ZE Records

ZE Records (originally always written with two capital letters) was a New York-based record label, started in 1978 by Michael Zilkha and Michel Esteban.

Michael Zilkha (b. 1954) was a British-born Oxford graduate of Lebanese descent, the son of the owner of Mothercare, a major UK retail company, and the stepson of Lord Lever. In the mid-1970s he was working in the New York publishing industry.

Michel Esteban was the French owner of the Paris punk shop Harry Cover (a pun on "haricots verts") and the magazine Rock News, and, with his partner Lizzy Mercier Descloux, had moved to New York to become part of the punk and emerging post-punk music scene.

In 1977, Zilkha and Esteban were introduced to each other by John Cale. The music which they were listening to was a mixture of the New Wave of Talking Heads and Television, together with the disco-funk music being played in the New York clubs, at a point at which music, art, cinema, literature, and fashion were closely integrated. The pair decided to set up ZE Records, a name taken from the initials of their surnames, to record the new music emerging. The genre later became known generically as No Wave – the title of one of the company’s first compilation albums.

Within a short time, ZE Records became the hippest record label in the world, signing up such new talent as Was (Not Was), Kid Creole and the Coconuts, Bill Laswell’s Material, and James White and the Blacks, together with more established performers including John Cale and Suicide. Many of its releases were first played at the Paradise Garage club in New York, starting point of Garage music.

Although essentially an independent label, ZE had a long-running partnership with Island Records, leading to their records being released via Island, Ariola, and other labels worldwide. The label’s success peaked around 1981-82, and it closed down in 1986.

Esteban restarted the label in 2002 in France to reissue old material. Meanwhile, the Zilkha family moved into the energy business, and Michael Zilkha is currently co-owner of a major renewable energy company based in Texas.

Notable artists

 * Suicide
 * Kid Creole and the Coconuts
 * James Chance
 * Cristina
 * John Cale
 * Was (Not Was)
 * The Waitresses
 * Alan Vega
 * Davitt Sigerson
 * Lizzy Mercier Descloux
 * Lydia Lunch
 * James White and the Blacks
 * The Contortions
 * Material