The Story of Island Records

Book excerpt: From its beginnings bringing Jamaican music to a broader stage, Island Records has brought a global audience to the works of Bob Marley, U2, Cat Stevens, Steve Winwood, John Martyn, and Nick Drake among many others. Mixing cultures and influences from reggae to pop, hip hop, and punk, Island has shaken up artistic tastes and introduced new categories to mainstream music. This book, produced in collaboration with the label, moves chronologically from Island's origins in founder Chris Blackwell's passionate mission to bring Jamaican reggae to the mainstream, to the label's rise in popularity in the late 1960s and its acquisition of Traffic, Elvis Costello, U2, Roxy Music, and other era-defining acts, and finally to the new millennium and Island's continuing presence in the music industry. Included are photographs and album art from such acts as Bob Marley, Peter Tosh, Steve Winwood, Brian Eno, Grace Jones, Tom Waits, Eric B & Rakim, Tricky, Keane, Amy Winehouse, and many others. Heavily illustrated with a comprehensive retrospective of album covers, artist portraits, and photo shoots from the Island archive, and accompanied by essays from the founder of the company Chris Blackwell as well as ten of contemporary music's most esteemed writers, including Chris Salewicz, Jon Savage, Joe Boyd, and Richard Williams, Keep on Running: The Story of Island Records is a celebration of one of the most influential record labels of the twentieth century.