GTO Records

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GTO Records
GTO Record label.png
Parent company CBS Records (from 1978)
Founded1974
Genre Pop, Rock, Disco, Hi-NRG
Country of origin United Kingdom

GTO Records was a British record label which released many hits during the 1970s. It ran from 1974 to 1981 and mainly concentrated on pop music and disco. The acronym represented the Gem Toby Organization.

Contents

Background

The record label was co-founded by Bell Records UK's Dick Leahy [1] and Gem Records's Laurence Myers in 1974, after Myers had set up GTO Films and Arcade Records in the period between 1972 to 1974. [2] The first GTO release - on 4 July 1974 - was the single "Up in a Puff of Smoke" by Polly Brown, and the label's focus would remain on pop and disco acts such as Billy Ocean, The Dooleys and Heatwave, and released Donna Summer's albums in the UK, all of which proved to be successful. Lulu also briefly recorded for the label. The biggest hit released by the label was Donna Summer's "I Feel Love", which reached No.1 in 1977.

In 1978, the label was sold to CBS Records after achieving a high level of hits for a new label. From this time, the Donna Summer records moved to Casablanca Records, while the hits for other acts began to dry up over the next two years. [3] The label was wrapped up in late 1981 when its roster of acts were either dropped or moved on to Epic Records - also owned by CBS. Prior to the sale and transfer of artists, Epic distributed many of GTO albums, namely Heatwave's output.

The GTO back catalogue is currently owned by Sony Music. [4]

Hit singles

Top 40 singles

Hit albums

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<i>Dooleys</i> (album) 1978 studio album by The Dooleys

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Derek Joseph Patrick Leahy was a British music industry executive. Leahy first came to prominence as A&R manager at Philips Records in the late 1960s. He managed the Bell Records label in the early 1970s, which had a string of hits in the U.K. He formed the equally successful label GTO Records in 1974 before moving into music publishing in the 1980s, notably working with Wham! and George Michael.

References

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  2. Laurence Myers. "Lawrence Myers Biography" . Retrieved 1 March 2009.
  3. Discogs. "GTO Discography" . Retrieved 12 November 2008.
  4. Rate Your Music. "GTO Records". Archived from the original on 13 July 2012. Retrieved 5 January 2009.
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