| Junior Boy's Own | |
| Founded: | 1992 |
| Genre: | Electronic |
| Country: | United Kingdom |
| Location: | London, England |
Junior Boy's Own is an English record label specialising in electronic dance music.[1] Underworld, The Chemical Brothers and X-Press 2 are its most successful artists.
The origins of the label go back to 1987, when a group of young clubbers started a fanzine named Boys Own,[2] inspired by a similar fanzine for Liverpool football fans called The End, edited by future singer of The Farm, Peter Hooton. The Boys Own crew, consisting of Terry Farley, Andrew Weatherall, Cymon Eckel and Steven Hall, knew fellow Chelsea fan Paul Oakenfold and through their connections with him they were invited to the early acid house club nights that Oakenfold was holding in London.[2]
As the crew began to become more involved in clubbing, the fanzine began to cover the nascent scene, becoming its key chronicler and influencing a wave of similar fanzines across the country.[3] In 1988, they began hosting their own events,[4] and in 1990 they formed Boy's Own Recordings (1990 - 1993) with London Records/FFRR releasing music by Bocca Juniors, One Dove, Jah Wobble, D.S.K, Denim and Less Stress. In 1992, Farley and Steven Hall formed an independent label Junior Recordings Ltd., which started to use the name Junior Boy's Own. The label was run by Steven Hall, with A&R shared by Hall and Farley. Farley focused on 12" house releases and his own productions with Pete Heller while Steven Hall signed album-orientated live acts including The Chemical Brothers, Black Science Orchestra and Underworld. During the late '90s, the label split in two, with 12" vinyl dance tracks being released by Junior London and album projects through Hall's new joint venture label JBO, which partnered with Richard Branson's V2 and then Parlophone/EMI.