User:Daizypeach/Jon Baker Draft

Current "Gee Street Records, 1985–90" section
Baker returned to London in 1984.

This is in the new "Early Career" section

In 1985, Baker organized Doug E. Fresh and Slick Rick's first UK tour.

The cited source is an article about Doug E. Fresh that merely mentions Gee Street Records in passing.

That year, he met Rob Birch and Nick Hallam of the Stereo MCs and together they began to produce and distribute white label records to London dance shops. He also met his future wife Ziggi Golding, an agent who ran the progressive "Z" modeling agency, with whom he established Gee Street Records.

''These are some weird citations. One appears to be a personal blog and the other is an interview. The last one I couldn't find.''

Among the artists, Gee Street signed and/or promoted were Jon King/King Butcher, Funtopia, Gail Ann Dorsey, Queen Latifah, Jungle Brothers, the Stereo MCs, and P.M. Dawn.

No citation and just a list of names

Gee Street's first major success was the release of Straight out the Jungle by Jungle Brothers; their single "I'll House You" went top 5 in the UK national charts.

This is an article about Jungle Brothers that merely mentions Gee Street in passing.

Then, in 1988, he signed the Stereo MCs to a licensing deal with Island Records. In 1989, he brought P.M. Dawn to England.

No citation, but a lot of this is preserved in the proposed replacement with better references (Billboard and Vogue).

Proposed Replacement "Gee Street Records" section
Baker alongside Britain’s pirate radio Kiss FM hip-hop jock DJ Richie Rich in 1986 and the Stereo MCs, opened a sixteen-track studio called Gee Street Records.

Baker and Island Polygram Records’ Chris Blackwell agreed on a worldwide joint venture with the focus on North American markets in 1991. Baker was appointed President of Island Jamaica for North America (the Jamaican music division of Island Records). The first release under the joint venture, PM Dawn’s “Set Adrift on Memory Bliss” released in 1991, providing the funding for Bakers investments in Jamaica and with this he brought property in San San, Port Antonio.

The joint venture agreement between Island Polygram Records and Baker faltered and came to an end in 1996. Later that year, Baker established a joint venture with Richard Branson and V2, signing RZA to an exclusive solo recording deal in 1997.