Chrysalis

The roots of Chrysalis stretch back to a tiny flat in West London in 1967, when former university social secretaries, Chris Wright, then 22, and Terry Ellis, 23, linked their flair for managing and booking bands to form the Ellis Wright Agency. After a couple of experiences trying to release thier bands records via other companies, Wright and Ellis began thinking in terms of their own label. In 1968, they signed a licensing deal with Island Records with the proviso that, should Wright and Ellis' acts log an agreed number of hits, then the pair would be awarded a label in their own right. The appropriate tally was logged within a year, and a new independent record company - Chrysalis, an amalgam of Wright's first name and Ellis' last - was born. After buying out Terry Ellis in 1985, Chris Wright sold the Chrysalis Records label to EMI in 1991.