Former journalist Tony Stratton-Smith ("Strat") started the Charisma label in 1969, signing up the acts he managed to the label. These included The Nice, Van Der Graaf Generator and a little later on, Genesis. At this time the label also boasted a book publishing house. It is said that one of the things that attracted acts to the label was that "Strats" allowed complete artistic freedom in the studio. He also added his own unlikely personal favourites to the roster - Monty Python's Flying Circus, poet laureate Sir John Betjeman and cricket commentator John Arlott to name but three. Most of the early albums on the dark pink "scroll" label have some value. In addition to the acts named above, Lindisfarne, Rare Bird (who had a surprise chart single with "Sympathy" in 1970) and the under-rated Audience were early recording artists on the dark pink scroll label. In 1972 the Mad Hatter label was introduced (possibly the first release to have this label was Genesis' Foxtrot) and the label welcomed further acts like Clifford T Ward, Viv Stanshall and Rick Wakeman. Strat died in 1987. Back To Labels Main Page Back To My Generation Homepage