Started in 1966 by Swiss-resident Georgian pop impresario and ex-manager of both the Rolling Stones and the Yardbirds, Giorgio Gomelsky, it released records by artists including Julie Driscoll with Brian Auger and The Trinity, who reached No.5 in the UK in 1968 with "This Wheel's on Fire",[1] Blossom Toes, early recordings by Graham Gouldman, Kevin Godley and Lol Creme, who became 10cc, as well as John McLaughlin's first solo album.
Marmalade's first release, in August 1966, was a controversial single called "We Love The Pirate Stations", by five well-known musicians masquerading as The Roaring 60's.
[3] Driscoll again performed "This Wheel's on Fire" – without Auger – as the closing title music for BBC TV's Absolutely Fabulous comedy show between 1990 and 1996.
[4] She was partnered on that version of the Bob Dylan/Rick Danko song by Adrian Edmondson, the husband of AbFab writer and star Jennifer Saunders.
[5][6] After a time managing French progressive rock band Magma, Gomelsky headed for New York City in the mid-1970s, where he co-founded Utopia Records, a label that was to have had the same alternative innovative focus as Marmalade.