Carrere was founded by French producer Claude Carrere. It seems to have specialised in disco-friendly Europop initially, though its range broadened and it enjoyed considerable success in Britain in the 1980s with Rock group Saxon. The label signed a licensing agreement with EMI and registered an immediate Top 20 hit with its first release, a Disco version of 'Singin' In The Rain' by Sheila B. Devotion (EMI-2751; 1/78). Shortly afterwards Clout improved on that performance, reaching the No.2 spot with 'Substitute' (EMI-2788; 4/78). At first the artists were mostly French, but Carrere pursued a policy of also signing local talent - it enjoyed great success with the British duo Dollar. For the first twelve months singles shared EMI's main EMI-2000 numerical series, but 1979 saw the introduction of discrete CAR-100 numbers. These reached CAR-104 before the label moved to WEA, at which point they jumped to CAR-110. The label design remained the same except that the perimeter text changed at the time of the move; in the process a reference to EMI at 9 o'clock (1) was replaced by a reference to WEA at 7 o'clock (2). Demo labels in the EMI period had the standard EMI-type markings (4); there were no special demo labels for the WEA singles. There does not appear to have been a company sleeve during either period. The discography below only covers the 1970s.
Copyright 2006 Robert Lyons.