American, out of New York. Ze was owned by Michael Zilka (one of the family behind the Mothercare company) and Michel Esteban. It came on the scene in 1978. It received its first mention in the UK music trade press when 'Music Week' of the 4th of November of that year said that it had signed a licensing agreement with Island and was to debut with singles by The Reasons and Christina. They were to come out on 'a split Island / Ze label', which turned out to be the Island label with a Ze logo added, but the 12" version of the Christina record would be on an actual Ze label. The singles were issued that same month, the 7" versions taking their catalogue numbers from the main Island series: Cristina's 'Disco Clone' b/w 'Disco 'O'' was WIP-6466, and 'Hard Day At The Office' b/w 'Baby Bright Eyes' by The Reasons was WIP-6467. The 'Disco Clone' 12" had its own discrete number, 12-ZE-001.
Following those initial releases Ze appears to have struck out on its own for a while. 'MW' of the 14th of April 1979 reported that the company was moving into the UK market: its first batch of releases was to consist of eight 12" singles, which were to be distributed by Spartan. The article said that a pressing deal had been done with Island, but that company had sold its pressing plant by that time. In addition to the 12" singles Ze put out three 7" records, and thus qualified for this site - one of them came in two different forms, and another was pressed by Lyntone. They were given an actual Ze label (1), complete with a company sleeve (2). 7" records were numbered in the ZE-7000s, 12" ones in the ZE-12000s.
The attempt at independence seems to have been unsuccessful, and November 1979 saw the company linking up with Island again. The first single under the new agreement, Suicide's 'Dream Baby Dream' b/w 'Radiation' (WIP-6543; 11/79) had an Island label and a Ze logo, as before, but subsequent issues had a dedicated Ze / Island label design. The numbers continued to be taken from Island's WIP-6000 numerical series. The renewed partnership seems to have worked well, and Ze trod its own rather exotic path through the early '80s, with a string of 'Camp Pop', 'Mutant Disco' and 'Punk Funk' releases. Its most successful artists by some distance were Kid Creole & The Coconuts, who took it into the Singles Chart seven times in 1981-83, reaching the Top 5 on three occasions and only just missing out on the No.1 spot with 'Annie I'm Not Your Daddy' b/w 'You Had No Intention' (WIP-6801; 1/82). In its homeland Ze functioned mainly as a production company rather than a label from 1980 onwards, placing its records with the likes of Sire and Island. It seems to have effectively expired in or around 1984. The discography below only covers the 1970s.
Copyright 2006 Robert Lyons.