U.K. DJ Steve Morgan has launched a fundraiser to recoup royalties Chicago house producer Adonis alleges are owed to him by Trax Records for various releases. In a week it has amassed over £9,815 – nearly ten times its goal of £1,000.
Adonis (full name Adonis Smith) brought the topic to light in the weeks after Trax co-founder Larry Sherman died of heart failure. “Do not buy or support Trax Records! Because this label has not paid me one penny in 34 years,” Smith wrote in a Facebook post. “Trax Records do not own any rights to my music. Please share this post everywhere. Also tell all distributors to do not sell this record or any other of my songs from this horrible label. Enough is enough.”
Smith’s accusations are par for the course for Trax Records. In the documentary Pump Up The Volume, Sherman himself commented on the label’s unsavory business practices in the early years of Chicago house.
On Adonis
Prior to releasing music as Adonis, Smith was a member of the boogie group ClockWork. The band’s most notable track was “I’m Your Candy Girl,” which came out on Private I Records in 1984.
Smith is arguably best known for “No Way Back” featuring the late vocalist Gary B. The 1986 single, which sold an estimated 100,000 copies, marked one of the first uses of the Roland TB-303 Bass Line in a house music. DJ Pierre would go on to popularize the synthesizer in his pioneering acid house singles.
Donations to Steve Morgan’s fundraiser can be made via Just Giving.
