MGM-British Studios Meanwhile, Amalgamated Studios Ltd constructed a large studio on the north side of Elstree Way between 1935 and 1937. A January 1937 deal for eight films to be made for the American studio Columbia Pictures soon collapsed. The company was unable to meet the cost of building work, and sold the facility to the Rank Organisation, which was not interested in using the studios itself, but wanted to stop John Maxwell's rival British International Pictures (BIP) from being able to compete more effectively with its own new Pinewood Studios. During the war, the studios were leased from Rank by the
Cherokee Studios location, and an additional three studios at a satellite location acquired on Beverly Drive (formerly Lion Share/ABC Dunhill Records). The Robb family lived in Chatsworth with Del Shannon as a neighbor. The three brothers had a struggling band called "The Robbs". After a while their father, Dave, told them that if they did not get any more gigs they would have to get real jobs. When Shannon heard this he told them they should open a recording studio in their barn and loaned them money for the board. After logging time in countless studios across the country as a band,