Check, from Hednesford, seems to have been a small independent label. The only two 7" records on the label that I have managed to trace are shown above: they are a single by F.P.I., 'I Can't Stop The Music' (CHE-001) and Bi-Set's 'Mississippi Candlelight' EP (CHE/EP-001). There was also at least one album, 'Evergreen' by Kenny Haywood (CHE-01). All were products of Lee Sound Studios, of Pelsall, whose logo appears on the label. There are no dates on the labels, but according to Bi-Set's website their EP was issued early in 1978. The four songs on it, which are vaguely Country-flavoured Pop, are a cut above the usual Cabaret material, and none of them would have been out of place on an early-'70s mainstream Pop label such as Bell. I had Bi-Set down as a five-piece vocal harmony band, so I was surprised to find that there were just two members: wife-and-husband duo Jill and Arthur Ray. Arthur multi-tracked most of the instruments on the EP, and wrote all four songs on it. The duo were good enough to appear on the final edition of the T.V. talent show 'Opportunity Knocks' singing 'Mississippi Candlelight', so it is perhaps surprising that there aren't more copies of their EP around.
Copyright 2009 Robert Lyons.