Pickwick Records had used the Startrax name as a sub-label since 1976 for budget compilation albums.
[1] In 1981, with a craze for medley recordings making the British singles chart, Pickwick used the Startrax name for session musicians recording medleys for release on the label; as Pickwick had no track history of releasing singles, the sub-label Picksy was created, and a logo similar to that on the Stars On 45 releases was used.
The first release, "Startrax Club Disco", was a medley of covers of songs by the Bee Gees, topped and tailed by a sting written by producer Bruce Baxter, who had produced many of the Hallmark Records Top of the Pops cover albums.
[2] The singer was Alan Carvell,[3] who had had minor hits (under the name Steve Allan) as part of The Carvells and with a solo version of "Together We Are Beautiful",[4] and who laid down all the vocal tracks.
The follow-up was a reggae medley single and album set (which also began and ended with the Startrax theme),[7] but neither made the charts.