Chrysalis Music sold to Blue Raincoat, founder Chris Wright returns

Image:Robin Millar, Jeremy Lascelles, Chris Wright, Robert Devereux

Chrysalis Music, one of the first of the legendary British independent labels, has been sold by Warner Music to Blue Raincoat – a deal which sees the label’s founder Chris Wright return as Chairman almost 30 years after he sold it.

Wright, now 71 years old, set up Chrysalis in 1968 in his student basement when a weird looking band he liked, Jethro Tull, couldn’t get a record deal. He and his partner Terry Ellis ran a booking agency, naming the label after parts of their names.

He went on to sign Blondie, Billy Idol, Spandau Ballet, Ten Years After, Sinead O’Connor, Ultravox, The Specials, Huey Lewis & The News, Pat Benatar – and famously passed on David Bowie predicting he’d be a “one hit wonder”, Dire Straits thinking they were “very good but very boring” and the Spice Girls (“they can’t write songs and only one of them can sing”).

Chrysalis was also home to Australian/New Zealand acts as Icehouse, The Divinyls, The Angels (or Angel City as they were called outside Australia) and Split Enz.

Wright sold his label to EMI, 26 years ago. EMI was acquired in 2012 by Universal Music for £1.2 billion (A$2.38 billion). As part of the regulators’ demands, Universal had to sell some of its assets to keep EMI, so Chrysalis was sold to Warner Music.

Warner Music has now sold it to Blue Raincoat, set up by former Chrysalis head Jeremy Lascelles and Sade producer Robin Millar. The deal comes into effective on June 24. The sales price was not available.

Lascelles, who becomes CEO of Chrysalis Records said: “This is a wonderful moment. Chrysalis Records is for the first time in many years, back in the hands of an independent. And I’m doubly delighted that we have got Chris on board as well. For him to be reunited with a company that he started nearly 50 years ago is pretty special.

“Chrysalis is an iconic brand with an incredible catalogue containing some of the great songs of its era – the likes of Ghost Town, Nothing Compares To U, The Whole Of The Moon and Vienna, still sound as relevant today as they ever did.”

Chris Wright stated, “For me this is an historic and emotional day as Chrysalis is back in the hands of myself and my partners at Blue Raincoat. We’ll run it as an independent [label], revitalising the catalogue for the digital age. We believe it can become a new home for many established artists to sit alongside the incredible acts we already have.”

Wright began unwinding himself from Chrysalis, first selling its publishing arm in 2010 to BMG UK for £107 million ($212.9 million), personally pocketing £29 million ($57.7 million) and allowing him to semi-retire.

He set up a radio empire which included the Heart and Galaxy stations and also went into TV production. Both have been sold, the radio stations in 2007 for £170 million ($338.2 million).