How I wish that somewhere there existed an island for those who are wise and of goodwill.

-ALBERT EINSTEIN

This month marks the 50th anniversary of Island Records, the extraordinary independent record label formed by Chris Blackwell in Jamaica in 1959— the year Bobby Darin's “Mack the Knife” was the biggest hit in the U.S. and the average cost of a house was $16,000. Now, at a time when the average cost of a house in the U.S. is $16,000 and when corporate record companies struggle but music—with an audience as big as the Internet—lives, it’s significant to note that one of the most musically adventurous labels of the 1960s and 70s began with a man who started with a £1,000 investment in Kingston, Jamaica, moved to London, and sold records from the back of his car. Among the artists on Island’s rich back catalogue are the Spencer Davis Group and Traffic (both featuring Steve Winwood), Nick Drake, Marianne Faithfull, Tom Waits, the B-52s,King Crimson,Cat Stevens, Grace Jones, and Roxy Music— led by Bryan Ferry and Brian Eno—whose music sounds as modern today as it did in 1972, when first recorded.

But perhaps Blackwell’s biggest contribution to the culture was bringing reggae superstars Bob Marley and the Wailers to international audiences; Blackwell also introduced such global acts as Burning Spear, Sly & Robbie, Black Uhuru, Baaba Maal, Angelique Kidjo, and Salif Keita to the mainstream. Sold by Blackwell in 1989 to what is now the Universal Music Group, Island Records is currently home to Mariah Carey, the Killers, Bon Jovi, Melissa Etheridge, Fall Out Boy, PJ Harvey (whose new CD with John Parish is A Woman a Man Walked By), and Lionel Richie (his new one is Just Go). Starting this month, Island celebrates its 50th with a week-long festival of live shows by Island artists past and present (proceeds benefit Amnesty International), the prerequisite CD reissues, digital compilations, books, movie festivals {The Harder They Come, Bob Marley Live at the Lyceum), and traveling photo exhibitions. (For more info: island50.com.)

And while they’re no longer on Island, a little Irish rock band couldn’t get anyone to sign them until Blackwell gave them a deal in 1980. U2, whose new CD is the sonically ambitious No Line onthe Horizon, took their music all the way from the garage to the White House, from the punk clubs of Dublin to the Palm Springs compound of Frank Sinatra.

When you’ve loved and lost the way Frank has, then you know what life’s about.