John Peel

John Robert Parker Ravenscroft, OBE (30 August, 1939 – 25 October 2004), known professionally as John Peel, was a British disc jockey, radio presenter, and journalist.

Dandelion Records and Strange Fruit

In 1969 Peel founded and ran Dandelion Records which released 27 albums by 18 different artists before folding in 1972. Dandelion was however never a great success with only one release by Medicine Head charting. As Peel stated,

Related Topics:
Dandelion Records - Medicine Head

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It was never a success financially. In fact, we lost money, if I remember correctly, on every single release bar one. I did quite like it but it was terribly indulgent. Not as indulgent as it would have been had I not had a business partner, admittedly... I liked having a label. It enabled you to put out stuff that you liked without, in those days, having to worry about whether it was going to work commercially. I've never been a good business man.

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In the 1990s Peel set up the Strange Fruit record label with Clive Selwood to release material recorded by the BBC for Peel Sessions.

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