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Almighty Records

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Almighty Records Ltd
IndustryMusic entertainment
Founded1989
HeadquartersUnited Kingdom London
WebsiteAlmighty SolarSite

Almighty Records Ltd. is a British recording label founded in 1989, releasing their first single in the same year. Producing mainly Hi-NRG music, the label is best known for releasing remakes and remixes of mainstream pop songs. In 2009, the label celebrates its 20th anniversary with the release of a new collection which compiles some of their most successful chart hits and fan favourites from the past twenty years.

History

Since their first UK release in 1989, Almighty Records has been producing dance and club remixes of mainstream chart tracks under various artist names which are in fact projects rather than actual singers with many different vocalists behind artists names[1][2]. By 1992 Almighty had enjoyed notable success thanks in part to their cover versions of ABBA tracks under the guise Abbacadabra. It was at this point that label boss Martyn Norris decided to give up his job and concentrate on Almighty full time. Pop producer Pete Waterman played some of these tracks on his UK television show The Hitman and Her which boosted interest in the songs and the label, so much so that Waterman picked up some tracks, including Dancing Queen for his own label PWL[3].

Almighty achieved their first UK Singles Chart top 20 hit in 1993 with "I Will Always Love You", a cover of the song by Dolly Parton, Whitney Houston and others, which was performed by Sarah Washington and reached position 12 in the UK chart[4].

Almighty Records has been successful with various projects over the years, remaking all ABBA songs, including a track recorded, but unreleased by ABBA called Just Like That. To date Almighty have produced 5 albums and over 10 singles under The Abbacadabra project name, which has sold more than 250,000 units for the label. However, the project which has been the most successful internationally for Almighty is the Queer as Folk CD soundtrack which went gold within one month of going on sale in March 1999 in the UK. The release of this CD followed a request from the makers of the TV series, Red Productions, after another major record company turned down the opportunity due to poor rating of previous music-led television shows on Channel 4. Given a list of tracks, Almighty had one month to compile the music; however, some tracks could not be cleared in time for the release mainly due to time scales, including one by the group Steps who initially said that the show would be too "low profile" for them to be associated with. It was the success of this album which prompted Channel 4 to launch their own music division when the second series of Queer As Folk was made[5] - an international franchise which still around today.

Recent Strategy and Activity

During the latter half of the 1990s Almighty concentrated efforts on producing remixes for record companies for the glabal club and dance scene and became de rigueur, and the most in-demand name in the pop-dance world, producing up to 5 mixes a week at their peak[6]. However since 2004 Almighty have stopped actively soliciting their remix services to record companies citing reasons of financial viability and industry competetiveness[7].

Today Almighty are popular around the world, especially among gay communities. In Almighty's own words, they have had "unwavering support through the years from the gay community, Almighty has become synonymous with the joyous, hands-in-the-air sound of summer dance music."[8] Almighty have released various albums specifically targeted at a gay audience[9].

In recent years Almighty have made their productions available to a wider customer base after making a deal with Universal Music which allowed Almighty to sell on digital platforms such as iTunes and Amazon.com, however products are not available in all countries, North America for example[10]. Not all of Almighty's productions are available on general release, however, The Almighty Club is available for anyone to join in which members will receive everything that Almighty ever produce including promotional material on a physical CDR[11].

A resident DJ at a Manchester nightclub, Cruz 101, is nicknamed Almighty Donald by regular clientele as he plays and mixes many tracks created by Almighty Records.

Release Highlights

  • Almighty Presents Handbag Heaven: Let This Feeling... by Belle Lawrence (2 CD Set or 3 CD Set with bonus third CD with full 12" mixes)
  • Almighty Presents NRG Anthems (2 CD Set or 3 CD Set with bonus third CD with full 12" mixes)
  • Almighty Anthems 1 & 2
  • Jackie 'O' Handbag Heaven - Back To Bitch (2 CD Set)
  • Belle Lawrence Handbag Heaven - Boulevard Of Broken Dreams
  • Deja Vu feat. Tasmin Handbag Heaven - Against All Odds (2 CD Set)
  • Almighty Presents NRG Anthems (2 CD Set)
  • Almighty Gay Anthems 1,2,3 (2 CD Set Each)
  • Almighty Definitive Collection 1,2,3,4,5, 6 & 7 (2 CD Set Each)

See also

References

  1. ^ "Last FM - Belle Lawrence". Retrieved 2008-04-22.
  2. ^ Natalie Browne - Wikipedia page of the Almighty Records artist project
  3. ^ "Almighty Records - Abbacadabra". Retrieved 2009-08-27.
  4. ^ "Retro Charts - everyhit.com". Retrieved 2008-04-22.
  5. ^ "Almighty Records.com - Trivia". Retrieved 2008-04-22. {{cite web}}: Text "Page may need refreshing to see relevant information" ignored (help)
  6. ^ "Almighty Records.com - Remixes". Retrieved 2009-08-27.
  7. ^ "Almighty Records.com - The Almighty Crew comment on commercial remixes". Retrieved 2009-08-27.
  8. ^ "Almighty Records.com - Gay Anthems". Retrieved 2008-06-15.
  9. ^ "Almighty Records.com - Album Store - Gay Anthems". Retrieved 2008-04-23.
  10. ^ "Almighty Records.com - Remixes". Retrieved 2009-08-27.
  11. ^ "Almighty Records.com - The Almighty Club". Retrieved 2009-08-27.
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