A Contemporary Christian music label, based in Eastbourne. From c.1973-79 the Kingsway Music company released records on its 'Dove' label (q.v.), but in 1979 the name of the label was changed to Kingsway Music. The 'sky' design was retained but the catalogue numbers switched from the DS-7000s to the KMS-900s. An intermediate single, 'Song Of The Last Generation' by Ishmael United (5-NIL; 5/79) is ascribed to Dove by 'Music Master', but Steve of the excellent 'lowdown kids' site reports that it was definitely a Kingsway Music release. Early KMS-prefixed singles had a picture of the artist on the 'A' side (1) and all the credits on the 'B' (2), but from KMS-905 onwards they had a more usual layout (3). The KMS-900 series was itself replaced by a KINGSWAY-0 one in 1982, at which point there was also a change of label design. The vast majority of records on the Kingsway Music label were albums, but the company appears to have released at least a dozen singles. Some of these sound as though they are fairly standard Christian fare, but there are reports of Christian Punk and New Wave singles, such as 'Out On The Streets', by the Bill Mason Band (KMS-903; 9/79), 'Rebel', by the Reps (KMS-910; 1980), and 'Modern Man', by Thruaglass Darkly (KMS-909; 1980). Punk Rock and Christianity make unusual bedfellows; but then, life is full of surprises. Kingsway Music handled its own distribution, and is still flourishing today.
Copyright 2006 Robert Lyons.