Charisma Records
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Charisma Records was a record label founded by former journalist Tony Stratton-Smith in 1969. Tony Stratton-Smith was at that time a manager for The Nice, the Bonzo Dog Band, and later Van der Graaf Generator. Charisma was initially an off-shoot of B&C Records, but it later absorbed that label.
Its logo (used from the 1970s) of Sir John Tenniel's drawing of the Mad Hatter from Alice in Wonderland made the label instantly recognisable.
Its most successful acts were Genesis, Peter Gabriel, Julian Lennon and the Monty Python comedy team. It also released material by Van der Graaf Generator, Lindisfarne, Clifford T. Ward, String Driven Thing, Jack The Lad, Audience, Vivian Stanshall, Brand X, Sir John Betjeman and Malcolm McLaren. 1970s solo albums of Peter Hammill and Steve Hackett were also on Charisma Records.
Charisma's European distribution was handled by Phonogram Records. In the US, the label's acts were first distributed by Buddah Records then Atlantic Records from 1973 to 1992. In 1984, Charisma Records was acquired by Virgin Records. Following the acquisition, Charisma continued to operate until 1992, when Virgin absorbed the label following its purchase by EMI. Virgin UK continues to reissue the Charisma back-catalogue to this day, using Atlantic for North American distribution.
