ZE Records
Encyclopedia
ZE Records was originally a New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...

-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,...

, started in 1978
1978 in music
This is a list of notable events in music that took place in the year 1978.-January–April:*January 14 – The Sex Pistols play their final show at San Francisco's Winterland Ballroom....

 by Michael Zilkha and Michel Esteban
Michel Esteban
Michel Antoine Gaston Esteban is a French record producer, record company executive, cultural center director and former magazine editor, who founded the influential Paris shop Harry Cover in 1973, was influential in the early development of punk rock, and, together with Michael Zilkha,...

. It has been re-established by Esteban since 2003.

History

Michael Zilkha (b. 1954) is a British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

-born Oxford graduate of Iraqi
Iraq
Iraq ; officially the Republic of Iraq is a country in Western Asia spanning most of the northwestern end of the Zagros mountain range, the eastern part of the Syrian Desert and the northern part of the Arabian Desert....

 descent, the son of Selim Zilkha
Selim Zilkha
Selim Zilkha is an entrepreneur who founded Mothercare, one of the United Kingdom's largest retail chains.-Career:Born in Baghdad and brought up in Lebanon, Egypt and the United States, Selim Zilkha was educated at the Horace Mann School in New York City and Williams College in Williamstown,...

, former owner of Mothercare
Mothercare
Mothercare plc is a British retailer which specialises in products for expectant mothers and in general merchandise for children up to 8 years old. It is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE 250 Index.-History:...

, a major UK retail company, and the stepson of Cabinet
Cabinet of the United Kingdom
The Cabinet of the United Kingdom is the collective decision-making body of Her Majesty's Government in the United Kingdom, composed of the Prime Minister and some 22 Cabinet Ministers, the most senior of the government ministers....

 member Lord Lever
Harold Lever, Baron Lever of Manchester
Harold Lever, Baron Lever of Manchester, PC was a barrister and Labour Party politician in the United Kingdom....

. In the mid-1970s, Zilkha worked in the New York publishing industry and was a contributor to the Village Voice.

Michel Esteban
Michel Esteban
Michel Antoine Gaston Esteban is a French record producer, record company executive, cultural center director and former magazine editor, who founded the influential Paris shop Harry Cover in 1973, was influential in the early development of punk rock, and, together with Michael Zilkha,...

 (b. 1951) studied art in Paris and at the School of Visual Arts
School of Visual Arts
The School of Visual Arts , is a proprietary art school located in Manhattan, New York City, and is widely considered to be one of the leading art schools in the United States. It was established in 1947 by co-founders Silas H. Rhodes and Burne Hogarth as the Cartoonists and Illustrators School and...

 in New York, before returning to Paris in 1975 and opening the shop Harry Cover (a pun on "haricots verts"), which specialised in current rock music merchandise from the US and UK. The basement shop quickly became the rehearsal place for Parisian new wave bands. Between 1975 and 1976, Esteban published Rock News, which covered the birth of the punk rock
Punk rock
Punk rock is a rock music genre that developed between 1974 and 1976 in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia. Rooted in garage rock and other forms of what is now known as protopunk music, punk rock bands eschewed perceived excesses of mainstream 1970s rock...

 movement in London, New York and Paris. In 1977 he published Patti Smith
Patti Smith
Patricia Lee "Patti" Smith is an American singer-songwriter, poet and visual artist, who became a highly influential component of the New York City punk rock movement with her 1975 debut album Horses....

's books Witt
Witt (book)
Witt is a poetry collection by Patti Smith, published in 1973.- Contents :# "Notice"# "Witt"# "October 20"# "Dragnet"# "Dream of Rimbaud"# "To Remember Debbie Denise"# "Sonnet"# "Mock Death"# "What Makes Ruda Ivory"# "Rape"...

and The Night, and Lizzy Mercier Descloux
Lizzy Mercier Descloux
Lizzy Mercier Descloux was a French singer and musician, a pioneer in the worldbeat genre, as well as a writer and painter....

's first book Desiderata.

In 1977, Esteban signed French new wave band Marie et les Garçons
Marie et les Garçons
Marie et les Garçons were a French new wave band formed in Lyon in 1976. After Marie Girard left, the remaining members continued as Garçons.-History:...

, and asked John Cale
John Cale
John Davies Cale, OBE is a Welsh musician, composer, singer-songwriter and record producer who was a founding member of the experimental rock band The Velvet Underground....

 - who had been introduced to him by Patti Smith - to produce them. Cale produced the single "Re Bop" in New York, and when he decided to start a record label with Jane Friedman
Jane Friedman
Jane Friedman is the CEO and Co-Founder of Open Road Integrated Media. She was the President and Chief Executive Officer of HarperCollins Publishers Worldwide, one of the world's leading English-language publishers, from 1997 to 2008....

 he asked Esteban to assist. Cale later introduced Esteban to Zilkha, and they first established SPY Records
SPY Records
SPY Records was a New York based independent music label created in 1977 by John Cale and Jane Friedman.-History:The label was created in 1977 by John Cale and Jane Friedman, who was the manager of Patti Smith, and Cale's girlfriend at the time. It was housed in Cale's 250 West 57th Street...

 to release singles produced by Cale, including records by Harry Toledo, The Necessaries, Lester Bangs
Lester Bangs
Leslie Conway "Lester" Bangs was an American music journalist, author and musician. He wrote for Creem and Rolling Stone magazines, and was known for his leading influence in rock 'n' roll criticism....

, Model Citizens and Bob Neuwirth
Bob Neuwirth
Bob Neuwirth is an American singer, songwriter, record producer and visual artist. A mainstay of the early 1960s Cambridge, Massachusetts, folk scene, he subsequently became a friend and associate of Bob Dylan alongside whom he appears in D.A...

.

Zilkha and Esteban then left to set up their own label, ZE Records, a name taken from the initials of their surnames, to record the new music emerging in New York and elsewhere from a fusion of punk
Punk rock
Punk rock is a rock music genre that developed between 1974 and 1976 in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia. Rooted in garage rock and other forms of what is now known as protopunk music, punk rock bands eschewed perceived excesses of mainstream 1970s rock...

, disco
Disco
Disco is a genre of dance music. Disco acts charted high during the mid-1970s, and the genre's popularity peaked during the late 1970s. It had its roots in clubs that catered to African American, gay, psychedelic, and other communities in New York City and Philadelphia during the late 1960s and...

 and new wave music
New Wave music
New Wave is a subgenre of :rock music that emerged in the mid to late 1970s alongside punk rock. The term at first generally was synonymous with punk rock before being considered a genre in its own right that incorporated aspects of electronic and experimental music, mod subculture, disco and 1960s...

. Much of the music produced by the company later became categorised as either "Mutant Disco" – a title used for one of ZE's early compilation albums - or "No Wave
No Wave
No Wave was a short-lived but influential underground music, film, performance art, video, and contemporary art scene that had its beginnings during the mid-1970s in New York City. The term No Wave is in part satirical word play rejecting the commercial elements of the then-popular New Wave genre...

". Chris Blackwell
Chris Blackwell
Christopher Percy Gordon "Chris" Blackwell is a British record producer and businessman, who was the founder of Island Records, acknowledged as the most successful and groundbreaking independent record company in history. Blackwell has been a music industry mogul for over fifty years...

 - a friend of Esteban's then-girlfriend, fashion editor Anna Wintour
Anna Wintour
Anna Wintour, OBE is the British-born editor-in-chief of American Vogue, a position she has held since 1988. With her trademark pageboy bob haircut and sunglasses, Wintour has become an institution throughout the fashion world, widely praised for her eye for fashion trends and her support for...

 - gave ZE worldwide exposure through the label's licence deal with Island Records
Island Records
Island Records is a record label that was founded by Chris Blackwell in Jamaica. It was based in the United Kingdom for many years and is now owned by Universal Music Group...

.

Within a short time, ZE Records became one of the more hip labels of its time, signing up such new talent as James White and the Blacks
James Chance
James Chance, also known as James White , is an American saxophonist, songwriter and singer....

, Was (Not Was)
Was (Not Was)
-Studio albums:-Compilation albums:-Singles:-Contributions:* A Christmas Record - "Christmas Time In The Motor City"* That's The Way I Feel Now: A Tribute to Thelonious Monk - "Ba-Lue-Bolivar-Ba-Lues-Are"...

, Kid Creole and the Coconuts
Kid Creole and the Coconuts
Kid Creole and the Coconuts is an American musical group created and led by August Darnell. Its music incorporates a variety of styles and influences, in particular "American and Latin American, South American, Caribbean, Trinidadian, Calloway" and conceptually inspired by the big band era...

, Lydia Lunch
Lydia Lunch
Lydia Lunch is an American singer, poet, writer, and actress whose career was spawned by the New York No Wave scene...

, Lizzy Mercier Descloux, Cristina
Cristina (singer)
-Studio albums:* Cristina * Sleep It Off * Doll in the Box - Expanded re-issue of Cristina* Sleep It Off - Expanded re-issue-Singles:* "Disco Clone"...

, The Waitresses
The Waitresses
The Waitresses were an experimental new wave band from Akron, Ohio. The group was led by guitarist/songwriter Chris Butler with lead vocals performed by Patty Donahue.-Career:...

, Bill Laswell’s Material
Material (band)
For the rock band of the same name, see The MaterialMaterial is a musical group formed in 1979 and led by bass guitarist Bill Laswell.-1978-82: The band:...

, together with more established performers including John Cale and Suicide
Suicide (band)
Suicide is an American electronic protopunk musical duo, intermittently active since 1970 and composed of vocalist Alan Vega and Martin Rev on synthesizers and drum machines. They are an early synthesizer/vocal musical duo....

. Many of its releases were first played at the Paradise Garage
Paradise Garage
The Paradise Garage was a discotheque notable in the history of modern gay and nightclub cultures and in dance and pop music. It was founded by Michael Brody, its sole proprietor, and was located at 84 King Street, in the Hudson Square neighborhood of New York City. It operated from 1976 to 1987...

 club in New York, starting point of Garage
New York house
Garage house is a subgenre of electronic dance music developed in the Paradise Garage nightclub in New York City and club Zanzibar in New Jersey, USA.DJs playing this genre include Junior Vasquez, Tony Humphries and Larry Levan....

 music.

ZE developed an independent and surrealist aesthetic identity. It was described by John Peel
John Peel
John Robert Parker Ravenscroft, OBE , known professionally as John Peel, was an English disc jockey, radio presenter, record producer and journalist. He was the longest-serving of the original BBC Radio 1 DJs, broadcasting regularly from 1967 until his death in 2004...

 in Melody Maker
Melody Maker
Melody Maker, published in the United Kingdom, was, according to its publisher IPC Media, the world's oldest weekly music newspaper. It was founded in 1926 as a magazine targeted at musicians; in 2000 it was merged into "long-standing rival" New Musical Express.-1950s–1960s:Originally the Melody...

in 1980 as "the best independent record label in the world", and by Paul Tickell in The Face
The Face (magazine)
The Face was a British music, fashion and culture monthly magazine started in May 1980 by Nick Logan.-1980s:Logan had previously created the teen pop magazine Smash Hits, and had been an editor at the New Musical Express in the 1970s before launching The Face in 1980.The magazine was influential in...

in 1982 as "the world¹s most fashionable label". According to writer Andy Kellman:
"At their most inspired, the artists on ZE found some middle ground between immensely accessible disco-pop and the avant-garde, without ever falling down the middle of the road. Music that appealed to Highlights-reading six year olds as well as their Village Voice-reading parents wasn't particularly common back then (surely there are no modern-day parallels); and it's just one of the voids that the ZE label filled, fostered by a very direct collision between the novelty of pop and the possibilities of artful experimentation."


The label's success and influence peaked around 1981-82. Esteban left New York in 1982, and ZE Records closed down in 1984.

Esteban continued to work with Lizzy Mercier Descloux, and with Lio
Lio
Lio is a singer and actress who was a pop icon in France and Belgium during the 1980s.- Biography :...

, as well as other artists. He restarted the ZE label in 2003 in France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

 to record new artists, including Glasgow
Glasgow
Glasgow is the largest city in Scotland and third most populous in the United Kingdom. The city is situated on the River Clyde in the country's west central lowlands...

 band Michael Dracula, as well as to reissue old material. He lives today in Salvador da Bahia, Brazil
Brazil
Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...

, where he is working on music, contemporary arts and cultural project in general. Meanwhile, Michael Zilkha joined his family in working in the energy business, and is currently co-owner of a major renewable energy company based in Houston, Texas
Houston, Texas
Houston is the fourth-largest city in the United States, and the largest city in the state of Texas. According to the 2010 U.S. Census, the city had a population of 2.1 million people within an area of . Houston is the seat of Harris County and the economic center of , which is the ...

.

List of ZE recording artists

Alan Vega
Alan Vega
Alan Vega For several years other sources stated that he was born in 1948 – see 'Myth' section is an American vocalist, primarily known for his work with electronic protopunk duo, Suicide...

 
James Chance
James Chance
James Chance, also known as James White , is an American saxophonist, songwriter and singer....

 
Optimo / Twitch
Arto Lindsay
Arto Lindsay
Arthur Morgan Lindsay is an American guitarist, singer, record producer and experimental composer. He is a 1974 graduate of Eckerd College in St. Petersburg, Florida....

 
James White & The Blacks
James Chance
James Chance, also known as James White , is an American saxophonist, songwriter and singer....

 
Pill Factory
Aural Exciters John Cale
John Cale
John Davies Cale, OBE is a Welsh musician, composer, singer-songwriter and record producer who was a founding member of the experimental rock band The Velvet Underground....

 
Richard Strange
Richard Strange
For the Jesuit, see Richard Strange Richard "Kid" Strange is an English writer, actor, musician, curator, teacher, adventurer, and the founder and front man of seminal mid-seventies protopunk art rock band Doctors of Madness.-Music:Strange's first band was Doctors of Madness, formed in 1975,...

Breakfast Club
Breakfast Club (band)
Breakfast Club was an American New Wave group. Their biggest hit single was "Right on Track", which went to #7 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart.-Band history:...

 
Junie Morrison Ron Rogers
Ron Rogers
Ronald Bruce Rogers NATIVE New York songwriter, composer, Ze / Island Records recording artist and record producer better known as Ron Rogers, a/k/a Ronnie Rogers, born November 5, 1952, in the Soundview section of the South Bronx, New York, NYC, USA is known for his songs and recordings...

Bill Laswell
Bill Laswell
Bill Laswell is an American bassist, producer and record label owner....

 
Kid Creole & the Coconuts  Rosa Yemen
Caroline Loeb
Caroline Loeb
Caroline Loeb , is an actress, radio host, singer, director and French writer. She remains particularly known for her 1980s hit "C'est la ouate".-Filmography:...

 
Lio
Lio
Lio is a singer and actress who was a pop icon in France and Belgium during the 1980s.- Biography :...

 
Snuky Tate
Casino Music Lisi Suicide
Suicide (band)
Suicide is an American electronic protopunk musical duo, intermittently active since 1970 and composed of vocalist Alan Vega and Martin Rev on synthesizers and drum machines. They are an early synthesizer/vocal musical duo....

Coati Mundi
Coati Mundi
Coati Mundi is the stage name of American musician Andy Hernandez, percussionist, notably playing the vibraphone, and member of Dr. Buzzard's Original Savannah Band, then of Kid Creole and the Coconuts. He scored the Top 40 UK hit "Me No Pop I" in 1981, just before the release of Tropical Gangsters...

 
Lizzy Mercier Descloux
Lizzy Mercier Descloux
Lizzy Mercier Descloux was a French singer and musician, a pioneer in the worldbeat genre, as well as a writer and painter....

 
Suicide Romeo
Cristina
Cristina (singer)
-Studio albums:* Cristina * Sleep It Off * Doll in the Box - Expanded re-issue of Cristina* Sleep It Off - Expanded re-issue-Singles:* "Disco Clone"...

 
Los Portos Sweet Pea Atkinson
Daisy Chain Lydia Lunch
Lydia Lunch
Lydia Lunch is an American singer, poet, writer, and actress whose career was spawned by the New York No Wave scene...

 
Sympho State (Bob Blank)
Davitt Sigerson
Davitt Sigerson
Davitt Sigerson is an American novelist whose first career was in the music business. Sigerson was a record producer, singer, songwriter, record company executive, and journalist.He went to school and Oxford University in the UK...

 
Marie & les Garçons  Teenage Jesus & The Jerks
Don Armando's 2nd Av. Rhumba Band
Don Armando
Don Armando Bonilla formed the Second Avenue Rhumba Band with vocalist Fonda Rae and scored a #1 hit on the Hot Dance Music/Club Play chart with "Deputy of Love" in 1979. Bonilla was also a percussionist with Dr. Buzzard's Original Savannah Band...

 
Mars
Mars (band)
Mars was a New York City No Wave band formed by vocalist Sumner Crane in 1975. He was joined by China Burg , Mark Cunningham , and artist Nancy Arlen , and briefly by guitarist Rudolph Grey. The band played one live gig under the name China before changing it to Mars...

 
The Waitresses
The Waitresses
The Waitresses were an experimental new wave band from Akron, Ohio. The group was led by guitarist/songwriter Chris Butler with lead vocals performed by Patty Donahue.-Career:...

Garçons  Material
Material (band)
For the rock band of the same name, see The MaterialMaterial is a musical group formed in 1979 and led by bass guitarist Bill Laswell.-1978-82: The band:...

 & Nona Hendryx
Nona Hendryx
Nona Hendryx is an American vocalist, producer, songwriter, musician, author, and actress.Hendryx is known for her work as a solo artist as well as for being one-third of the trio Labelle, who had a hit with "Lady Marmalade." Her music has ranged from soul, funk, dance, and R&B to hard rock, art...

 
Was (Not Was)
Was (Not Was)
-Studio albums:-Compilation albums:-Singles:-Contributions:* A Christmas Record - "Christmas Time In The Motor City"* That's The Way I Feel Now: A Tribute to Thelonious Monk - "Ba-Lue-Bolivar-Ba-Lues-Are"...

Gichy Dan's Beachwood # 9 Michael Dracula Miss OD / Ophélie Doll
Helena Noguerra
Helena Noguerra
Helena Noguerra is a Belgian actress, singer and television presenter of Portuguese descent. She is the sister of singer Lio....

Octobre


Discography














External links

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