E.G. Records | |
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Parent company | Universal Music Group (UMG) |
Founded | 1969 |
Founder |
|
Defunct | 1996 |
Status | Inactive |
Distributor(s) | 1969–74 Island Records 1975–90 Polydor / PolyGram 1991–2012 Virgin / EMI 2013–present Virgin EMI / UMG |
Genre | Various |
Country of origin | UK |
E.G. Records was a British artist management company and independent record label, mostly active during the 1970s and 1980s. The initials stood for its founders, David Enthoven and John Gaydon. The pair signed on as managers of King Crimson in early 1969, during the formative stage of the band and prior to the release of debut In the Court of the Crimson King. They also signed T. Rex, Emerson, Lake & Palmer and Roxy Music to management. Gaydon left in 1971 and Enthoven in 1977. Sam Alder and Mark Fenwick (later managing Roger Waters) reformed the label several years later, re-releasing material from King Crimson in addition to others such as Penguin Cafe Orchestra, Brian Eno, Killing Joke, Loose Tubes, Human Chain, Man Jumping, Iain Ballamy, Elan Sicroff, Earthworks, and U.K.
The label was distributed by Island Records (through 1974) and then Polydor Records. In the US, artists were placed on Atlantic Records, Warner Bros. Records, Polydor Records, Passport Records/Jem Records, and Virgin Records and on various other labels in other parts of the world. Alder and Fenwick were investors in Lloyd's of London, and suffered financially as a result of its major losses in the early 1990s. This prompted extensive legal battles with many of the artists they were involved with, most famously with Robert Fripp. E.G. was sold to Virgin Records in 1992, which continued operating E.G. In 1996, after Virgin was sold to EMI, it was absorbed into Virgin.