Parlophone Records Limited is a German–British record label founded in Germany in 1896 by the Carl Lindström Company as Parlophon. The British branch of the label was founded on 8 August 1923 as the Parlophone Company Limited, which developed a reputation in the 1920s as a jazz record label. On 5 October 1926, the Columbia Graphophone Company acquired Parlophone's business, name, logo, and release library, and merged with the Gramophone Company on 31 March 1931 to become Electric & Musical Industries Limited (EMI). George Martin joined Parlophone in 1950 as assistant label manager, taking over as manager in 1955. Martin produced and released a mix of recordings, including by comedian Peter Sellers, pianist Mrs Mills, and teen idol Adam Faith.
Decca Records is a British record label established in 1929 by Edward Lewis. Its U.S. label was established in late 1934 by Lewis, along with American Decca's first president Jack Kapp and later American Decca president Milton Rackmil. In 1937, anticipating Nazi aggression leading to World War II, Lewis sold American Decca and the link between the UK 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. Both wings are now part of the Universal Music Group, which is co-owned by Vivendi, a media conglomerate headquartered in Paris, and Tencent, a Chinese tech company. The US Decca label was the foundation company that evolved into UMG.
Columbia Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America, the North American division of Japanese conglomerate Sony. It was founded on January 15, 1889, evolving from the American Graphophone Company, the successor to the Volta Graphophone Company. Columbia is the oldest surviving brand name in the recorded sound business, and the second major company to produce records. From 1961 to 1990, Columbia recordings were released outside North America under the name CBS Records to avoid confusion with EMI's Columbia Graphophone Company. Columbia is one of Sony Music's four flagship record labels, alongside former longtime rival RCA Records, as well as Arista Records and Epic Records.
Dot Records was an American record label founded by Randy Wood that was active between 1950 and 1979. The label was reactivated in 2014 through a joint venture between Big Machine Label Group and the Republic Records unit of Universal Music Group. Based in Nashville, Tennessee, the label was retired in 2017.
PolyGram N.V. was an entertainment company and major music record label formerly based in the Netherlands. It was founded in 1962 as the Grammophon-Philips Group by Dutch corporation Philips and German corporation Siemens, to be a holding for their record companies, and was renamed "PolyGram" in 1972. The name was chosen to reflect the Siemens interest Polydor Records and the Philips interest Phonogram Records. The company traced its origins through Deutsche Grammophon back to the inventor of the flat disc gramophone, Emil Berliner.
Fantasy Records is an American independent record label company founded by brothers Max and Sol Weiss in 1949. The early years of the company were dedicated to issuing recordings by jazz pianist Dave Brubeck, who was also one of its investors, but the label is known more for its recordings of comedian Lenny Bruce, jazz pianist Vince Guaraldi, and the 1960s rock band Creedence Clearwater Revival.
Alfred Lion, was an American record executive who co-founded Blue Note Records in 1939. Blue Note recorded many of the biggest names in jazz throughout the 1940s, 1950s, and 1960s.
The Jordanaires were an American vocal quartet that formed as a gospel group in 1948. Over the years, they have recorded both sacred and secular music as a solo act for various record companies, including Capitol Records, RCA Victor Records, Columbia Records, Decca Records, Vocalion Records, Stop Records, and many other smaller independent labels.
The Bihari brothers, Lester, Jules, Saul and Joe, were American businessmen of Hungarian Jewish origins. They were the founders of Modern Records in Los Angeles and its subsidiaries, such as Meteor Records, based in Memphis. The Bihari brothers were significant figures in the process that transformed rhythm and blues into rock and roll, which appealed to white audiences in the 1950s.
Hit Records was a record company based in Nashville, Tennessee, which specialized in sound-alike cover versions of hit records. These types of releases are often categorized as exploito.
Harold W. Daily, better known as "Pappy" Daily, was an American country music record producer and entrepreneur who cofounded the Texas-based record label Starday Records. Daily worked with many of the well-known artists in country music during the 1950s and 1960s, especially George Jones, who looked upon him as a father figure and as a business advisor. Other artists with whom Daily worked include Melba Montgomery, J. P. Richardson, and Roger Miller.
Jugodisk was a record label was established in 1968, in the then Socialist Republic of Serbia in SFR Yugoslavia in Belgrade, today Serbia. Before 1981 known as Beograd Disk. In 2003, the company was sold at a state auction to the show business manager Nenad Kapor and since then it operates as Jugodisk A.D. to this day.
My Song is an album by jazz musician Keith Jarrett recorded in November 1977 and released by ECM Records in June 1978. After Belonging (1974) this would be the second studio album by Jarrett's 'European Quartet' featuring Jan Garbarek, Palle Danielsson and Jon Christensen.
Mysteries is an album by jazz pianist Keith Jarrett recorded in two sessions in December 1975. Originally released by Impulse! in 1976, it features performances by Jarrett's 'American Quartet', which include Dewey Redman, Charlie Haden and Paul Motian along with Guilherme Franco added on percussion. The December 1975 Mysteries sessions also produced the album Shades.
Edward Frank Albert was an Australian early pioneer independent record production and founder of Albert Productions. In recognition of his contribution to the music industry, the Australasian Performing Right Association established the annual "Ted Albert Award for Outstanding Services to Australian Music".
Arthur Adams is an American blues guitarist from Medon, Tennessee. Inspired by B.B. King and other 1950s artists, he played gospel music before attending college. He moved to Los Angeles, and during the 1960s and 1970s he released solo albums and worked as a session musician. In 1985 he was tapped to tour on bass guitar with Nina Simone, and he staged a comeback in the 1990s when he released Back on Track, and became a respected Chicago blues player and bandleader in B.B. King's clubs.
Theodore Roosevelt "Ted" Jarrett Jr. was an American singer-songwriter and producer of country, gospel, and soul music.
Dennis Lotis is a South African-born British singer, actor, and entertainer, whose popularity was greatest in the 1950s. He was described as having "a sophisticated style that was particularly attractive to the young female population".
Lawrence E. Birdsong was an American R&B singer who recorded between the 1950s and 1970s. His biggest hit was "Pleadin' For Love", which reached the Billboard R&B chart in 1956.
Champion Records was a record label started in the mid-1950s by the songwriter and record producer Ted Jarrett, in partnership with Alan and Reynolds Bubis. This Nashville, Tennessee-based label released records by Christine Kittrell, Gene Allison, the Fairfield Four, Earl Gaines, Larry Birdsong, Shy Guy Douglas, Jimmy Beck and Charles Walker, amongst others. Beck released a record on Champion entitled "Pipe Dreams" and another, called "Carnival" on the Zil label. Champion was out of business by 1960, and other Jarrett labels such as Valdot, Poncello, Spar and Ref-O-Ree followed. All of these companies were acquired by Bluesland Productions in the mid-1990s.
