State Records is a British independent record label, established by

Wayne Bickerton Wayne Bickerton (born Arthur Ronald Bickerton; 11 July 1941 – 29 November 2015) was a British record producer, songwriter and music business executive. He became well known, with Tony Waddington, as writer and producer of a series of UK chart ...

Tony Waddington Anthony Waddington (9 November 1924 – 21 January 1994) was an English football manager at both Crewe Alexandra and Stoke City. Waddington had a seven-year playing career with Crewe Alexandra before becoming a coach at Stoke City. He progre ...

and John Fruin in 1975. The label released hits by many successful artists including

The Rubettes The Rubettes are an English pop/glam rock band put together in 1974 after the release of "Sugar Baby Love", a recording assembled of studio session musicians in 1973 by the songwriting team of Wayne Bickerton, the then head of A&R at Polydor R ...

, Mac & Katie Kissoon and Delegation. In July 2012, State released their back catalogue digitally for the first time; the release included over 100 of the label’s singles and over 30 albums and compilations, to coincide with the release State announced their first new single in almost thirty years. "Every Road I Take" by The Life was released on 2 July 2012.

History

Bickerton and Waddington's relationship began in the 1950s: they began supporting ex- Beatles drummer

Pete Best Randolph Peter Best (né Scanland; born 24 November 1941) is an English musician known as the drummer of the English rock band the Beatles who was dismissed immediately prior to the band achieving worldwide fame. Fired from the group in 1962 ...

, making up the Pete Best Trio and touring around the world as a band, concluding with Bickerton and Waddington living in New York. Upon returning to Britain, Bickerton became a producer with Decca Records and Waddington joined Decca Records' publishing company - Burlington Music. Shortly afterwards the two were signed to Burlington Music as a songwriting duo. Their first gold disc came with the release of Tom Jones' "Can't Stop Loving You". In 1973, Bickerton and Waddington penned the song " Sugar Baby Love" and recorded it with some session musicians, releasing the record under the name

, it quickly became a number one hit. Other Rubettes hits followed, plus chart success for Mac & Katie Kissoon. The label continued to enjoy success throughout the 1970s and early 1980s until 1983, when the label released their last single, "You Don't Care About I" by Elite. In total State released over 100 singles and over 20 albums between 1975 and 1983. State found success in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

, most notably with the 1978 release "Oh Honey" by Delegation, which peaked at number 6 in the US '' Billboard'' R&B chart. The song has gone on to be

sampled Sample or samples may refer to: Base meaning * Sample (statistics), a subset of a population – complete data set * Sample (signal), a digital discrete sample of a continuous analog signal * Sample (material), a specimen or small quantity of so ...

countless times including by artists such as Mariah Carey (" Boy (I Need You)"),

Dizzee Rascal Dylan Kwabena Mills (born 18 September 1984), better known by his stage name Dizzee Rascal, is a British MC and rapper. A pioneer of grime music, his work has also incorporated elements of UK garage, bassline, British hip hop, and R&B. D ...

("Chillin' Wiv Da Mandem") and Snoop Dogg ("Wonder What It Do").

Notable artists

* Mac & Katie Kissoon * Delegation * Gary Benson *

Liverpool F.C. Liverpool Football Club is a professional football club based in Liverpool, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. Founded in 1892, the club joined the Football League the following year and has p ...

Squad 1977

UK Top 40 singles

References

External links

Popmusic4synch.com
{{Authority control Record labels established in 1975 British independent record labels