Magnet was started by Michael Levy in the autumn of 1973. According to 'Music Week' of the 13th of October of that year it was intended to be a vehicle for the production talents of Peter Shelley and Ann Bishop; along with Tony Russell and Sidney Wagner, they were named as having been involved in Magnet's launch. In the event, however, Bishop was to leave in April of the following year. The article stated that a distribution deal with CBS had been signed; it added that the company had started out as 'Bullet' but had undergone a change of name after the discovery that there was already a Bullet Records (q.v.). 'MW' of the 19th of January 1974 added that Magnet had initially been envisaged only as a production company, but as its personnel had strong connections with CBS the decision had been made to sign with that company and have a label.Magnet hit the ground running: its first single, 'My Coo Ca Choo' by Alvin Stardust, reached No.2 in the Charts; its fifth, the follow-up, 'Jealous Mind', went one better, getting to the top. A steady stream of hits followed, with Stardust's Glam-Pop, the Doo-Wop of Darts, and the Disco of Siver Convention all providing the company with repeated chart entries. Ska band Bad Manners and Rockabilly group Matchbox kept the hits coming in the early '80s, but Magnet's biggest star in that decade was Chris Rea. Magnet was bought by Warner Music in 1988.
To get back to the '70s, CBS handled distribution and usually manufacture from the label's launch until the 1st of September 1977, at which point EMI took over both and added responsibility for sales to them under a licensing agreement. The penultimate 'Music Week' of the decade (22nd December 1979) revealed that Magnet was on its way to Pye, which would be taking over manufacturing, sales and distribution with effect from the 1st of Janurary 1980, under a long-term agreement. The label design remained unchanged throughout the '70s, apart from minor details: 'P. MAGNET RECORDS LTD' was added at the top of the label in November 1975 and the year moved up there too (3). A few early Magnets - MAGs 5, 6 and 7 - were issued with white labels with red printing (2), which can also be found on some copies of MAGs 1 and 8. EMI Magnets kept the old design (4), even down to the CBS-style promos with their big hollow 'A' (7). They did however have the EMI-style narrow dinking perforations, whereas CBS pressings were either imperforate (2, 3) or had relatively wide perforations (1, 5, 6). The company sleeve lasted through both the CBS and the EMI years, the only alteration in its design being a change in the name of the distributor, on the reverse. In the spring of 1979 Magnet signed a licensing agreement with Carlin Music for that company's Flamingo label - see 'Flamingo (Disco) - which it marketed; the agreement seems to have been for a twelve month period. The discography below has gaps in it, as usual, but for once this seems to be down to the numbers not being used. Thanks to John Timmis for the scan of the white-labelled promo.
Copyright 2006 Robert Lyons.