Wednesday, 15 July 2009 00:00

AIR SUPPLY SIGNS NEW LABEL DEAL WITH LAS VEGAS BASED ODDS ON RECORDS!

Caption: Air Supply with Odds On Records President Ted Joseph (Center)

The Independent Label, Which Is Distributed By E1 Music (Formerly Koch), Will Release The Globetrotting 80s Hitmaking Duo’s First Commercially Released Album In Almost A Decade In 2010

As reported this week exclusively by Gail Mitchell of Billboard, Graham Russell and Russell Hitchcock—known the world over as 80s hitmaking duo Air Supply (www.airsupply-online.com)—have signed a label deal with Las Vegas based independent label Odds On Records.

Distributed by E1 Music (formerly Koch) and headed by former Warner Bros. marketing and promotion executive Ted Joseph, the full-service company plans to release a new Air Supply studio album in 2010.

The timing of their first commercial release in nearly a decade coincides perfectly with the group’s 35th anniversary next year.

Not that the world ever stopped celebrating the soft rock gurus of romance. Over two decades after dominating the pop charts with romantic perennials like “All Out of Love,” “The One That You Love,” “Lost In Love” and “Making Love Out of Nothing At All,” Russell and Hitchcock have never been more popular, averaging 120-140 concerts annually.

Having wrapped an incredible 2008 a special December 19 appearance on the Fox TV hit “Don’t Forget The Lyrics,” their itinerary in 2009 includes many U.S. cities between jaunts to Japan, Brazil, Ecuador, Guatemala, Honduras, Antigua, Venezuela, Korea, Taiwan and Hong Kong.

In May, they head to Australia to perform for the first time with the Sydney Symphony.

Odds On has also licensed two indie Air Supply projects, and Free Love, which is scheduled for a late July release, and Singer and the Song, which is set for fall. The albums were previously sold at Air Supply shows and on the duo’s website.

Joseph first entertained the idea of signing Air Supply after catching a Las Vegas show last year. “I saw females from 17 to 77--and a lot of males--who knew the words to every hit,” he says.

Russell and Hitchcock will have carte blanche use of Odds On Records’ new multi-million dollar state of the art recording studio, which is run by Head of Audio Production and Development Bobby Ferrari.

Making things very convenient, the label’s Las Vegas offices and studio are approximately equidistant between Russell’s home near Salt Lake and Hitchcock’s residence in Los Angeles.