Fontana Records
Encyclopedia
Fontana Records is a record label
Record label
In the music industry, a record label is a brand and a trademark associated with the marketing of music recordings and music videos. Most commonly, a record label is the company that manages such brands and trademarks, coordinates the production, manufacture, distribution, marketing and promotion,...

 which was started in the 1950s as a subsidiary of the Dutch Philips Records
Philips Records
Philips Records is a record label that was founded by Dutch electronics company Philips. It was started by "Philips Phonographische Industrie" in 1950. Recordings were made with popular artists of various nationalities and also with classical artists from Germany, France and Holland. Philips also...

; when Philips
Philips
Koninklijke Philips Electronics N.V. , more commonly known as Philips, is a multinational Dutch electronics company....

 restructured its music operations it dropped Fontana in favor of Vertigo Records
Vertigo Records
Vertigo Records today is a UK-based record label operated by Universal Music UK.-History:Vertigo Records was the name Philips Records chose in the late 1960s for its record sub-label to counter the progressive labels of its rivals EMI with Harvest Records and Decca Records with Deram...

. In the seventies PolyGram
PolyGram
PolyGram was the name of the major label recording company started by Philips from as a holding company for its music interests in 1945. In 1999 it was sold to Seagram and merged into Universal Music Group.-Hollandsche Decca Distributie , 1929-1950:...

 acquired the dormant label.

The name has also been revived as independent label distibutor Fontana Distribution
Fontana Distribution
Fontana Distribution is a subsidiary of Universal Music Group that was launched in 2004, which deals in distribution, as well as in a range of sales, marketing, and back office support services, for a diverse roster of independent record labels and their artists. The company takes its name and logo...

.

Fontana's U.S. counterpart label was started in 1964 and distributed by Philips
Philips
Koninklijke Philips Electronics N.V. , more commonly known as Philips, is a multinational Dutch electronics company....

 US subisidaiary Mercury Records
Mercury Records
Mercury Records is a record label operating as a standalone company in the UK and as part of the Island Def Jam Motown Music Group in the US; both are subsidiaries of Universal Music Group. There is also a Mercury Records in Australia, which is a local artist and repertoire division of Universal...

. Among the hitmakers were: Wayne Fontana & the Mindbenders, The Mindbenders
The Mindbenders
The Mindbenders was a 1960s beat group from Manchester, England. They were part of the mid 1960s British Invasion with their chart-toppers "Game of Love" and "A Groovy Kind of Love"....

, The Troggs
The Troggs
The Troggs are an English rock band from the 1960s that had a number of hits in UK and the US. Their most famous songs include, "Wild Thing", "With a Girl Like You", and "Love Is All Around"...

, The New Vaudeville Band
The New Vaudeville Band
The New Vaudeville Band was a group created by songwriter Geoff Stephens in 1966 to record his novelty composition "Winchester Cathedral", a song inspired by the dance bands of the 1920s and a Rudy Vallee megaphone style vocal...

 and Steam
Steam (band)
Steam was a pop-rock music group best known for the 1969 number one hit song and perennial favorite "Na Na Hey Hey Kiss Him Goodbye." The song was written and recorded by studio musicians Garrett DeCarlo, Dale Frashuer, and producer/writer Paul Leka at Mercury Records studios in New York City...

, all of whom had #1 hits on the label. Other successful Fontana artists included The Silkie
The Silkie
The Silkie were an English folk music group. Their name derived from an Orcadian song The Great Silkie of Sule Skerry, which they sometimes performed...

, Nana Mouskouri
Nana Mouskouri
Nana Mouskouri , born Ioánna Moúschouri on October 13, 1934, in Chania, Crete, Greece, is a Greek singer who has sold about 300 million records worldwide in a career spanning over five decades, making her one of the best-selling music artists of all time. She was known as Nána to her friends and...

 and the duo of Jane Birkin
Jane Birkin
Jane Mallory Birkin, OBE is an English-born actress and singer who lives in France. In recent years she has written her own album, directed a film and become an outspoken proponent of democracy in Burma.- Early life :...

 & Serge Gainsbourg
Serge Gainsbourg
Serge Gainsbourg, born Lucien Ginsburg was a French singer-songwriter, actor and director. Gainsbourg's extremely varied musical style and individuality make him difficult to categorize...

. Mercury discontinued this label (and one other subsidiary, Smash Records
Smash Records
Smash Records is an American record label. It was founded in 1961 as a subsidiary of Mercury Records by Mercury executive Shelby Singleton and run by Singleton with Charlie Fach. Fach took over after Singleton left Mercury in 1966...

) in 1970.

Fontana's British division was the UK licensee for Motown Records
Motown Records
Motown is a record label originally founded by Berry Gordy, Jr. and incorporated as Motown Record Corporation in Detroit, Michigan, United States, on April 14, 1960. The name, a portmanteau of motor and town, is also a nickname for Detroit...

 (in 1961), Vanguard Records
Vanguard Records
Vanguard Records is a record label set up in 1950 by brothers Maynard and Seymour Solomon in New York. It started as a classical label, but is perhaps best known for its catalogue of recordings by a number of pivotal folk and blues artists from the 1960s; the Bach Guild was a subsidiary...

 (until 1967), Mainstream Records
Mainstream Records
Mainstream Records was an American record label, which released jazz, rock music, and soundtracks during the 1970s.It was founded in 1964 by Bob Shad, and in its early history reissued material from Commodore Records and Time Records in addition to some new jazz material...

 and ESP-Disk
ESP-Disk
ESP-Disk is a New York-based record label, founded in 1964 by lawyer Bernard Stollman.From the beginning, the label's goal has been to provide its recording artists with complete artistic freedom, unimpeded by any record company interference or commercial expectations—a philosophy summed-up by the...

. As with Philips, labels were blue for singles, black for EPs and LPs.

In the UK and Europe, the Fontana label was largely dormant after 1974, although in 1980-81 it was used for releases by Sector 27
Tom Robinson
Tom Robinson is an English singer-songwriter, bassist and radio presenter, better known for the hits "Glad to Be Gay", "2-4-6-8 Motorway", and "Don't Take No for an Answer", with his Tom Robinson Band...

 and Dennis Bovell
Dennis Bovell
Dennis Bovell is a reggae guitarist, bass player and record producer. He was a member of the British reggae band Matumbi, and released dub-reggae records under his own name as well as the pseudonym 'Blackbeard'....

. Fontana was revived in the late 1980s as an outlet for acts such as Tears for Fears
Tears for Fears
Tears for Fears are an English new wave band formed in the early 1980s by Roland Orzabal and Curt Smith.Founded after the dissolution of their first band, the mod-influenced Graduate, they were initially associated with the New Wave synthesiser bands of the early 1980s but later branched out into...

, The Teardrop Explodes
The Teardrop Explodes
The Teardrop Explodes were an English post-punk/neo-psychedelic band formed in Liverpool in 1978. Best known for their Top Ten UK single "Reward" the group originated as a key band in the emerging Liverpool post-punk scene of the late 1970s, the group also launched the career of group frontman...

, Cocteau Twins
Cocteau Twins
Cocteau Twins were a Scottish alternative rock band active from 1979 to 1997, known for innovative instrumentation and atmospheric, non-lyrical vocals...

 and Swing Out Sister
Swing Out Sister
Swing Out Sister are a British "sophisti-pop" group best known worldwide for their 1986 song "Breakout". Other hits include "Surrender", "Twilight World", "Waiting Game" and a remake of "Am I the Same Girl?" Though album sales in the U.S. and Europe have levelled off since the early 1990s, the...

, and was active in the 1990s, releasing music for acts such as Gorky's Zygotic Mynci
Gorky's Zygotic Mynci
Gorky's Zygotic Mynci were a Welsh alternative rock band, formed in Carmarthen, west Wales in 1991. They sang songs in both Welsh and English. They split up in May 2006.-Biography:...

, Ocean Colour Scene
Ocean Colour Scene
Ocean Colour Scene are an English Britpop band formed in Moseley, Birmingham in 1989. They have had five Top 10 albums and six Top 10 singles to date.-Early days :...

 and James
James (band)
James are a British rock band from Manchester, England. They formed in 1982 and were active throughout the 1980s, but most successful during the 1990s. Their hit singles include "Come Home", "Sit Down", and "She's a Star" as well as their American College Radio hit "Laid"...

. It is currently an active division of Universal Music Group
Universal Music Group
Universal Music Group is an American music group, the largest of the "big four" record companies by its commanding market share and its multitude of global operations...

 as Fontana Distribution, using the same logo.

The label's only artist as of August 2009 is Brooke Hogan
Brooke Hogan
Brooke Ellen Bollea , better known by her stage name Brooke Hogan, is an American singer, actress, model, socialite, and television personality, and the oldest child of professional wrestler Hulk Hogan . She appeared on the reality-television series Hogan Knows Best, which focused on her family,...

.

US Label variations

  • 1964—Pink label
  • 1965-1970—Light blue or slightly darker-toned blue label (some of these labels were stamped with an "S")
  • 1980s—Black and silver label

External links

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