Dance music-focused imprint founded as Full Frequency Range Recordings in 1986 under the umbrella of London Records with Pete Tong as A&R and Phil Howells as assistant. Early releases included Lil Louis' French Kiss, D Mob's We Call It Acieed and Salt-N-Pepa's Push It. Albums from Orbital, Goldie and All Saints followed in the 1990s. Nick Raphael (2) started at the label as product manager and later became label manager.
In 1979 when Polygram Records purchased the ailing Decca Record company, London was just another document trademark gathering dust. Upon its revival and rebirth three years later it took up where it had left off, licensing young black American acts (New Edition, Rockers Revenge) and founding its own roster beginning with Blancmange and Bananarama. At the time what differentiated London from other "Major" record companies was its incredibly high proportion of chart entries and the esteem in which it held the then scorned "dance music". With the development of the London roster and the addition of rock acts such as the Hothouse Flowers and Then Jericho there was a danger that the dance focus of the early London would be lost, and a decision has been taken to separate the company into two labels, FFRR and London.
The original FFRR was a trademark of Decca. It was launched in 1947 to mark the advent of a new era in high fidelity sound, and it was later incorporated into the London logo. The new (1987–present) FFRR is an independent dance label under the guidance of Head of A&R Pete Tong, responsible for continuing the great tradition of dance music at London Records.
Although the company name FFRR Records Ltd. first appeared on releases in 1986, the standard London logos were used until 1987. Such releases, even if they have an old-style "ffrr" badge embedded in the London logos, should only be filed under London Records. A new logo for the dance imprint first appeared on releases in 1987. It incorporated elements of the classic "ffrr" high-fidelity marks that had been part of the Decca and London branding since the 1940s, yet it is a unique logo, with a key difference being that it normally appears by itself and contains the words Full Frequency Range Recordings (not Recording, and not American Recordings or British Recordings). The ffrr high-fidelity mark (normally paired with a London or Decca logo) is not catalogued in the database as a distinct label or series; for releases with that branding, please only enter the label as London Records or Decca as appropriate, and mention ffrr in the release notes.
From 1990 on, the imprint was affiliated with both FFRR Records Ltd and former immediate parent London Records 90 Ltd..
Pete Tong relaunched the label in 2011 and it now sits as a sub label of Parlophone within the wider Warner Music Group.
Former Defected A&R manager Andy Daniell became label head in October 2019, with Evie Grain (ex-BMG) as marketing lead from 2021.
The label was rebranded in February 2021 with an updated logo by Trevor Jackson.
Label code: LC 7654 / LC 07654
‘DJ’, included to the catalog numbers, generally stand for ‘promo copies’.
