Fascination Records

infobox record label


parent = Universal Music Group
founded = 2006
distributor = Polydor Records (UK)
Interscope Records (US)
genre = Various
country = UK
url = http://www.fascinationrecords.co.uk

Fascination Records is a Polydor sub-label that launched in spring 2006. The record label is managed by former TOTP Magazine editor Peter Loraine.

As part of Polydor Records UK, the label will concentrate on a small number of pop acts and will complement the re-activated Fiction rock imprint.

Main artists

*Girls Aloud:Having become the first all-girl group ever to score 18 consecutive Top 10 hits with their first set of releases (as part of Polydor), taking the record from Destiny's Child who had 11 to their name, Girls Aloud moved to Fascination for the release of their greatest hits album "The Sound of Girls Aloud" and its preceding singles "Something Kinda Ooooh" (#3), "I Think We're Alone Now" (#4) and "Walk This Way" with Sugababes (#1). Their 4th studio album Tangled Up was released on this label on 19 November 2007, and will include their 16th single, "Sexy! No, No, No..." (which reached #5),their 17th single, "Call the Shots",(which reached #3) and their 18th single, "Can't Speak French",(which reached #9) making it their 18th consecutive top ten hit. The girls' forthcoming 5th studio album "Out Of Control", and 6th overall, will be released via this label on 10 November 2008, preceded by their 19th single "The Promise", due for release on 20 October 2008.

*Sophie Ellis-Bextor: Shooting to fame as the singer of Spiller's "Groovejet (If This Ain't Love)", Sophie went on to score a string of Top 10 singles. Her multi-platinum album "Read My Lips" peaked straightly to the UK Top and was a success throughout many European Countries and Australia. After the release of her second album, "Shoot from the Hip", Sophie took a break from music to have a baby and to marry Richard Jones from The Feeling. She finished her third solo album in 2007 with the Fascination team, which was released on 21 May 2007. It's entitled "Trip the Light Fantastic" with the first single from it being "Catch You", released on 19 February 2007, becoming her 7th Top 10 Hit. Also, she released "Me and My Imagination", the second single from her 3rd album, reaching the UK Top 40 again. Her third single released by Fascination was considered a flop, however. The album debuted inside the Top 10 in the first week of its release in the United Kingdom, and was certified as Gold a year later [ [http://www.bpi.co.uk/Gold Gold status for Sophie's 3rd album] ] .

*The Jonas BrothersFascination are releasing the UK singles and albums for the three piece American boyband. Their debut UK single, "SOS" was released in June 2008 and peaked inside the UK top 20 at #14. Their self titled debut UK album was also released in this month and reached the UK top 10 album chart at #9. Their second UK single release will be double-a-side "Burnin' Up"/"When You Look Me In The Eyes". The single is due for release on 22 September 2008 followed a week later (29 September 2008) by their new album "A Little Bit Longer".

*The SaturdaysA new five piece girl group, The Saturdays count Frankie Sandford and Rochelle Wiseman, formerly of S Club 8, among their members. They have supported Girls Aloud on the tour for their Tangled Up album and fellow labelmates Jonas Brothers at one of their recent live dates in London. Their first single, "If This Is Love" was released on 28 July 2008 and peaked at #8 in the UK singles chart. The follow up single, "Up" is due for release on 13 October 2008, with the debut album, titled "Chasing Lights" to follow on 27 October 2008.

*Connie Fisher: The winner of the BBC1 show "How Do You Solve A Problem Like Maria?" released her debut album "Favourite Things" on Fascination on October 9, 2006. Her debut album peaked #14 on the UK Albums Chart.

*Lee Mead:As with Connie, Lee, the winner of BBC1's "Any Dream Will Do" has been signed to this label. His debut single of the same name entered on downloads at #18 before peaking at #2 the following week behind "Umbrella" by Rihanna feat. Jay Z. Fascination also released his self titled debut album in November 2007, which peaked inside the Top 20 of the UK Albums Chart, and his two download only singles "Gonna Make You A Star" and "You and Me".

*Dirty Diegos:Fascination announced on their website on 8 October 2008 that they have recently signed the band of the same name who feature in Channel 4 soap Hollyoaks. Their official site and MySpace will launch very soon.

*Popjustice: The Popjustice compilation album, "", has also been released on this label.

*Skins:The soundtrack to the Channel 4 drama series was released on this label in September 2007.

*St. Trinians:The soundtrack to this film (which featured the label's own Girls Aloud singing the theme from the film) was released through Fascination in December 2007.

*Mamma Mia:The soundtrack to the film version of the Abba musical was released through Fascination in July 2008.

*Britannia High:Fascination in collaboration with Globe (the TV production arm of Universal Music Group) and ITV1 will release the soundtrack to this new Fame style TV series, due to air in the UK in September 2008.

Former artists

*Tokio HotelThe German punk pop band have achieved success in every part of Europe except the UK - as yet. They released their debut UK single "Ready, Set, Go!" under the label on 27 August 2007 but could only reach #93, and were dropped from their label in April 2008.

*Paul SteelSinger songwriter Paul Steel was touted by the Sunday Times as one to watch. He released a debut, 10 track EP entitled "April And I" in March 2007 and released debut single "Your Loss" on 3 September, which failed to chart. Debut album "Moon Rock" and the follow up single "I Will Make You Disappear" were cancelled for release and Paul was dropped in April 2008.

Rumoured artists

Fascination in collaboration with Prestige Management are in the process of auditioning for an all male pop group of a similar ilk to Busted and McFly. It's also rumored Rachel Stevens is set to relaunch on the Fascination label.

ee also

* List of record labels

External links

* [http://www.fascinationrecords.co.uk Official site]
* [http://www.newartistsearch.co.uk/ New artist search]
* [http://top40-charts.com/song.php?sid=18196&sort=chartid&string=Connie UK Top Connie Fisher]
* [http://www.popjustice.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=390&Itemid=115 Popjustice]