BUSINESS Angel Frank Shapiro has invested a ``substantial sum'' of money to launch Boy Band, 911 into the pop charts.

Scots promoter Stevie Gilmour who manages the band was desperately trying to interest London record labels in the band when he was introduced to Frank Shapiro who had recently sold his Remocker Shapiro chain of 11 optician stores to Optical Express.

Catalyst in the business deal was accountant Walter Hecht, of Kidson Impey, whose clients include Wet, Wet, Wet, who met Gilmour at a pop event.

Gilmour had already established a 911 fan club of more than 5000 teenagers, even although the band had never cut a disc. However, he told Walter Hecht that he needed financial backing to produce a record.

Hecht knew of Frank Shapiro through the Mercantile 100 Business Angels database and arranged a meeting between the pop promoter and successful businessman.

Following the meeting Frank Shapiro agreed to invest in Backlash Promotions and with Gilmour formed a new record label Ginga.

At the end of April, less than six months after the two had met, 911 issued their first single Night to Remember on the Ginga label. The record reached number nine in the Scottish charts and went to 38 in the UK charts.

Speaking about his entry into the cut throat pop business, and the difference between launching a record label and opening another High Street opticians, Frank Shapiro said: ``Running a business is running a business. Any business needs good cash flow and good planning which is what we are doing at Backlash and Ginga.''

Following the success of A Night to Remember, 911 is to release a second single in late July, and it now has a 15,000 fan base.

Although the three members of the band, Lee Brennan, Spike Dawbarn, and Jimmy Constable are all English, the band is based at Backlash's headquarters in Gordon Street, Glasgow.

Walter Hecht claimed this as a success for the Scottish Entertainment Alliance which he was instrumental in forming last year in a bid to develop an effective music and entertainment industry north of the border.

``This is a good example of how bands do not necessarily have to look to London. We have put Scottish pop management together with Scottish finance, and the result is a Scottish pop record label which has succeeded in breaking into the charts with its fir st single.''

Ginga, which was the nickname Stevie Gilmour was given while growing up in Easterhouse, is now studying tapes sent to them by other bands.

``If the right band comes along, and we think we can work with them and can do something for them then we would sign them up on the Ginga label,'' said Frank Shapiro.