Strawberry Studios
Encyclopedia
Formation
The facility was originally called Inner City Studios and located above a music store in the town centre. In early 1968 it was bought by Peter Tattersall, a former road manager for Billy J. Kramer and the Dakotas. Tattersall invited Eric StewartEric Stewart
Eric Stewart is an English musician, songwriter and record producer most known for his tenure with The Mindbenders in the 1960s, and 10cc from 1972 to 1995....
– then lead guitarist and singer of The Mindbenders
The Mindbenders
The Mindbenders was a 1960s beat group from Manchester, England. They were part of the mid 1960s British Invasion with their chart-toppers "Game of Love" and "A Groovy Kind of Love"....
and later a member of 10cc
10cc
10cc are an English art rock band who achieved their greatest commercial success in the 1970s. The band initially consisted of four musicians -- Graham Gouldman, Eric Stewart, Kevin Godley, and Lol Creme -- who had written and recorded together for some three years, before assuming the "10cc" name...
– to join him as a partner in July 1968. The pair moved to larger premises at No.3 Waterloo Road in October, with Stewart choosing the studio's new name in honour of his favourite Beatles
The Beatles
The Beatles were an English rock band, active throughout the 1960s and one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music. Formed in Liverpool, by 1962 the group consisted of John Lennon , Paul McCartney , George Harrison and Ringo Starr...
song, "Strawberry Fields Forever
Strawberry Fields Forever
"Strawberry Fields Forever" is a song by The Beatles, written by John Lennon and attributed to the Lennon–McCartney songwriting partnership. It was inspired by Lennon's memories of playing in the garden of a Salvation Army house named "Strawberry Field" near his childhood home."Strawberry Fields...
".
10cc
10cc are an English art rock band who achieved their greatest commercial success in the 1970s. The band initially consisted of four musicians -- Graham Gouldman, Eric Stewart, Kevin Godley, and Lol Creme -- who had written and recorded together for some three years, before assuming the "10cc" name...
member Graham Gouldman
Graham Gouldman
Graham Keith Gouldman is an English songwriter and musician who is a long-time member of British band 10cc.-Early life and 1960s pop career: 1946–1968:Gouldman was born in Broughton, Salford, England...
joined the pair as an investor. The studio was used extensively by Stewart, Gouldman and the other two musicians who would join them to form 10cc
10cc
10cc are an English art rock band who achieved their greatest commercial success in the 1970s. The band initially consisted of four musicians -- Graham Gouldman, Eric Stewart, Kevin Godley, and Lol Creme -- who had written and recorded together for some three years, before assuming the "10cc" name...
-- Lol Creme
Lol Crème
Lol Creme is an English musician and music video director, best known for his work in 10cc. He sings, plays guitar and keyboards.-Biography:...
and Kevin Godley
Kevin Godley
Kevin Godley is a British musician and music video director.He was born in a family of Jewish descent, and went to North Cestrian Grammar School in Altrincham....
-- as well as major artists including Joy Division
Joy Division
Joy Division were an English rock band formed in 1976 in Salford, Greater Manchester. Originally named Warsaw, the band primarily consisted of Ian Curtis , Bernard Sumner , Peter Hook and Stephen Morris .Joy Division rapidly evolved from their initial punk rock influences...
, Neil Sedaka
Neil Sedaka
Neil Sedaka is an American pop/rock singer, pianist, and composer. His career has spanned nearly 55 years, during which time he has sold millions of records as an artist and has written or co-written over 500 songs for himself and other artists, collaborating mostly with lyricists Howard...
, Barclay James Harvest
Barclay James Harvest
Barclay James Harvest are an English progressive rock band. They were founded in Saddleworth, Lancashire, in September 1966 by John Lees, Les Holroyd, Stuart "Woolly" Wolstenholme , and Mel Pritchard .-History:...
, The Smiths
The Smiths
The Smiths were an English alternative rock band, formed in Manchester in 1982. Based on the song writing partnership of Morrissey and Johnny Marr , the band also included Andy Rourke and Mike Joyce...
, The Stone Roses
The Stone Roses
The Stone Roses are an English alternative rock band formed in Manchester in 1983. They were one of the pioneering groups of the Madchester movement that was active during the late 1980s and early 1990s...
and Paul McCartney
Paul McCartney
Sir James Paul McCartney, MBE, Hon RAM, FRCM is an English musician, singer-songwriter and composer. Formerly of The Beatles and Wings , McCartney is listed in Guinness World Records as the "most successful musician and composer in popular music history", with 60 gold discs and sales of 100...
.
In a 1976 interview Stewart described the studio's early days: "It was a very tiny studio with some stereo equipment and the walls lined with egg boxes to provide sound insulation. There was a makeshift sort of control desk tied together with sellotape and string, but it was good enough for what I wanted to do, and it was the only studio near Manchester.
"What I wanted to do was to make some demos of some songs I'd written – put them down myself and then try to sell them. At that time I was infected with the idea of becoming a recording engineer and building a studio where I could develop my own ideas as to what a studio should be like."
Gouldman was equally enthusiastic: "Ever since I'd started songwriting I'd always wanted to have a studio of my own to work in and to make my own demos. We used to tell ourselves that one day The Beatles
The Beatles
The Beatles were an English rock band, active throughout the 1960s and one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music. Formed in Liverpool, by 1962 the group consisted of John Lennon , Paul McCartney , George Harrison and Ringo Starr...
would record there – and eventually Paul McCartney
Paul McCartney
Sir James Paul McCartney, MBE, Hon RAM, FRCM is an English musician, singer-songwriter and composer. Formerly of The Beatles and Wings , McCartney is listed in Guinness World Records as the "most successful musician and composer in popular music history", with 60 gold discs and sales of 100...
did. Gradually the studio did get a name for being a good place to work."
The partners in the business continued to upgrade equipment at the studios, and in December 1969 a deal was struck with US producers Jerry Kasenetz
Jerry Kasenetz
Jerry Kasenetz is an American bubblegum pop producer who worked with Jeff Katz, the two working together as the Super K production company, to manufacture and produce bands like The Music Explosion, 1910 Fruitgum Company, Crazy Elephant, and The Ohio Express....
and Jeff Katz
Jeff Katz
Jeffrey Katz is an American music producer, one of the first exponents of bubblegum pop.-Music career:He is one half of a hitmaking duo with Jerry Kasenetz, the two working together as the Super K production company...
of Super K Productions
Super K Productions
Super K Productions was a 1960s American recording production company under Buddah Records, headed by producers Jerry Kasenetz and Jeffrey Katz, whose groups specialized in bubblegum pop. Their biggest successes were The Ohio Express, The 1910 Fruitgum Company, Crazy Elephant and The Music Explosion...
to book the studios solidly for three months to record bubblegum
Bubblegum pop
Bubblegum pop is a genre of pop music with an upbeat sound contrived and marketed to appeal to pre-teens and teenagers, produced in an assembly-line process, driven by producers, often using unknown singers.Bubblegum's classic period ran from 1967 to 1972...
songs, using the talents of Gouldman, Stewart, Godley and Creme.
Stewart described the Kasenetz-Katz deal as a breakthrough: "That allowed us to get the extra equipment to turn it into a real studio. To begin with they were interested in Graham's songwriting and when they heard that he was involved in a studio I think they thought the most economical thing for them to do would be to book his studio and then put him to work there – but they ended up recording Graham's songs and then some of Kevin and Lol's songs, and we were all working together."
When new recording equipment was installed in June 1970, the first experiments with it, on the layering of drum sounds, yielded the hit single "Neanderthal Man
Neanderthal Man (song)
"Neanderthal Man" is a song by Hotlegs, an English pop band that was later relaunched as 10cc. The song, initially created only as a studio exercise to test drum sounds on new recording equipment, sold over two million copies and reached No.2 in the UK and No. 22 in the US...
", released under the name of Hotlegs.
Stewart said: "It was the first thing we had ever tried to record on the new equipment that we'd had installed at the studio with the Kasenetz Katz money; for the first time we'd become a four-track studio with our own Ampex four-track machine and a real purpose-built control desk. We were all very excited about it and "Neanderthal Man" was something we recorded to test the equipment."
Another song recorded soon after, "Umbopo", released under the name of Doctor Father
Doctor Father
Doctor Father was the band name used by British musicians Eric Stewart, Kevin Godley and Lol Creme – later of 10cc – for the release of a single, "Umbopo", in August 1970....
, became pivotal in the eventual decision by the four musicians to record as a band. When Gouldman was introduced to singer-songwriter Neil Sedaka
Neil Sedaka
Neil Sedaka is an American pop/rock singer, pianist, and composer. His career has spanned nearly 55 years, during which time he has sold millions of records as an artist and has written or co-written over 500 songs for himself and other artists, collaborating mostly with lyricists Howard...
in New York, Sedaka exclaimed: "I just love your 'Umbopo'." Gouldman told Sedaka the song had been recorded at Strawberry and Sedaka asked if he could use the studio for his next album. Sedaka recorded two albums there – Solitaire (recorded in February and March 1972) and The Tra La Days Are Over (1973).
The experience of working on Solitaire, which became a success for Sedaka, was enough to prompt the band to seek recognition on their own merits. In a later interview Gouldman said: "It was Neil Sedaka's success that did it, I think. We'd just been accepting any job we were offered and were getting really frustrated. We knew that we were worth more than that, but it needed something to prod us into facing that. We were a bit choked to think that we'd done the whole of Neil's first album with him just for flat session fees when we could have been recording our own material."
Once launched as a band, 10cc recorded their first four albums at Strawberry Studios. Sheet Music
Sheet Music (album)
Sheet Music is the second album by Manchester rock band 10cc. It was released in 1974 and yielded the hit singles "The Wall Street Shuffle" and "Silly Love". The album reached No.9 in the UK and No.81 in the United States....
(1974) was recorded at the same time McCartney was producing brother Mike McGear's McGear album. Gouldman recalled: "We would work in the studios every day from 11am to 5pm and then Paul would come in the evenings. It was a fabulous period, the studio looked absolutely beautiful, full of their equipment and our equipment, there was a lovely creative atmosphere in the studio ... Throughout that period Strawberry was operating 24 hours a day and that gave the studio an atmosphere it had never had before and to me that's something that came across on Sheet Music that we did not capture again when we did The Original Soundtrack
The Original Soundtrack
The Original Soundtrack is a 1975 album by 10cc.-Overview:The album was the first to be released by Mercury Records after signing the band for $1 million in February 1975. The catalyst for the deal was one song – "I'm Not in Love". Stewart recalled:The Original Soundtrack, which was already...
."
Expansion and sale
Gouldman and Stewart opened a second studio, Strawberry Studios South, in a former cinema in DorkingDorking
Dorking is a historic market town at the foot of the North Downs approximately south of London, in Surrey, England.- History and development :...
, Surrey, in 1976 following the departure of Godley and Creme. The studio had been planned before the band's split, with Stewart pointing out the Stockport studio had been in such great demand it was often difficult for 10cc to use it. He said: "Initially the studio will be just for 10cc, but we will be letting it out for block bookings of two months at a time for selected customers, other groups who want to record in comfort."
The first 10cc album to be recorded there was 1977's Deceptive Bends
Deceptive Bends
Deceptive Bends is an album released in 1977 by rock band 10cc.The departure of Kevin Godley and Lol Creme in 1976 to form Godley & Creme almost ended 10cc. However Eric Stewart and Graham Gouldman kept the group alive as a duo...
. In 1978 Strawberry Mastering opened in London, which for the first time gave the studio complete control of the process from recording to pressing.
10cc sold their interest in the Stockport studio in the 1980s, but returned to record Windows in the Jungle
Windows in the Jungle
Windows in the Jungle is the ninth studio album by British pop band 10cc. It was released in October 1983 and was the last album by the band for nine years....
in 1983.
In 1986, the neighbouring Yellow Two recording studio took over the running of Strawberry in Stockport. It ceased operation as a music studio in the early 1990s and was converted for use for film and video production.
Both Strawberry Mastering and Strawberry South had closed by 1983.
On May 3, 2007 a plaque was mounted on the front of 3 Waterloo Road by the Borough of Stockport for the Stockport Heritage Trust marking the building as one of notable historical interest. The plaque reads: "Strawberry Recording Studios 1968 to 1993. Association with the band 10cc resulted in some of the most memorable music being produced at these studios. Paul McCartney, Neil Sedaka, Stone Roses, the Syd Lawrence Orchestra and many others also recorded here."
External links
- Website dedicated to history of Strawberry Studios http://www.strawberrynorth.co.uk
- Stockport Express article, April 25, 2007, on recognition of the history of Strawberry Studios http://www.the10ccfanclub.com/htm/stock001.jpg
- Current home of the Strawberry Studios Helios recording desk
