Allstar Music Magazine, Mick Fleetwood Launches New Label, Fleetwood Music

Allstar Music Magazine, August 18, 1997

Mick Fleetwood Launches New Label, Fleetwood Music

As if Mick Fleetwood isn't busy enough rehearsing for Fleetwood Mac's reunion tour, compiling the Rumours tribute album, and talking to tons of press people, he's also readying the launch of his new record label, Fleetwood Music, and debut of its first artist, England's Talulah.

"My friend and manager [Carl Stubner of Deluxe Management] are ensconsed in starting what is certainly a small record label," says Fleetwood. "We're pretty sure it's going to be called Fleetwood Music. We are developing our first artist -- a young lady from England, an 18-year-old named Talulah. In fact, I'm in and out of the studio right now, between rehearsals and that, I'm going around the twist trying to make some progress."

Talulah is the daughter of Peter Bardens, former leader of Peter Bardens' Camel (so named to avoid confusion with Peter Frampton's Camel in the early '70s) and the man who gave Fleetwood his first gig. "I've known her since she was a little, tiny baby and seeing all this monstrous stuff coming ouf her is a thrill. We're having a lot of fun. I'm learning so much from her in terms of her sensibilities, her saying, 'Yeah, but Mick, I want to make sure I can dance to it.' And, I'm, 'Of course, of course, but you're a great ballad singer and you write really soulful songs."

Fleetwood has enlised the production help of the Los Angeles- based Chronic Brothers to work on the album, which will be released sometime in 1998. "They're, in my opinion, about to break loose in this world of producing," he says. "They do a lot of film work and they do a lot of this sampling stuff. We're mixing this whole thing, obviously keeping a traditional element because I want her to be credible in the way this is produced, but I also want it to be fun for an 18- year- old girl. That's where [the Chronic Brothers] come in. We're putting traditional sounds with all this sampling stuff, which I'm just learning about, and yet keeping it musical. It's sort of a meeting of two theories."

Fleetwood plans to have his label around for some time to come. "This is something I consider to have good training for," he says. "In the next 10 years, I would be very, very, very happy nurturing talent and finding talent."

A distributor for Fleetwood Music hasn't been secured yet.

Thanks to Jeff Kenney for the submission.