T
he story of Rockstar Records begins way back in the early 1970s when a group of Eddie Cochran fans refused to believe that the vaults were empty of unreleased material from their idol. In 1964, four years after Eddie’s tragic death, Liberty Records released the album My Way, a collection of previously unissued Cochran cuts. Despite the label’s claims that the vaults were now exhausted of unheard material, Tony Barrett, Derek Glenister and Rob Finnis kept digging and the eventual result was the LP The Many Sides Of Eddie Cochran, the first release to bear the Rockstar moniker and a collection of painstakingly sourced unissued material that would set the template for over four decades of creations with the serious music collector in mind.
HIDDEN DEPTHS
It was to be a further five years before the label really hit its stride and 1979 saw the re-release of The Many Sides Of Eddie Cochran, with alternate cover artwork, more new Cochran releases on 7" and yet more archive nuggets on 45 from Eddie Bond and Tom Tall &His Tom Kats. Rockstar continued to mine a rich seam of archive material over the years and, in a manner similar to other labels such as Ace and Bear Family, they focused on releases that were rarely intended for a mainstream audience but proved mightily attractive to intrepid music fans. In addition, Rockstar also kept an eye out for newer rockin’ acts and bands such as The Kingbeats and the youthful Rockin’ Lord Lee And The Outlaws saw their debut recordings appear on the label.