Basing Street Studios

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Basing Street Studios was a famous London recording studio housed in a former 19th‑century chapel at 8–10 Basing Street in Notting Hill. It began in 1969 as Island Studios, founded by Chris Blackwell of Island Records, whose offices were there until 1973. In 1975 the complex was renamed Basing Street Studios.

The building contained two studios: Studio One, a large live room, and Studio Two in the basement. It was one of London’s first studios to have a 16‑track recorder, and Blackwell had Helios Electronics build a custom Island Studio 2 console for the studios.

Many notable artists recorded there in the 1970s, including Led Zeppelin (parts of IV were recorded in Studio Two), Jethro Tull (Aqualung upstairs in Studio One), Black Sabbath (Paranoid), Traffic, Eagles (Desperado), Dire Straits, and Stephen Stills. Songs recorded at the studio include Without You, After Midnight, All Right Now, Peace Train, and Many Rivers to Cross. Other artists who worked there included Paul McCartney, John Martyn, and Brian Eno, and Genesis used a mobile recording truck there for The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway.

In 1977 Bob Marley and the Wailers lived upstairs for a time, and Exodus was recorded there while they stayed. Marley had already finished Catch a Fire and Burnin’ earlier at the studio. In 1982 the studios were bought by Jill Sinclair and Trevor Horn for their SARM group and renamed Sarm West Studios, with offices for ZTT and Stiff Records.

Band Aid recorded Do They Know It’s Christmas? at the site in 1984, and Band Aid 30 used it in 2014. Sarm West on Basing Street closed in 2013. The building was converted into nine luxury flats in 2018, and in 2019 a blue plaque was placed to honor Bob Marley and the Wailers and Exodus.