Simon Raymonde

Simon Raymonde is the son of arranger Ivor Raymonde, who worked with some of the greats from the 60s and 70s, including Bowie, Dusty Springfield, Roy Orbison, The Stylistics and the Walker Brothers. Simon’s first band The Drowning Craze were signed to hip London label Situation 2 who shared an office with 4AD, and released three singles, recorded a session for John Peel and then broke up.

Signing Dirty Three, Lift to Experience, Laura Veirs and Midlake in the first few years suggested this could become more than just the ‘Cocteau Twins’ boutique label’ that most journalists described Bella Union as. The breakthrough was in 2008 when he found and signed Fleet Foxes who sold a million records here in Europe on their debut album. Building on that success by signing already-legendary bands like Flaming Lips, Spiritualised, Mercury Rev, alongside the development of careers such as those of Ezra Forman, Beach House, Father John Misty, John Grant, I Break Horses, and Penelope Isles.

With Raymonde at the helm signing the bands, the label is now established as one of the UK’s top independent record labels, winning the prestigious Music Week Best Independent Label Award (as voted by the UK’s independent record retailers) in 2010/2012/2014 and 2016.