top 30. The first single (RAK 101) was the track If I Could produced by Most in the version by Julie Felix from March 1970, which, due to the lack of publication of the Simon & Garfunkel hit in Great Britain, reached number 19 there.
Hot Chocolate , which is produced by Most and released their first single Love Is Life (RAK 103) in July 1970, achieved bigger hits. He tinkered with them on an identifiable sound that ultimately consisted of a bluesy mixture of organ and guitar riffs. The formula for success was found, because Brother Louie (March 1973) or You Sexy Thing (October 1975) achieved million seller status. From then on, a creative atmosphere developed at RAK Records that made the label the most successful British label for teen music.
Because with Nicky Chinn and Mike Chapman , label owner Most found two talented authors in July 1971 who wrote hits on the assembly line for Mud (January 1973), Suzi Quatro (April 1973), Smokie (April 1975) or Racey (June 1978), and most of them too self-produced. Racey's Lay Your Love On Me (November 1978) was sold 950,000 times in Great Britain alone (2 million worldwide), making it the top-selling single from RAK Records for the time being. That surpassed Some Girls in March 1979 , because the hit produced by Most himself was sold 5 million times worldwide. Exile (September 1976), Kim Wilde (January 1981) and Johnny Hates Jazz (March 1986) were other artists in the catalog of the RAK Records label, which remained very successful as a label until February 1988. Mickie Most had already sold his label to EMI in 1986, but remained as head of administration.
Other artists on the RAK label were CCS , Cozy Powell , Chris Spedding , Smokie , Arrows or Kim Wilde - and Mickie Most was always a producer too, which means that he earned twice as much. Mickie Most was one of the first music producers to have his own record label and recording studio.
Web links
- RAK Studios homepage , www.rakstudios.co.uk