Strawberry Recording Studios

Honoured to be invited to talk Strawberry and the Strawberry Archive with children at Moorfield Primary School (Stockport) today. The children, as well as being attentive, curious and polite, wasted no time in reminding me that it was their grandparents who were buying Strawberry's records back in the 70s and 80s!! It was also great to see Moorfield's own visual tribute to Strawberry on the school corridor.

As part of this weekend's Manchester Histories Festival (https://manchesterhistories.co.uk/our-festival/), there is a talk on Friday afternoon (2.30-3.30pm in Manchester Central Library) about Manchester music which will include an introduction to the Strawberry Archive. As part of this, you will be able to hear Paul McCartney's jingle for Piccadilly Radio and a song recorded in Strawberry for the Manchester 73 Festival that has hardly seen the light of day since it was created. Come along to explore the cultural significance of the iconic Hacienda nightclub, to hear stories of three incredible women who made history in Manchester’s music scene and then to hear three Manchester-centred tracks from Strawberry's archive.

Tickets are free and available at https://manchesterhistories.co.uk/events/manchester-histories-festival-2026-civic-pride-conservation/

Happy 80th Birthday to 10cc's and Strawberry's Graham Gouldman. Already a hit songwriter, he invested in Peter Tattersall's small studio in Stockport back in 1968 and as a director, songwriter and musician, helped put Strawberry on the world music map! (Photo copyright: Mark Waugh Manchester Press Photography)

RIP Neil Sedaka - a key part of Strawberry's and 10cc's early history when he came to Stockport in the early 70s to record two albums

With special thanks to DJ Craig Marshall, here is an interview (plus concert photos) that Craig recorded with Eric Stewart on 5th September 1983, as 10cc toured Australia. With plenty of Strawberry content and Eric's take on a number of things, including the Gizmo! Concert photos by Warwick Hallinan

Historic 10cc Interview by Craig J. Marshall recorded in late 1983 Warning! This is a technical discussion so if you're a 'studio nerd', you enjoy this interview. I recently located a 43 year old cassette tape of a recording...

Happy Birthday to Strawberry partner, director, engineer, producer and musician....Eric Stewart

The book has the Lol seal of approval

In true Strawberry spirit, this weekend in Stockport there is an amazing multi venue festival! Free entry to many venues. Some require tickets. Some fantastic bands including The Concrete Club featuring organised by with .studios. Check out for full info.

First book promotion and aptly it was at Stockport's Strawberry Radio. It was good to chat about the book with Paul Taylor. And coming soon, news about a special book launch event in the New Year!

"Staffmen at Motown had a good run. Now it’s Stockport with the will to stretch the pop song" (Melody Maker 1974)

In one small Stockport building, one of the greatest ever pop singles (10cc's I'm Not in Love) and one of the top-ten albums of all time (Joy Division's Unknown Pleasures) were recorded. It was a place where local artists (Barclay James Harvest, The Syd Lawrence Orchestra, Sad Cafe, The Smiths, Buzzcocks, Factory Records, New Order, Martin Hannett, Granada Television, James, Simply Red, The Stone Roses and many others) could stay in the region to showcase their talent. National stars such as Paul McCartney recorded there and international superstar Neil Sedaka made his comeback there by recording two albums in the early 1970s. And then there was also an eclectic mix of records created there, from the comedy of the Hee Bee Gee Bees, through St Winifred's School Choir and Sir Michael Horden talking about trains, to an array of sporting greats (such as the two Manchester football teams plus Leeds, Everton and Lancashire Cricket Club). But for one of Manchester's greats, 10cc, it was home - a place they could retreat to in order to create hit singles, albums and an amazing array of sounds from 1972 until 1976.

And now, the story of how one man, Peter Tattersall, imagined, started and built Strawberry Recording Studios up over 20 years, outside of the established recording studio Capital of London, and how it became 10cc's home, is available for all to read. Published by Manchester's Empire Publications, 'Strawberry Studios Forever' details an important part of Manchester's music history and shows how many of the 'Manchester Music' attributes often thought to absent until the mid-1970s were more than evident in Strawberry Recording Studios in Stockport from 1967 onwards.

https://www.empire-uk.com/strawberry.htm