Flamingo was formed by two people from publishers Carlin Music, president Freddy Bienstock and director Mike Collier, in the Spring of 1979. According to 'Music Week' of the 3rd of March their new label was aimed at the Disco market, and was to be called 'Paradise', which would explain the label design. There was, however, already a label of that name around - see 'Paradise (Reggae)' - which presumably led to a last-minute change. The article stated that the company's records had been licensed to Magnet (q.v.), and that all of its product would be available in 7" and 12" forms. Catalogue numbers were in an FM-0 series; they reached at least FM-18, which was issued in 1981, but several seem not to have been used. Three out of the first four releases - two by the Bombers and one by Match - tickled the Top 50. As a result of the link with Magnet, manufacture and distribution were by EMI during 1979. 1980 saw a split from Magnet and a move to RCA. During the '70s, demos were marked in the same way as those of Magnet itself, with a large hollow 'A' (2). As the scans show, there was a slight variation in colour between the first single and the remainder. Carlin also owned two other labels: Feelgood and Solid Gold (q.v. both). The discography below only covers 1979.
Copyright 2006 Robert Lyons.