Heavenly Recordings is a London-based independent record label founded by Jeff Barrett in 1990. Heavenly released the first albums from Saint Etienne, Beth Orton and Doves, and early singles by Manic Street Preachers. Current Heavenly artists include Stealing Sheep, Mattiel, The Orielles, Confidence Man, audiobooks, Pip Blom, H. Hawkline, King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard, Gwenno Saunders, Amber Arcades, Working Men's Club, Katy J Pearson and CHAI. Heavenly won Independent Label of the Year at the 2015 Music Week Awards. Other achievements include a Mercury Prize nomination for Saint Etienne's debut album Foxbase Alpha and three Number 1 albums with Doves. It is considered a key British indie record label, alongside Factory, Creation, Rough Trade, Mute, Ninja Tune and Domino. History 1980s: pre-Heavenly In the early 1980s, Jeff Barrett was a record shop manager and live music promoter living in Plymouth. He put on early gigs by The Jesus and Mary Chain, Primal Scream, The Loft and The Pastels, all bands signed to Creation Records, and Creation founder Alan McGee soon offered Barrett a job at the label. Jeff became Creation’s first full-time employee, in the summer of 1985, and worked there until 1988, when he left to set up Capersville press agency. Capersville represented several Creation bands, as well as representing Factory Records and all their artists (including Happy Mondays and New Order), The KLF and Inspiral Carpets. At the same time, Barrett was putting on gigs and club nights in London and set up two short-lived record labels – Head and Sub-Aqua – who released records by Loop, East Village and Laugh. Then in 1990, in partnership with his former record shop boss Mike Chadwick, Barrett set up Heavenly. 1990s & 2000s The first Heavenly release was a 12-inch single by London house act Sly & Lovechild, produced by Andrew Weatherall. This was followed by the debut singles from Saint Etienne ("Only Love Can Break Your Heart") and Flowered Up ("It’s On"); both became key tracks in the UK house scene. Next, Heavenly signed Manic Street Preachers and released two singles, "Motown Junk" in January 1991 and "You Love Us" in May 1991. The Manics then signed to Columbia Records for their first album. Meanwhile, Flowered Up had made one album with London Records but returned to Heavenly in 1992 for their classic 13-minute single, "Weekender." Saint Etienne’s debut album, Foxbase Alpha, was shortlisted for the 1992 Mercury