Blue in the face

“Soul, Sex Appeal and something Else! They’re Not Sad but they are Blue!!” That may be the way that Virgin Records’ website introduces their showcase success of young talent band Blue, but it cuts no ice with the originals.

Another band from the 1970s, also called Blue, and once signed up on Elton’s Rocket Records label, are seething that Virgin has decided to assume their name for a new boy band. Worse still, the original four-strong Blue, manned with mostly Scottish artists, has no intention of giving up on their cherished name as they continue to re-release on digital CD format their back catalogue on their Richmond, UK-based The Record Label insignia.

During a chance meeting with the band on June 26, 2002, EJW.com was told that founder members of the original Blue line-up intend to issue a writ in the London High Court “within days” in an attempt to block the band’s name being re-used and seeking damages. That happened on July 9, 2002. It is believed that the new band Blue, who were voted “Best Newcomer” at the 2002 Brits Awards, have enjoyed sales worth up to £14 million (US$21 million), with over a million records sold. The new band has already notched up significant hits and a fan following. On June 23, 2002, Blue made it four consecutive Top-Five UK singles with song Fly By. Twenty-two weeks after release, their debut album All Rise made it to number 1 in the UK charts on April 29, 2002.

But perhaps prophetically for the band, All Rise may be heard a bit more than planned, when it gets said by the judge sitting on a hearing brought at the original Blue’s instigation.

“I cannot make further comment at this stage but we have a draft of the writ to issue. It will be for the courts and our legal advisers to decide on the appropriate level of damages to seek from this case ,” Matt Nicholson, manager of The Record Label and elder brother of the original Blue’s lead vocalist Hugh Nicholson, told EJW.com.

According to original Blue’s website http://www.recordlabel.co.uk the band hope that proceeds from sales of their albums worldwide will help Hugh, and co-founders, brother David Nicholson and Ian MacMillan, to fund their court case. A statement issued online earlier this month reads:

All proceeds from sales of albums worldwide will help fund Hugh Nicholson, Ian MacMillan (founder members of Blue) and David Nicholson in the impending High Court battle to stop multinational Virgin Records and their owners EMI Music Group from using the name ‘BLUE’ for the purposes of records and recording and also to stop the boyband performers Simon Webbe, Antony Daniel Costa, Lee Ryan and Duncan James, from using the name ‘Blue’.

Spokesman Matt Nicholson adds: “There is no excuse for Virgin/EMI Records one of the biggest music companies in the world to act the way they have in treating respected composers and musicians who have paid their dues and demands throughout the years with such arrogance and contempt. It was brought to their attention before they released the single ‘All Rise’ that Hugh, Ian and David are known as Blue and have been since the seventies.”

Blue came to fame in the mid-1970s, when they signed up with Elton’s new talent record label. Elton also played piano on their successful 1977 album Another Night Time Flight and produced some of their works. Elton also picked their song (I’m Gonna) Capture Your Heart to be a single. It went to number 14 in the UK charts in April 1977.

Virgin Records, pioneered by billionaire Sir Richard Branson in 1972, is now owned by EMI Group PLC, the media giant, listed on the London Stock Exchange. The writ names Virgin Records, EMI Group and the four band members of the new boyband Blue as defendants.