Fashion Records is a UK-based record label

Record label

In the music industry, a record label is a brand and a trademark associated with the marketing of music recordings and music videos. Most commonly, a record label is the company that manages such brands and trademarks, coordinates the production, manufacture, distribution, marketing and promotion,...

 publishing reggae

Reggae

Reggae is a music genre first developed in Jamaica in the late 1960s. While sometimes used in a broader sense to refer to most types of Jamaican music, the term reggae more properly denotes a particular music style that originated following on the development of ska and rocksteady.Reggae is based...

 music.

Founded in summer 1980, Fashion Records is one of the more successful UK-based reggae labels , and one of only a very few British reggae labels to release records that were produced in their own recording studio.

The label was the brainchild of John MacGillivray

John MacGillivray

John MacGillivray was a Scottish-naturalist, active in Australia between 1842 and 1867.MacGillivray was born in Aberdeen, the son of ornithologist William MacGillivray. He took part in three of the Royal Navy's surveying voyages in the Pacific...

 and Chris Lane, two reggae devotees, and was essentially a spin-off from MacGillivray's Dub Vendor

Dub Vendor

Dub Vendor is a long-standing, and pioneering, London vendor of Ska and Reggae music that now is mainly a London-based mail order company specialising in Jamaican music. In 2006, TimeOut magazine termed it "the best source of Jamaican music in Europe" A visit to Dub Vendor is online at the Internet...

 record store. The first Fashion release hit number 1 in the UK reggae charts in the summer of 1980 - Dee Sharp

Dee Sharp

Derrick Trought , better known as Dee Sharp, is a British lovers rock singer who began his recording career in 1980, also joining Buzzz as lead singer for a time.-Biography:...

's 'Let's Dub It Up'. In the next few years a many British reggae artists, and many artists who were passing through from Jamaica

Jamaica

Jamaica is an island nation of the Greater Antilles, in length, up to in width and 10,990 square kilometres in area. It is situated in the Caribbean Sea, about south of Cuba, and west of Hispaniola, the island harbouring the nation-states Haiti and the Dominican Republic...

, turned up on the label: Keith Douglas

Keith Douglas

Keith Castellain Douglas , was an English poet noted for his war poetry during World War II and his wry memoir of the Western Desert Campaign, Alamein to Zem Zem. He was killed during the invasion of Normandy.-Poetry:...

, Carlton Manning (of Carlton & His Shoes), Alton Ellis

Alton Ellis

Alton Nehemiah Ellis, OD, was a Jamaican musician best known as one of the innovators of rocksteady music and was often referred to as the "Godfather of Rocksteady". In 2006, he was inducted into the International Reggae And World Music Awards Hall Of Fame.-Biography:Ellis was born in 1938 and...

, Carlton Lewis and Johnnie Clarke among others.

Studio opening

In 1982 Fashion opened a four-track studio, essentially an expansion of Lane’s dub-cutting facility, A-Class, in the basement of the new Dub Vendor shop in Clapham Junction. By this time the UK MC explosion had begun, and Fashion played a part with Papa Face, Laurel & Hardy

Laurel & Hardy (reggae)

Laurel & Hardy were a British reggae deejay duo best known for their 1983 hit single "Clunk Click".-History:Paul Dawkins and Anthony Robinson had originally worked together as a soul duo, but found more success after moving into reggae in 1978, initially performing under the name Reverend T and...

, Pato Banton

Pato Banton

Pato Banton is a reggae singer and toaster from Birmingham, England. He received the nickname 'Pato' from his stepfather, and 'Banton' from the disc jockey slang for a "heavyweight DJ".-Biography:Born in Birmingham, Banton first came to public attention in the early 1980s when he worked with The...

, Bionic Rhona, Macka B

Macka B

Macka B is a British-born reggae artist, performer and activist with a career spanning thirty years in the United Kingdom and Jamaica. According to AllMusic.com “Macka B was one of Britain's most influential dancehall toasters.”...

 and Asher Senator. The dub-cutting service saw Paul Robinson (of One Blood) and Maxi Priest

Maxi Priest

Max Alfred "Maxi" Priest is a British reggae vocalist of Jamaican descent. He is best known for singing reggae music with a R&B influence, otherwise known as reggae fusion, and became one of the first international successes who regularly dabbled in the genre as well as being one of the most...

 as regulars at the tiny subterranean studio and Robinson soon enjoyed hits with the label as Barry Boom

Barry Boom

Barry Boom is a reggae singer and record producer from London.Paul Robinson was a member of the reggae group One Blood in the 1980s along with his brother Errol, until the group broke up after Errol's death. One Blood released two albums in 1982 - In Love and Super Showcase...

, while Chris Lane played guitars and percussion with Maxi & Paul's 'Caution' band, contributing to (and engineering much of) Maxi's debut album 'You're Safe'.

Chirpy, fast talking MC Smiley Culture

Smiley Culture

David Victor Emmanuel , better known as Smiley Culture, was a British reggae singer and deejay known for his 'fast chat' style. During a relatively brief period of fame and success, he produced two of the most critically acclaimed reggae singles of the 1980s...

 had one of the biggest reggae hits of 1984 on Fashion with Cockney Translation, but bettered it when 'Police Officer' went to number twelve in the national charts, and appeared on Top Of The Pops

Top of the Pops

Top of the Pops, also known as TOTP, is a British music chart television programme, made by the BBC and originally broadcast weekly from 1 January 1964 to 30 July 2006. After 25 December 2006 it became a radio program, now hosted by Tony Blackburn...

. Their connection with the UK MC boom made the step into ragga and dance-hall in the mid 80's a comparatively natural one, and the studio was busy enough to employ Gussie P, and later Frenchie as engineers – both went on to be producers with their own labels, Sip-A-Cup and Maximum Sound respectively.

Meanwhile Fashion was also cutting Lovers Rock

Lovers rock

Lovers rock is a style of reggae music noted for its romantic sound and content. While love songs had been an important part of reggae since the late 1960s, the style was given a greater focus and a name in London in the mid 1970s.-History:...

 hits with Michael Gordon and the under-rated Nerious Joseph, often coming out on another imprint, Fine Style. Two female acts were recruited, Winsome

Winsome

Winsome is a given name, and may refer to:* Winsome Evans , Associate Professor of music at the University of Sydney* Winsome Sears , member of the Virginia House of Delegates...

 and Shako Lee (Janet Lee Davis). Winsome's 'Am I The Same Girl', 'Born Free' and 'Super Woman' (with Tippa lrie) proved themselves classics of their type. Fashion also continued to work with a variety of top Jamaican acts, including Junior Delgado

Junior Delgado

Oscar Hibbert , better known as Junior Delgado, was a reggae singer, famed for his roots style.-Biography:...

, Joseph Cotton

Joseph Cotton

Joseph Cotton aka Jah Walton is a reggae deejay active since the mid-1970s.-Biography:...

 ('No Touch The Style'), Leroy Gibbons, Frankie Paul

Frankie Paul

Paul Blake , better known as Frankie Paul, is one of Jamaica's best-loved and popular dancehall reggae artists. Born blind, he has been dubbed by some 'The Jamaican Stevie Wonder'.-Biography:...

, Glen Brown

Glen Brown

Glen Brown , also known as 'God Son' and 'The Rhythm Master', is a Jamaican singer, musician, and record producer, working primarily in the genres of reggae and dub...

 and Augustus Pablo

Augustus Pablo

Horace Swaby , known as Augustus Pablo, was a Jamaican roots reggae and dub record producer, melodica player and keyboardist, active from the 1970s onwards. He popularized the use of the melodica in reggae music...

.

New studio

In 1988 the label opened the new A-Class Studio, a sixteen-track set up in Forest Hill

Forest Hill, London

Forest Hill is a district of south London, England, located in the London Borough of Lewisham. It situated between Dulwich and Sydenham. The area has enjoyed extensive investment since plans to extend the East London Line to Forest Hill were unveiled in 2004....

, South East London, and also began to lay tracks at Penthouse Studios in Jamaica, voicing and mixing them back in London. 1989/90 saw a string of reggae chart hits, with Janet Lee Davis’ 'Two Timing Lover' and Cutty Ranks' 'The Stopper' both hitting number 1. A second pop chart success, Louchie Lou & Michie One's inspired ragga cover of the lsley Brothers’, 'Shout', licensed to London Records, and the rise of General Levy

General Levy

General Levy is a London born ragga vocalist, regularly employed on studio tracks by drum and bass DJs. He is best known for the track "Incredible" which he recorded with M-Beat.-Biography:...

, also leased to London, helped to ensure that the label's reputation remained secure.

1990s

Throughout the nineties Fashion had frequent top placings in the UK reggae chart and a string of successful releases in Jamaica (and the US) with artists such as Peter Hunnigale, Sanchez, General Degree, Cutty Ranks and Janet Lee Davis. They also had the dubious pleasure of being the most 'sampled' reggae label during the 'jungle' craze, and supplied the vocals to the UK garage hit 'Rip Groove' (Double 99 featuring Top Cat).The studio was also busy with production projects for other companies and amongst other artists who had the 'Fashion treatment' were Michie One & Louchie Lou ('The Crickets Sing For Ana Maria'), Sayoko ('Sistren' with Michie One & Louchie Lou), and Phillip Leo ('Summer Girl’ with Glamma Kid).

In early 1997 the A-Class Studio was again relocated and completely rebuilt, and the label was soon busy again working on new singles and albums with Janet Lee Davis, Starky Banton, Alton Ellis, The Dub Organiser, Neville Morrison, Ras Harry Chapman, Mykal Roze, & Sandeeno, amongst others.

2000s

Since 2000, the label has been inactive and no new projects have been undertaken; however, there are plans for a re-release schedule which will make much of Fashion's back catalogue available again.

Labels

Various labels were owned by Fashion Records:

• Fashion
• Fine Style
• Top Notch
• Arthur Daley International
• Rubble Music
• Hi-Fashion
• Dub Organiser