Two Brothers

Adelphoi Music has been many things — music collective, record label, studio, sync operation, brand partner, foley recorder and superproducer, but the thing that has kept it constant through change is a strong sense of family. Of brothers — or in Greek, adelphoi.

Adelphoi Music was founded in the early 90s as a record label by musicians and songwriters Kirk Zavieh and Charles Hodgkinson, both friends from St Paul’s School in London and at Cambridge University. Charles had been an Exhibitioner at the Royal College of Music from age 10, touring the US as a violinist, and in the National Youth Orchestra. Kirk on the other hand was a self-taught, singer-songwriter, learning jazz guitar and piano by ear. Together they started writing and producing songs and formed a music collective based in Endell Street, Covent Garden.

The Musical Family

A core team of expertise came together to form the Adelphoi family: Tim Allen, founder of Soul / Garage label SI Projects, Kit Wood, who helped form Intelligent Drum n Bass label Soon Records, and Sophie Taylor, fresh out of university. Powered by this team, the underground lab that was the Covent Garden studios became a nexus of musical exploration for the likes of Karen Ramirez, Seiji and the Bugz in the Attic, Ron Trent, Cricco Castelli, Melissa Bell, and Angie Brown. And the studio’s output flourished, collaborating on songs with Gena West (“Joy”, signed to Arista), Eliza, Mannix Lee, Lotte, Heist, Chris Buckley, Kunle Babs, Sagat Guirey, Dorian Ford, Reza Safinia, Theo Brehony, Mark Waterman, Kevin Osbourne, Andre Kremer, Wren Swan, Rafe Mckenna, to sample a few.

The team scored some huge hits in their own right, from the mainstream to the underground, and back again. 1995 alone saw both the Children In Need single with Terry Wogan, as well as a Drum n Bass rework of Jazz master Dave Brubeck’s most famous track, “Take 5”, which started a long and productive friendship with the Brubeck clan.

At the same time, Adelphoi were signing. Andy Sherriff (lead singer of Chapterhouse) and Simon Gotel came on board to release an award-winning techno album as Bio.com, while Jamie Masters took time out from being a Latin professor to produce the equally timeless acoustic album “Northbound Train”. And there’s no forgetting Steven Meade and Danny Langsman, though you might know them as Shanks and Bigfoot. Sweet.

Kirk and Charles had branched out into film and television by this time, composing scores for “The Wedding Tackle” from Director Rami Dvir and shorts like “Romeo Thinks Again”, by Matthew Parkhill, creator of the TV series Rogue. Though their most well-known piece of music of this kind is possibly their shortest. If you’ve ever turned on Sky News, you already know and love the theme they created with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra.

The Composers

Kirk and Charles had a notion of what the next chapter of Adelphoi could be. This family of talented composers and producers, hothoused in their Endell Street lab, could put their talents to use on the best creative properties out there. Sophie got to work as Producer, connecting Bio.com’s Andy and Simon with a little series in production called “Walking With Dinosaurs” - if you haven’t seen it, it really is worth a look. It proved there might just be life in the evolved Adelphoi, bringing home successive Emmy awards in 2000 and 2001.

The composer team grew, adding Jamie Masters, Neal Clutterbuck and Andy’s Chapterhouse band-mates, Stephen Patman and Ashley Bates. This polymusical team attracted the best directors to produce material with the same level of care and craft as the visual it accompanied, working in perfect partnership. That’s formed the core of what we do, and some of the best memories of the family. Whether it’s as part of a long night crafting a piece to perfection, or helping bring another armful of awards home from another unforgettable Cannes, we’re honoured to have shared the journey with many friends along the way.

Our team today all embrace the same values and are committed to the journey of working with the best creative talent to produce beautifully crafted music and sound.