This particular Rainbow label was set up in late 1977 by Aaron Sixx, who had previously been the head of Arista International. 'Music Week' of the 19th of November reported that the new company had been registered as 'Rainbow Record Productions Ltd.' supposedly in order to avoid infringing the Henry Hadaway Organization's copyright on its 'Rainbow' label. A sales and distribution deal had been arranged with Anchor Records (q.v.), and the plan was to use the well-known form of the Rainbow theatre name for a logo, by agreement with the theatre's directors Alan Schaverein and Jamie Bloom. The prospect was held out of acts appearing there and signing a record deal with the label. According to the article Rainbow was intended to be "a small, creative, artist-orientated company, releasing singles and albums across the board musically."
The legal difficulties which the company had hoped to avoid were not long in coming: 'MW' of the following week (26th November) brought news of a challenge in the courts by the Henry Hadaway Organization, on the grounds that it had been associated with the name for more than twenty years, in the form of rehearsal studios, restaurants, and so forth, and that it had used its 'Rainbow' logo in record production, promotion, marketing and releases since 1975. Amidst the legal kerfuffle Rainbow Record Productions put out a couple of singles on its 'Rainbow' label. First out was 'Heartbreak Kid' b/w Headlines', by Rikki and the Numbers (RAIS-1001; 11/77), which was produced by Gary Benson. Then came Sheila McKinley's 'Goodbye My Love' with an instrumental version on the 'B' side (RAIS-1002; 1978), which had another producer who was no stranger to the Charts - Jim Capaldi. Despite having that kind of talent on board, neither Rainbow single made any great impression on the music world. It would appear that the company eventually lost its legal battle, for those two singles were the only ones. Pressing and distribution of the Rikki & The Numbers single was by CBS, as was the case for all of the labels which Anchor handled; I've seen it described as a cross between Punk and Pub Rock, but any Punk getting hold of it would be sadly disappointed - it's more like accomplished second-division Rock.
'Music Week' of the 8th of April 1978 had the last word on Rainbow, saying that its first (sic) releases were to be by Trapeze and an album and single by the Beaver Brothers; Rikki & The Numbers were 'coming next' and product from Annette Peacock would follow later. Three weeks later 'MW' of the 29th of April carried an article which said that Aaron Sixx had formed a new company, Aura (q.v.), which had signed a distribution deal with Anchor; the first product was to appear on the 1st of May. Aura appears to have been the successor to Rainbow; records by Trapeze, the Beaver Brothers and Annette Peacock all surfaced on that label during the next twelve months or so. As well as the three listed on these pages there was another - more brightly coloured - Rainbow label in the 1980s, an apparently LP-only one in the '70s (see 'Plus 8'), and at least three more in the '60s, but they are all outside the scope of this site. Thanks to Robert Bowes for alerting me to the existence of the Sheila McKinley record.
Copyright 2006 Robert Lyons.