Vertigo Records


Vertigo Records is a record company, which originated in the United Kingdom. It was a subsidiary of the Philips/Phonogram record label, launched in 1969 to specialise in progressive rock and other non-mainstream musical styles. Today it is operated by Universal Music Germany, and the UK catalog was folded into Mercury Records, which was absorbed in 2013 by Virgin EMI Records.

History

Vertigo was the brainchild of Olav Wyper when he was Creative Director at Phonogram. It was launched as a competitor to labels such as Harvest and Deram. It was the home to bands such as Colosseum, Jade Warrior, Affinity, Ben and other bands from 'the "cutting edge" of the early-'70s British prog-folk-post-psych circuit'. The first Vertigo releases came with a black and white spiral label, which was replaced with Roger Dean's spaceship design in 1973. Vertigo later became the European home to various hard rock bands signed to Mercury in North America, such as Bon Jovi, Rush and Kiss.
Vertigo is a division of Island Records in the United States and operates as EMI Records in the UK, which in turn is a frontline music group operation of Universal Music UK. In Germany, Vertigo has merged with Capitol Records and is mainly used for German rock artists, and is named Vertigo Berlin. The label's legacy artists include Metallica, Razorlight, Rush and Dire Straits. More recent signings include The Rapture, The Killers, One Night Only, Amy Macdonald, Noisettes and Thee Unstrung 2004-2005 and Kassidy in 2009. Black Sabbath returned to the label in 2013 until their dissolution in 2017 although former sister label Sanctuary Records Group acquired international rights to their back catalogue in the interim.
Vertigo Berlin is today the only active Vertigo label in the Universal Music Group. Artists signed to Vertigo Berlin are Rammstein, Chvrches, Herbert Grönemeyer, Andreas Bourani, Haim, AnnenMayKantereit, Gzuz, Volbeat or Sportfreunde Stiller. Unheilig's sixt studio album Große Freiheit became one of the most successful albums in Germany of all time and sold 2 million albums.
The collaboration album Palmen aus Plastik 2 by the rapper Bonez MC and RAF Camora stayed for 58 weeks at the German charts and was the first album to have 8 songs in the top 10 single charts in the release week.
Shirin David's debut album Supersize was the first album by a female urban artist to chart at #1.
Also international artists like Lana Del Rey, Dua Lipa, Sigrid or Scottish singer Lewis Capaldi launched their careers on Vertigo.

Album discography

;1969
;1970
;1971
;1972
;1973
;1974
;1976
;1977
  • 6357 104 Buffalo – Average Rock 'n' Roller
  • 6360 141 John Stevens' Away – Mazin Ennit
  • 6360 145 Clover – Unavailable
  • 6360 146 Magna Carta – Martin's Café
  • 6360 147 The Sensational Alex Harvey Band – Vambo Rools 'Big Hits and Close Shaves
  • 6360 148 Jerry Riopelle – Little Bit at a Time
  • 6360 149 The Rumour – Max
  • 6360 151 City Boy – Young Men Gone West
  • 6360 152 Fairport Convention – The Bonny Bunch of Roses
  • 6360 155 Clover – Love on the Wire
  • 6360 856 Kayak – Starlight Dancer
  • 6370 421 SAHB – Fourplay
  • 6370 425 Krazy Kat – Troubled Air
  • 6641 580 Status Quo – Live!
  • 6641 703 Streetwalkers – Live
  • 9102 013 Streetwalkers – Vicious But Fair
  • 9102 014 Status Quo – Rockin' All Over the World
  • 9102 015 Fairport Convention – The Bonny Bunch of Roses
  • 9102 016 Thin Lizzy – Bad Reputation
  • 9102 017 Graham Parker and The Rumour – Stick to Me
  • 9102 018 City Boy – Young Men Gone West
  • 9103 208 Nazareth – Expect No Mercy
  • 9124 360 Anthony Phillips – The Geese and the Ghost
;1978
  • 6326 064 Vic Vea Band – Toad
  • 6360 638 Eela Craig – Hats of Glass
  • 6370 430 Joe Breen – More Than Meets the Eye
  • 6413 506 Teaser – Teaser
  • 6413 507 Kayak – Phantom of the Night
  • 6641 797 Graham Parker and The Rumour – The Parkerilla
  • 6641 807 Thin Lizzy – Live and Dangerous
  • 9102 019 British Lions – British Lions
  • 9102 020 Bethnal – Dangerous Times
  • 9102 021 Dire Straits – Dire Straits
  • 9102 022 Fairport Convention – Tipplers Tales
  • 9102 024 Graham Parker and The Rumour – The Parkerilla
  • 9102 026/028 City Boy – Book Early
  • 9102 027 Status Quo – If You Can't Stand the Heat...
  • 9102 029 Bethnal – Crash Landing
  • 9102 751 Black Sabbath – Never Say Die!
  • 9103 210 Nazareth – No Mean City
  • 9124 101 Black Sabbath – Never Say Die!
  • 9124 361 Anthony Phillips – Wise After the Event
  • 9198 106 The Tapes – You Just Can't Sleep
  • 9198 187 Kayak – Phantom of the Night
;1979
;1980
;1981
;1983
;1984
;1985
;1986
;1987
;1988
;1989
;1990s
;2000s
;2010s