News
MPG to honour Chris Blackwell
Rob Hughes Jan 28 2010, 9:47am
Island Records founder to receive Outstanding Contribution Award
Island Records founder Chris Blackwell is to receive the Outstanding Contribution to UK Music Award at this year’s Music Producers Guild Awards ceremony, which takes place on February 11th at the Café de Paris in London.
MPG chairman Steve Levine said: “The Outstanding Contribution Award acknowledges those who have made a significant contribution over a long period of time to the success of the UK music recording industry. This may be a producer or engineer, but it can equally be a manager, an A&R person or even a great artist. Chris Blackwell is certainly a worthy recipient and we’re delighted to be able to honour him with this award.”
The Outstanding Contribution Award is new for 2010 and is being sponsored by music licensing company PPL, which licenses recorded music on behalf of 5,000 record companies and 42,000 performers in the UK.
Jonathan Morrish, PPL’s director of PR and corporate communications, said: “PPL is also thrilled to sponsor the inaugural Outstanding Contribution Award. Its recipient, Chris Blackwell, is a worthy winner whose work and vision, creativity and empathy, has inspired countless musicians, of all genres, around the world for over half a century. We are delighted that, for the first time, we are involved as a headline sponsor in the 2010 Music Producers Guild Awards because they provide a welcome opportunity to highlight the creative input and important work, which is often overlooked, that producers bring to the recording process."
This award to Chris Blackwell comes as Island Records completes its 50th anniversary celebrations. Although he was born in London, Blackwell mainly grew up in Jamaica where his mother had ancestral roots.
He founded Island in 1959 when he was just 22, with an initial investment of $1,000. Island debuted with a jazz album by Bermudan pianist Lance Haywood. In 1964 Chris Blackwell produced a worldwide hit called My Boy Lollipop, sung by a 16-year-old girl called Millie; the song was given a ska arrangement by the great Jamaican jazz guitarist Ernest Ranglin. "It came out exactly as I heard it in my head. I knew it was a hit," said Blackwell. The tune sold six million copies and Millie toured the world.
Free, Jethro Tull, King Crimson, Robert Palmer, Cat Stevens, Nick Drake and the Spencer Davis Group featuring singer Stevie Winwood are among the artists who benefited from Blackwell’s visionary approach. However it was his signing of Bob Marley in 1971 that really defined Island and made Blackwell the single person most responsible for turning the world on to reggae music.
During the1970s, Island signed many more reggae masters including Toots and the Maytals, Third World, Black Uhuru, Burning Spear, and Sly & Robbie. Blackwell maintained his interest in progressive rock by signing artists such as Roxy Music, Brian Eno, John Cale, and Marianne Faithfull, and he also extended island’s influence into punk and New Wave with signings such as U2, the Cranberries, Melissa Etheridge and Tom Waits.
Blackwell sold his stake in Island in 1989 and resigned from the company in 1997. He was inducted into The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2001 and has also been awarded the Order of Jamaica for philanthropy and outstanding contribution to the entertainment industry.
