3 Abbey Road, NW6
The house at No. 3 Abbey Road was purchased by EMI in 1929 and transformed into the first custom-built recording studio complex in the world. The studios were inaugurated in November 1931 with a recording of Edward Elgar’s ‘Land of Hope and Glory’ played by the London Symphony Orchestra.
Artists to have made recordings in the studios include Yehudi Menuhin, Thomas Beecham, Janet Baker, Elizabeth Schwartzkopf, Glenn Miller, George Formby, Max Bygraves, Shirley Bassey, Cliff Richard and, most famously, the Beatles, who recorded most of their hit singles here.
Previously known merely as the EMI Studios, they were renamed Abbey Road Studios following the release and success of the Beatles’ album Abbey Road in 1969. Since the 1980s the studios have also been used for recording film scores, including those for Raiders of the Lost Ark, The Lord of the Rings trilogy and the Harry Potter films.
Excerpted from The London Encyclopaedia by kind permission of the Publishers, Pan MacMillan.
See also:
Abbey Road
