Compass Point Studios were founded in 1977 by Chris Blackwell, the owner of Island Records.
In the late 1970s and mid-1980s, many musical artists from across the world came to the Bahamas to record music at its facilities. Many producers, including Chris Blackwell himself, used the studio to produce recordings. AC/DC's Back In Black, the second largest selling album ever, was just one of the many albums recorded there. Other well-known artists who recorded there include: Emerson, Lake & Palmer, The Rolling Stones, Grace Jones, Shakira, Celine Dion, U2, Robert Palmer, Thompson Twins, Talking Heads, Dire Straits, Electric Light Orchestra, Bob Marley, Eric Clapton, James Brown, Iron Maiden, Roxy Music and David Bowie.
As Chris Blackwell's other business interests steadily increased, he was forced to spend less of his time directly looking after the studio. With producer and manager Alex Sadkin's death in 1987, the studio began a period of decline. With no one overseeing the studio, studio equipment began to suffer from lack of proper maintenance and upgrading.
In 1992, Blackwell took action to save the studio by hiring Terry and Sherrie Manning, the owners and operators of a recording studio and video production house in the US. The couple now oversee all aspects of Compass Point Studios. Upon their arrival in late 1992, the Mannings began restoring the two large studios, tearing them apart and completely rewiring them with modern recording equipment.
After reopening in late 1992, many artists have recorded at the studio.
Terry Manning recently announced in a pro audio discussion board where he has been moderating that, as of September 2010 Compass Point Studios ceased its operations in Nassau, due to "a series of incidents which had occurred in the recent past, socio-political-based happenings which made it untenable to continue doing business in The Bahamas. All involved agreed that we could no longer bring our friends and clients into an atmosphere which we knew to be threatening. The incidents shall remain private at this time."
According to Manning, "The reason was not one of economics, or of a lack of business...in fact at the time, we had most of 2011 booked by very high end artists..."
"All involved in Compass Point Studios will continue to work within the music business, just as always before...simply, not in The Bahamas. Until a final location for operations is decided, musical work will be carried out at personal and third-party locations."
"One thing is sure, no more islands!"
Famous quotes containing the words compass and/or point:
“However closely people are attached to one another, their mutual horizon nonetheless includes all four compass directions, and now and again they notice it.”
—Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900)
“The great passion in a man’s life may not be for women or men or wealth or toys or fame, or even for his children, but for his masculinity, and at any point in his life he may be tempted to throw over the things for which he regularly lays down his life for the sake of that masculinity. He may keep this passion secret from women, and he may even deny it to himself, but the other boys know it about themselves and the wiser ones know it about the rest of us as well.”
—Frank Pittman (20th century)