Megatone Records
Megatone Records
Megatone Records was founded as an independent record label in San Francisco in 1981 by producer/songwriter/performer Patrick Cowley and producer Marty Blecman. Megatone quickly impacted the dance music world through Cowley's release of Megatron Man. Filled with synthesizers, Cowley's sound influenced a wide range of dance music to come including electronic music masters New Order and the Pet Shop Boys.
Patrick Cowley was one of the earliest of major recording artists to succumb to AIDS. He passed away in November of 1982 at the age of 32, following additional success writing and producing Right On Target for Paul Parker, collaborating with Sylvester on Do You Wanna Funk, and releasing his own album Mind Warp. Sylvester continued to record for Megatone into the mid-1980's.
Marty Blecman continued to lead Megatone until 1991 when he also died as a victim of AIDS. During the latter part of the 1980s Megatone released dance recordings by Modern Rocketry and Jeanie Tracy, formerly a backing vocalist for Sylvester, among others. John Hedges and currently Terrence M. Brown have followed Blecman as heads of the Megatone label. In the mid-1990s, Megatone relocated from its San Francisco home to Hollywood.
The primary dance music legacy of Megatone is the sound of Patrick Cowley. Cowley's synthesizers are filled with urgency but also a sweeping romantic beauty which transports the listener and dancer. In addition to his own recordings, Patrick Cowley will also be remembered for his legendary 15-minute remix of Donna Summer's I Feel Love. At the present time, Megatone Records has indicated a full-length album of Patrick Cowley's material remains in its vaults and will soon be released.