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310:"Glen seemed to specialise in songs about unfashionable American Townsâ, recalls Kruger. âSo it was no surprise that his next 45, and Emberâs first release of 1969, was called âWichita Linemanâ. What was a surprise was that this time we hit the jackpot. The record was unstoppable, hitting the Top Ten and sparking off a string of hit singles and LPâs for Glen.
366:, a subsidiary of the Future Noise record label, started releasing a series of albums focused on the various genres Ember had promoted. This was to coincide with the fiftieth anniversary of the first Ember release and the thirtieth anniversary of the last. In 2016, the Ember catalogue moved to Cherry Red Records in the UK.
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I had the publishing on a
Continental hit called âBanjo Boyâ sung by Jan & Kjeld, two teenage Danish boys. I got it covered by several artists but my contract stipulated that I had to secure a British release for the original version. None of the majors would touch it so I designed labels myself,
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Syd was a small, heavy set man, kindly but shrewd. He met me at the airport and the first thing he did was to whisk me off to a World series baseball game where I tried not to look too bored! Eventually, after the game was over, we got down to business. I couldnât afford big advances in those days
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The first major achievement and breakthrough for the label came when Kruger realised the rising demand for
American music acts in Britain and that some popular American labels had not yet had a publishing deal in the UK, despite the major British labels already having deals with the most important
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had 250 45rpm singles pressed on a converted button press in
Dagenham, and my Ember label was born. I didnât know how you were supposed to distribute records so I drove round dozens of independent record shops selling them myself. Then I went down to
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Becoming the first
British label to set up its own distribution and pressing facilities helped Ember cement their place in the industry. By 1963, Ember had built up a roster of UK artists such as
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Kruger realised that considerable success could be gained if, rather than focusing on one specific musical genre, he instead focused on a plethora of them. Releases under the
306:, the man who would go on to become Emberâs biggest success. Despite a considerable investment from Kruger, however, they struggled to achieve success, at least initially.
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who reluctantly agreed to give it some airplay, and before I knew it distributors around the country were phoning me for copies of the single and we had a Top 40 hit.
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As the decade wore on, the label continued to release records from across the musical spectrum, from film and TV themes such as the Liars (which established a young
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On the recommendation of John Abbey, who set up the subsidiary soul label
Speciality where some of those previous releases first appeared, Kruger gave a debut to
291:), to the soul 45 RPM singles for which the label became renowned. These featured acts such as The Casinos, the Checkmates and Lou Lawton, Stax hitmakers
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and told him so but I think he saw in me some of my enthusiasm and chutzpah that heâd had as a young man, and he agreed to lease me some singles by
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In 1979, after Kruger had continued to put out a substantial number of soul releases by artists such as Ed
Robinson, Tony and the Tyrones and
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Spencer Leigh, "Jeff Kruger: Businessman who opened the
Flamingo Club, which was at the epicentre of the British jazz and rânâb scene"
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and Ken Hawker (recording as Carter, Lewis & the
Southerners). The next big break came when composer, producer and arranger
202:, and other genres followed, and Kruger started to establish Ember as a major independent force in the UK. As Kruger explained:
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and a few more. I sent him regular statements and (modest) royalty cheques, he leased albums by Bill Wardâs
Dominoes,
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391:"Say When: Ember 60s Pop, Vol. 1 - Various Artists | Songs, Reviews, Credits, Awards"
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and other top artists to Ember, and our relationship carried on happily for several years.
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to join Kruger. During his time with Ember, he scored hits with pioneering folk duo
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In the early 1970s, the label released recordings by Julie Rogers and
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ones. Kruger flew out to the US and made deals with, amongst others,
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to have three of its singles at the top of the
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It was around this time that the label became the first British
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Ember Records was founded in the late 1950s, by avid jazz fan
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