Welcome to Graduate Records Website

I guess my label is mainly known for signing the Birmingham reggae group UB40.

I'm very happy with their continued success & all that they have achieved to become the most successful reggae band in the world. (I do recomend their fine book- Ali & Robin Campbell - 'Blood & Fire'- it's a fascinating & honest acount of their whole career & personal lives. It also tells you something about the part I played in their early success.)

Graduate Records first started in 1969 as a record shop in Dudley which grew, at one time, to a chain of six shops around the Midlands.
In 1979 after listening to John Peel's radio show I decided to start my own independent label. My first few singles only scraped into the indie chart but then I signed UB40 & in January 1980 released their first single- 'Food for Thought' which reached No 4 in the main chart & went gold in the UK. We were the first independent label to have such a big hit without a major co. being involved. Two further UB40 singles were released in the same year & both were top ten hits. UB40's first album 'Signing Off' was released on Graduate Records in August 1980 & went platinum, remaining in the UK charts for over a year & scoring a big hit worldwide. 'Signing Off' has since been re-issued on CD by Virgin Records. Some of the tracks I was involved with were included on ' The Best of UB40 Vol 1' & also on 'The very Best of UB40' on Virgin Records.

Just recently Virgin released 'The Best of UB40 Vol. 1 & 2' as a double CD which included 5 of our tracks & this release did very well staying in the charts right up to Christmas 2005.
I have also worked with other successful artists such as The Maisonettes who had a big hit in 1983 with 'Heartache Avenue' on my Ready, Steady, Go! label which was a top ten hit & went silver in the UK as well as being a big hit right across Europe.

More recently I have been very fortunate to have worked with Clifford T. Ward for several years until his sad demise from multiple sclerosis in December 2001. Over this time I was involved with his 1995 album 'Julia & Other Stories' which was first released on Graduate Records & is now re-issued on Cherry Red Records who have also released the albums- 'The Anthology' in 2002, 'Both of Us', ' Bittersweet', ' Hidden Treasures' & 'This was our love' in Nov. 2003.

A recent wacky event is that The Fight, a young punk group from Dudley have recorded a cover of a song by The Circles called '(I'm running around in) Circles' for their mini-album 'Home is where the Hate is'. This is out now in the USA & is being released worldwide on the Fat Wreck Chords label.

Another thing I do sometimes is act as a Music Advisor to artists & record companies-for instance I advised Pete Best, the original drummer in The Beatles about a couple of record deals which earned him a bit of real money. He has gone on to do very well & recently did a tour of the USA.

I have also worked with other different artists & record companies in this way.
The latest success we have had is the multi-racial rap collective Roll Deep who adapted our track 'Heartache Avenue' into a rap version re-named 'The Avenue' & released by Relentless Records, The single did very well getting to No 11 in the charts. It also featured on their hit album ' In at the Deep End'.

So watch this space for whatever happens next in this exciting drama known as-
'The Graduate Story'!

David Virr
Founder & M.D.
Graduate Records
Graduate Music
Ready, Steady, Go!