Congress Records

Last updated

Congress Records was an American record label founded in 1962 by Neil Galligan, who headed Canadian-American Records and brought with him Linda Scott from that label. [1] The label was sold the following year to Kapp Records. Under Kapp, the most successful artist was Shirley Ellis. Kapp rendered Congress inactive in 1966. Kapp, including the Congress catalogue, was sold to MCA in 1967. MCA reactivated Congress in 1969. [2] The most successful act for this incarnation of Congress was the Flying Machine. Another notable act on Congress was Elton John but after a couple of unsuccessful singles on Congress, the label was discontinued in 1970 with Congress acts transferred to other MCA labels. Elton John was transferred to Uni Records where he started having hits.

Related Research Articles

Geffen Records is an American record label established by David Geffen and owned by Universal Music Group through its Interscope Geffen A&M Records imprint.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Decca Records</span> British record label

Decca Records is a British record label established in 1929 by Edward Lewis. Its U.S. label was established in late 1934 by Lewis, Jack Kapp, American Decca's first president, and Milton Rackmil, who later became American Decca's president. In 1937, anticipating Nazi aggression leading to World War II, Lewis sold American Decca and the link between the U.K. and U.S. Decca labels was broken for several decades. The British label was renowned for its development of recording methods, while the American company developed the concept of cast albums in the musical genre.

MCA Inc. (originally an initialism for Music Corporation of America) was an American media conglomerate founded in 1924. Originally a talent agency with artists in the music business as clients, the company became a major force in the film industry, and later expanded into television production. MCA published music, booked acts, ran a record company, represented film, television, and radio stars, and eventually produced and sold television programs to the three major television networks, especially NBC.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">MCA Records</span> American record label owned by MCA Inc.

MCA Records was an American record label owned by MCA Inc., which later became part of Universal Music Group.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Brunswick Records</span> US record label

Brunswick Records is an American record label founded in 1916.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Coral Records</span> American record company

Coral Records was a subsidiary of Decca Records that was formed in 1949. Coral released music by Patsy Cline, Buddy Holly, the McGuire Sisters and Teresa Brewer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pye Records</span> British record label

Pye Records was a British record label. Its best known artists were Lonnie Donegan (1956–1969), Petula Clark (1957–1971), the Searchers (1963–1967), the Kinks (1964–1971), Sandie Shaw (1964–1971), Status Quo (1968–1971) and Brotherhood of Man (1975–1979). The label changed its name to PRT Records in 1980, before being briefly reactivated as Pye Records in 2006.

BluesWay Records was an American subsidiary label of ABC-Paramount Records, begun by Bob Thiele in 1966. Artists such as John Lee Hooker, Jimmy Reed, Jimmy Rushing, Otis Spann, and T-Bone Walker were among those who signed for the label. BluesWay released B. B. King's 1969 Live and Well and Completely Well albums, the latter containing his hit "The Thrill is Gone". The label also released the James Gang's first album, 1969's Yer' Album.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Uni Records</span> Defunct American record label

Uni Records was a record label owned by MCA Inc. The brand, which long featured a distinctive UNi logo, was established in 1966 by MCA executive Ned Tanen and developed by music industry veteran Russ Regan. Notable artists on Uni included Strawberry Alarm Clock, the Foundations, Hugh Masekela, Brian Hyland, Desmond Dekker, Bill Cosby, Elton John, Neil Diamond, Dave and Ansil Collins, Fever Tree, Olivia Newton-John, Betty Everett, and the Factory. In 1967, Uni took over management of MCA's newly acquired Kapp Records. Uni also operated Revue Records, a soul music subsidiary, from about 1967 to 1970. In 1971 Uni was merged with Kapp and the co-owned American Decca Records, to form MCA Records. The Decca, Kapp, and Uni labels continued to be used for new releases for a short time, but in late 1972, new releases by their former artists began appearing on the MCA Records label; before long, their back catalogs were transferred to MCA as well. That year, Regan left MCA to revive 20th Century Records for 20th Century Fox.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">DJM Records</span> Defunct British record label

DJM Records was the British independent record label, set up in the late 1960s by British music publisher Dick James. It was distributed by Pye Records in the UK, and various other companies around the world, including the US.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kapp Records</span> American record label

Kapp Records was an independent record label started in 1954 by David Kapp, brother of Jack Kapp. David Kapp founded his own label after stints with Decca and RCA Victor. Kapp licensed its records to London Records for release in the UK.

<i>Elton Johns Greatest Hits Vol. 3</i> 1987 greatest hits album by Elton John

Elton John's Greatest Hits Volume III is the twenty-seventh album released by English musician Elton John. Released in 1987, 10 years after Elton John's Greatest Hits Volume II, the compilation album features his greatest hits from 1979 to 1986 and was made available only in the United States and Canada. All of the songs featured had previously been released on a previous album.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Universal Music Group Nashville</span> US record company; Universal Music Groups country music subsidiary

Universal Music Group Nashville is Universal Music Group's country music subsidiary. Some of the labels in this group include MCA Nashville Records, Mercury Nashville Records, Lost Highway Records, Capitol Records Nashville and EMI Records Nashville. UMG Nashville not only handles these imprints, but also manages the country music catalogues of record labels Universal Music and predecessor companies acquired over the years including ABC Records, Decca Records, Dot Records, DreamWorks Records, Kapp Records, MGM Records and Polydor Records.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Crocodile Rock</span> 1972 single by Elton John

"Crocodile Rock" is a song written by Elton John and Bernie Taupin, and recorded in summer 1972 at the Château d'Hérouville studio in France, where John and his team had previously recorded the Honky Château album. It was released on 27 October 1972 in the UK and 20 November 1972 in the U.S., as a pre-release single from his forthcoming 1973 album Don't Shoot Me I'm Only the Piano Player, and became his first U.S. number-one single, reaching the top spot on 3 February 1973, and staying there for three weeks. In the U.S., it was certified Gold on 5 February 1973 and Platinum on 13 September 1995 by the RIAA.

<i>Greatest Hits 1976–1986</i> 1992 greatest hits album by Elton John

Greatest Hits 1976–1986 is a collection of hits by Elton John released in the United States only by MCA Records in 1992. It replaced an earlier compilation, Geffen's 1987 release Elton John's Greatest Hits Vol. 3. This was necessitated because of a shift in the control of copyrights and a resulting reshuffling of compilation albums.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lady Samantha</span> 1969 single by Elton John

"Lady Samantha" is a song by English musician Elton John with lyrics by Bernie Taupin. It was released on 17 January 1969 as his second single, six months before his first album, Empty Sky, came out. It appeared on its 1995 reissue as a bonus track.

<i>Merry Christmas</i> (Bing Crosby album) 1945 compilation album by Bing Crosby

Merry Christmas is a compilation album by Bing Crosby that was released in 1945 on Decca Records. It has remained in print through the vinyl, CD, and downloadable file eras, currently as the disc and digital album White Christmas on MCA Records, a part of the Universal Music Group, and currently on vinyl as Merry Christmas on Geffen Records. It includes Crosby's signature song "White Christmas", the best-selling single of all time with estimated sales of over 50 million copies worldwide. The album was certified 4× Platinum by RIAA for selling over 4 million copies in United States. The original 1945 release and subsequent re-releases and re-packages spent a total of 39 weeks at no. 1 on the Billboard pop albums chart.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Rocket Record Company</span> British record label

The Rocket Record Company was a record label founded by Elton John, along with Bernie Taupin, Gus Dudgeon, Steve Brown and others, in 1973. The company was named after the hit song "Rocket Man". The label was originally distributed in the UK by Island and in the US by MCA Records, both of which Elton John was also signed to.

<i>Hit Maker!: Burt Bacharach Plays the Burt Bacharach Hits</i> 1965 studio album by Burt Bacharach

Hit Maker!: Burt Bacharach Plays the Burt Bacharach Hits is the debut album by American composer Burt Bacharach. The album was recorded in London, with uncredited vocals by the Breakaways, and the musicians included Jimmy Page, John Paul Jones, Big Jim Sullivan, and members of the Ted Heath band.

<i>Hello, Dolly!</i> (Louis Armstrong album) 1964 studio album by Louis Armstrong and His All Stars

Hello Dolly! is a jazz album by Louis Armstrong and His All Stars, which at the time included Joe Darensbourg, Billy Kyle, Big Chief Russell Moore, Arvell Shaw, Danny Barcelona and Trummy Young. The tracks were mostly recorded on December 3, 1963, and April 18, 1964, in New York City. It was released by Kapp Records in 1964 and became Armstrong's most commercially successful album.

References

  1. "Congress Album Discography". Bsnpubs.com. Retrieved 2014-06-02.
  2. "45 discography for Congress Records". Globaldogproductions.info. Retrieved 2014-06-02.