A marriage made in Heavenly.

One of the UK's most respected and quietly innovative small labels will celebrate its 18th birthday this weekend with a series of live shows culminating in a performance by the Manic Street Preachers of the six songs they recorded for Heavenly in 1991

This weekend British indie label Heavenly Recordings will mark its 18th anniversary with a hat-trick of live shows at the Southbank Centre in London under the Forever Heavenly umbrella, culminating in a one-off performance by the Manic Street Preachers that will see the band performing the six songs they recorded for the label before signing with Sony in 1991.

The event, which takes place this Friday (September 12) at the Royal Festival Hall, will see the Manics joined by Doves and Cherry Ghost and marks not just the Welsh band's last live commitment before returning to the studio to start work on their ninth album, but also a milestone for what has become one of the UK's most respected and quietly innovative small labels.

Indeed, shows over the weekend from the likes of forward-thinking singer-songwriter Beth Orton, pop futurists Saint Etienne and folk singer Jaymay demonstrate Heavenly's commercial nous, as well as its ability to think outside the music business box, something that CEO and founder Jeff Barrett says has helped it to survive in the choppy industry waters.

"It's the outsiderdom," he says. "The fact that we're not fashion followers, we don't release many records, we put out things that we genuinely love and feel an affinity with an artist."

Barrett, a former press officer for Creation Records, founded Heavenly in 1990 through a deal with Mike Chadwick at Vital.

While initially focusing the label's efforts on limited-edition seven- inch singles, it was soon releasing full albums, signing long-term deals with Saint Etienne and Buckinghamshire indie band East Village. It was also first to unearth Flowered Up and Manic Street Preachers, with the label releasing two singles from the band before they signed to Sony. Label deals with Rob Stringer at Columbia, and Deconstruction followed and the label name grew.