The label of the Starphonic recording studios, of Bramhall, Cheshire. Starphonic seems to have been in business from the mid '60s until around 1975. It advertised regularly in 'The Stage' magazine, generally saying that it was available for the making of commercial masters and demo recordings. In the earliest advert I have been able to find, that of the issue of the 3rd of February 1966, it referred to itself as 'Starphonic Sound Studios'; this had become 'Starphonic Sound Recording Studios' by the issue of the 12th of January 1967, and it ended up as 'Starphonic Recording Studios' in the issue of the 9th of March of that year and in all subsequent issues. It seems to have acted as a management agency as well as a studio: adverts in issues in March and December 1966 said that 'Starphonic Promotions' of Bramhall was looking for artistes. The company also advertised in the 'Liverpool Echo' in the late '60s, where it said "Demo recording of groups is our speciality." The only reference to the 'Starphonic Record Company' that I can find came in "The Stage" of the 7th of March 1974, in an advert which said that famous organist Jimmy Leach was available as an accompanist. This suggests that the record label was a comparative latecomer to the company's stable of businesses.
Starphonic Records seems to have acted as a custom recording outlet. It used an STA-100 numerical series for its products, 7" and 12" alike. It concentrated on LPs but earned itself a place on this site by putting out at least a couple of singles and an EP. Barry Dean's 'This Is My Life' b/w 'Girl In The Wood' (STA-107) was one of the singles, 'Hornets! Hornets!' by Peter Robinson with Muriel Clee, the Rochdale Hornets Football Team and The New Storybook (STA-113) the other - The New Storybook provided the 'B' side of the latter, 'Lesley', unassisted. The EP was by The Walkden Band, and it offered the tracks 'Mancunia', 'Washington Greys', 'Father Rhine' and 'Bramwyn' (STA-110). Frustratingly there are no dates on the labels of Starphonic's records, but a note on the back of the Walken Band's EP says that it was recorded in June 1972. Despite the claim on the labels, the few Starphonic products that Googling turns up seem to be by local choirs and brass bands rather than examples of 'International Recorded Music'; just for the sake of interest I've listed them below. Perhaps the 'international' material was on one of the many missing albums. Thanks to Sam Mauger for bringing Starphonic to my attention, to Henry29 of the 45cat site for permission to use his EP scan here, and to Hawkmarty of the same site for discographical input.
Copyright 2019 Robert Lyons.