{{Short description|British record label}} {{Use dmy dates|date=August 2024}} {{Use British English|date=September 2013}} {{more citations needed|date=July 2017}} {{Infobox record label <!-- See Wikipedia:WikiProject_Music --> | name = Gee Street Records | image = | image_size = | image_alt = | caption = | parent = Entertainment One Music | founded = 1985 | founder = Jon Baker, Stereo MC's, DJ Richie Rich | defunct = {{End date|2001}} | status = Defunct | distributor = Island Records (1990-1996)<br>V2 Records (1996-2001) | genre = Hip hop | country = United Kingdom | location = | website = <!-- {{URL|example.com}} --> }}
'''Gee Street Records''' was a British hip hop record label started by Jon Baker, Rachel O'Neill, Stereo MC's and DJ Richie Rich in 1985.<ref name="LarkinDM">{{cite book|title=The Virgin Encyclopedia of Dance Music|editor=Colin Larkin|publisher=Virgin Books|date=1998|edition=First|isbn=0-7535-0252-6|page=134}}</ref> The label's name came from its original location, a converted warehouse on Gee Street (off Old Street) in London.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.discogs.com/label/4932-Gee-Street|title=Gee Street Label|publisher=Discogs}}</ref> Between 1980 and 1984, label head Baker lived in New York City.<ref name="LarkinDM"/> After returning to London in 1984, he became a hip-hop promoter, and in 1985 opened Gee Street Records and began releasing white-label dance and hip-hop records.<ref name="LarkinDM"/> Many of these broke new ground. The label developed a roster of prominent domestic UK acts, including DJ Richie Rich, Outlaw Posse, and Stereo MC's, and US acts, including P.M. Dawn, Doug E. Fresh, Gravediggaz, and New Kingdom.<ref name="LarkinDM"/>
In 1990, Gee Street was acquired by Chris Blackwell's Island Records.<ref name="LarkinDM"/> After Blackwell left Island and the PolyGram group in 1998, Baker bought back Gee Street{{Citation needed|date=July 2010}} and sold it to Richard Branson's fledgling V2 Records. The label was shuttered in 2001.
In 2006, V2 sold its American catalogue, including Gee Street, to Sheridan Square Entertainment, home of Artemis Records. In 2010, Artemis was sold to Entertainment One Music.<ref name=billboard-1>{{cite web|title=E1 Acquires IndieBlu|url=http://www.billboard.biz/bbbiz/content_display/industry/news/e3i5a1636af3715b03b2c9b7accdbc8ad69|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120929212204/http://www.billboard.biz/bbbiz/content_display/industry/news/e3i5a1636af3715b03b2c9b7accdbc8ad69|url-status=dead|archive-date=29 September 2012|magazine=Billboard|access-date=16 November 2012|author=Chris Walsh|date=29 April 2010}}</ref>
==Selected discography== * Jungle Brothers, Jungle Brothers, ''Straight out of the Jungle'' (1988, licensed from Warlock Records) * Stereo MCs ''33-45-78'' (1989) Island Records * Eternity, ''Project One'' (1989) * Richie Rich, ''I Can Make You Dance'' (1988) * Outlaw Posse, ''My Afro's on Fire'' (1989) * Stereo MCs, ''Supernatural'' (1990) Island Records * PM Dawn, ''Of the Heart, of the Soul and of the Cross: The Utopian Experience'' (1991) * Carlene Davis, ''Carlene Davis'' (1992) * Stereo MCs, ''Connected'' (1992) Island Records * New Kingdom, ''Heavy Load'' (1993) * PM Dawn, ''The Bliss Album…? (Vibrations of Love and Anger and the Ponderance of Life and Existence)'' (1993) * Gravediggaz, ''6 Feet Deep'' (1994) * Doug E. Fresh, ''Play'' (1994) * PM Dawn, ''Jesus Wept'' (1995) * Malcolm McLaren, ''Paris'' (1995) * Ambersunshower, ''Walter T. Smith'' (1996) * New Kingdom, ''Paradise Don't Come Cheap'' (1996) * Jungle Brothers, ''Raw Deluxe'' (1997) * Gravediggaz, ''The Pick, the Sickle and the Shovel'' (1998) * Various Artists, soundtrack to the motion picture ''Senseless'' (1998) * RZA, ''Bobby Digital in Stereo'' (1998) * PM Dawn, ''Dearest Christian, I'm So Very Sorry for Bringing You Here. Love, Dad'' (1998) * Ky-Mani Marley, The Journey (2000) * Tragedy Khadafi, ''Against All Odds'' (2001)
==See also== * Jon Baker * Lists of record labels
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== * Clunis, A.[https://web.archive.org/web/20140316154508/http://jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20001222/show/show1.html Gee Jam puts down roots in Portland] 22 Dec 2000 ''The Jamaica Gleaner'' retrieved 26 July 2010
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Category:British record labels Category:Record labels established in 1985 Category:Record labels disestablished in 1996 Category:Hip-hop record labels Category:Island Records Category:British companies established in 1985