Freshline Records

Freshline Records is an independent German record label and music production company initially founded in Berlin, Germany in 1989. The company achieved its greatest successes in the mid-1990s. The best-known song productions by Freshline are the platinum and gold pop hits "Another Night" and "Run Away" by M.C. Sar & The Real McCoy (Real McCoy). Under the production alias The Movement, Freshline also produced the top Eurodance hits "Get-A-Way" and "No More (I Can't Stand It)" by Maxx. The music producers behind the success of Freshline were Jürgen Wind (J. Wind) and Frank Hassas (Quickmix). Wind and Hassas were also notable for being successful remixers of hit dance tracks. For promotional reasons, Freshline co-founder and rapper Olaf Jeglitza (O-Jay) was traditionally given false credits alongside Wind and Hasass. In reality, Jeglitza was strictly the rapper and frontman for the Freshline projects: The Alliance, Rap IV Rap and Real McCoy. He also composed song lyrics for several other Freshline projects with help from ghostwriters. Hassas and Jeglitza had initially founded the Freshline brand together in 1987 as a German Hip Hop fanzine and mix-tape promo series. The two gradually began experimenting with song productions. Hassas was the producer while Jeglitza provided rap vocals. Wind joined with Hassas and Jeglitza in 1988 as a second producer, shareholder, and investor in their song productions. The early song productions were made in Wind's Spandau home based studio (Wind Studios B.C.). The music productions were independently distributed in Germany with support from 99 records. The first official Freshline Records music release was an Electro/Hip Hop/Vecoder rap single titled "Action!" by The Alliance. The follow-up release was a Pop rap cover of the Joyce Sims hit "Come Into My Life" by their second project The Admirers. First label deal was with Rough Trade Records in 1989. The debut Alliance album It's Time and the single "Sweat" as then released. After the commercial failure of the album and single, the team left Rough Trade and joined with ZYX Records in December 1989. Under the production team name Freshline Allstars, Wind and Hassas produced a number of different projects under ZYX while also producing successful remixes for other projects. Freshline had its first major breakthrough between 1989 and 1990 with the hits "Pump Up The Jam Rap" and "It's On You" by their new Hip House project M.C. Sar & The Real McCoy. Wind had then taken over the management of Freshline as the new CEO while also becoming the leading producer on the team. During this phase, Freshline Records became an official company under the name Freshline Records Musikproduktion GmbH. After the label deal with ZYX ended in 1992, Freshline became solely a music production company. In December 1992, Wind negotiated a new distribution deal with Hansa Records (then owned by BMG Berlin Musik GmbH) to distribute new music for M.C. Sar & The Real McCoy. BMG Berlin CEO André Selleneit and A&R Executive David Brunner worked closely with Wind to plan out a success strategy for M.C. Sar & The Real McCoy in Europe. The musical style of the project was changed from Hip House to Eurodance and Pop. The production name "Freshline Allstars" was also abandoned for the shortened team name 'Freshline.' Between 1993 and 1994, Wind and Hassas, produced the singles "Another Night", "Run Away", "Automatic Lover (Call for Love)", and "Love & Devotion" and the album Space Invaders for M.C. Sar & The Real McCoy. Under the production alias The Movement, they also produced the hits "Get-A-Way" and "No More (I Can't Stand It)" and the album To The Maxximum for Maxx under Intercord. Though uncredited, songwriter Bruce Hammond Earlam collaborated with Wind and Hassas extensively when writing the Maxx hits and album. Between 1994 and 1995, Arista Records had distributed M.C. Sar & The Real McCoy in the U.S. market under the shortened bandname Real McCoy. Thanks to the promotional efforts of Arista, the Real McCoy reached multi-platinum status in 1995. The Maxx project ended that same year. By 1996, both Hassas and Jeglitza had sold their shares in the company to Wind. In 1997, Wind collaborated with the Swedish-based production team Lemon Productions when producing the follow-up Real McCoy album One More Time under Arista. Wind had later produced other song productions under Mercury Records. The final Real McCoy productions by Wind ("Its On You" and "Hey Now") were released between 1999 and 2000. By 2003, 'Freshline Records Musikproduction Gmbh' had been renamed 'Freshline Music Verlag GmbH' and had transitioned into strictly music publishing. In 2005, the company became insolvent. Today, the company is still owned and operated by Wind.