Mone, the founder of the Ultimo lingerie brand, which is worn by supermodels and Hollywood stars, has agreed to invest in a new Glasgow-based company called Them and Us.
It is the brainchild of McLaughlin, the Scots songwriter who formed Busted and penned lyrics for Westlife and Blue. The venture aims to take advantage of a revival in the Scottish music industry and to challenge major labels such as BMG, Sony and Warner Brothers.
The emergence of successful bands such as Franz Ferdinand, Belle and Sebastian and the Delgados has convinced the pair that Scotland again has a thriving music scene for the first time since the 1980s, when it produced a string of successful bands such as Simple Minds, Big Country and Deacon Blue.
The new label is expected to create hundreds of jobs and a new wave of teen millionaires north of the border.
Mone has agreed to help support the venture financially and will design exclusive lines of lingerie and swimwear for video shoots and album sleeves.
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Chris Gorman, chief executive of the Gadget Shop, has also invested tens of thousands of pounds in helping the new label to market its acts.
“John is a highly respected individual; he’s written a lot of big hits for a number of well-known bands and he’s a fellow Scot,” said Mone. “He’s also a friend, and I’m helping him out as much as I can to raise the profile of new artists.
“It’s John’s business. He’s the expert, but I’ll be lending support with contacts and in areas such as marketing and PR.
“If it works then we’ll look at other joint marketing initiatives. To me the music industry is one of the toughest to be in, but John is one of the kindest guys I know.”
McLaughlin, who expects to have about 10 new acts signed by next January, has more than 30 songs ready to record. They were co-written with Lamont Dozier — the Motown songwriter who worked with the Supremes, the Four Tops and Martha and the Vandellas — when they shared a flat in Los Angeles three years ago.
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McLaughlin has already signed up a handful of home-grown acts such as Acoustic Love Experience, an all-female Glaswegian group who release their first single, Painted Pony, on July 19.
Other acts include Hyper Psycho, a four-piece ska punk band who finished recording their album in Glasgow last month, and Michelle Lawson, an emerging soul singer who released her first single last year.
New groups will record at the Eldon Street studios in the city’s west end, where artists such as Shane MacGowan, Matt Goss and Ian McCulloch — frontman with Echo and the Bunnymen — have recorded.
McLaughlin has signed a deal with Birthdays, the greeting cards retail chain, to sell CDs in their 500 nationwide stores. High-street fashion outlets such as Topshop and H&M have also agreed to screen his music videos in-store.
“There are more exciting things coming out of Glasgow now than in London — I really believe that,” said McLaughlin. “The city has a great vibe, and I always intended to come back home and give people that little extra help, which I never really had when I started out. We’ve made about 30 kids millionaires in England, and now I want to do the same in Scotland.
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“The mission is to use new marketing strategies and tactics to challenge the leading labels in London and establish a major recording industry in Scotland. You’ve only got to look at how many jobs are created by the music industry and how much money is generated to appreciate the benefits.”