White label auction: Frankie Goes To Hollywood album fetches £3,500

Frankie Goes To Hollywood's debut album in 1984 reportedly about 250,000 copies in its first week

A signed rare copy of Frankie Goes To Hollywood's classic debut album Welcome to the Pleasuredome has been sold at a charity auction for £3,500.

The test pressing of the Liverpool band's 1984 debut was one of 231 lots sold for more than £50,000 in the white label auction in aid of the BRIT Trust.

The Cure's 10 albums including Kiss Me, Kiss Me, Kiss Me and Pornography - signed by front man Robert Smith - realised £12,350 for the music charity.

The annual auction has raised £150,000.

Frankie Goes To Hollywood recently reunited for the first time in 36 years to play at a concert marking the Eurovision Song Contest being hosted in Liverpool.

The white label auction - featuring test pressings and records that were typically used for promotions - was first held in 2019.

Since then, money raised has helped promote education and wellbeing through music and the creative arts.

'Blown away'

Causes supported include the BRIT School and Nordoff and Robbins, which provides music therapy.

Dozens more LPs each fetched hundreds of pounds, including classics and more recent releases by New Order, Paul Weller, Neneh Cherry, The Jam, Louis Tomlinson, Marianne Faithfull, Motorhead, Mark Knopfler, The Charlatans, Jamie T, Sandie Shaw (with The Smiths), The Who, Beth Gibbons, Underworld, Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark, Derek & The Dominoes, The Sex Pistols and The Verve.

The auction was hosted by Omega Auctions in Newton-Le-Willows.

Johnny Chandler, director at Universal Music Recordings, who founded the white label auction, said it was a "brilliant total for The BRIT Trust".

Tony Wadsworth CBE, chair of The BRIT Trust, said he was "blown away" by the incredible sum.

He said: "It will help to make a real difference to the many causes and the great work that we support around the country to transform lives through the power of music and the creative arts."

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