Culture fuelling since 1990.

When Paul Cannell carved a cranky bird out of a rubber and stamped it all over the desks of a fledgling record label in London, the scene had been set. This would be its seal of approval. The Heavenly Bird was born.

As a press office in the ‘80s, Heavenly had worked with the Factory & Creation record labels, planning manoeuvres with the likes of Happy Mondays, My Bloody Valentine, New Order & Primal Scream. When Heavenly started as a record label itself in 1990, it was as tapped in to the Zeitgeist as it was possible to be. History kindly documents that much of what was happening around that time – in everywhere from clubland to magazine world - could be in some way linked to that label & their capers.

The first record on Heavenly was released in the spring of 1990, a 12” by Sly & Lovechild. Acid house had hit London hard, offering a hedonistic escape route from what looked to be a second decade of Thatcherism. The Stone Roses and Happy Mondays had performed together on Top Of The Pops and, for a short while, it felt like those bands could take on the world and, as a fan, you could revel in the reflected glory. Primal Scream had changed their prescription and let their hair down while My Bloody Valentine were busy spending a lot of Creation’s money in the studio. Grunge and Britpop were still just twinkles in eyes, still the stuff of madmen’s dreams. And, thankfully, Spandau Ballet had just split up.

In the ensuing 20 years, a whole load of people have walked through the doors of Heavenly Recordings. Without exception, they’ve all been welcomed back time and again by the label’s genial hosts. In fact, it’s hard to get rid of some of them come three in the morning, when the cab is waiting outside with the meter running.