United Artists Records
Encyclopedia
United Artists Records was a record label
founded by Max E. Youngstein
of United Artists
in 1957 initially to distribute records of its movie soundtrack
s, though it soon branched out into recording music of a number of different genres.
In 1959, United Artists released Forest of the Amazons, a cantata by Brazilian composer Heitor Villa-Lobos
adapted from the music he composed for MGM's Green Mansions
, with the composer conducting the Symphony of the Air. Brazilian soprano Bidu Sayao
was the featured soloist on the unusual recording, which was released on both LP
and reel-to-reel tape.
Besides the movie soundtracks and the few classical releases, UA had quite a few rock 'n roll and r&b hits from 1959 (and into the 1960s) with hits by The Clovers
, Marv Johnson
, The Falcons
, The Exciters
, Patty Duke
, Bobby Goldsboro
, and later Manfred Mann
and The Easybeats
.
s from the James Bond
movies and A Hard Day's Night
were very popular United Artists releases in the 1960s. United Artists released many other movie soundtrack albums, including those of It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World
and The Greatest Story Ever Told
, and of the film versions of the musicals A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum
, Fiddler on the Roof
and Man of La Mancha
. However, the movie soundtrack album of United Artists' most critically acclaimed and financially successful film musical, West Side Story
, was released by Columbia Records
, which had also released the Broadway
cast album (Leonard Bernstein
, who wrote the music for West Side Story, was a Columbia recording artist). Many of these soundtracks have reverted back to Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
, whose MGM Music
unit (no connection with the now-defunct MGM Records
) in turn have licensed them out to other labels for reissue; first Rykodisc
, and more recently, Universal Music and EMI (the Fiddler on the Roof movie soundtrack). However, it is Sony
, which now owns Columbia Records (and now a stake in MGM as well), that has released the West Side Story original cast album and film soundtrack on CD.
In addition to soundtracks and pop output, United Artists also produced a series of children's records under the "Tale Spinners For Children
" name throughout the 1960s. These were album-length adaptations of classic fairy tales and children's stories done in an audio drama format.
United Artists also had a few subsidiary labels: Ascot Records, Musicor Records
, (United Artists was half owner of the company from 1960–1964 before selling out in 1965) Ultra Audio (an audiophile
label) and Veep Records. Unart was initially created in 1958 and was only in operation until 1959 producing some vocal group 45 singles; Unart was recreated in 1967 for budget albums.
s. Examples are The Incredible World of James Bond
an album sold by Pepsi Cola and Frito Lay of cover version
themes and original soundtrack music of the first three James Bond
films and Music From Marlboro Country, various cover versions of the theme to The Magnificent Seven
and original soundtrack music from Elmer Bernstein
's Return of the Seven
that was sold by the Marlboro (cigarette) company.
recorded his first major label albums with United Artists from 1966–1969. In 1969, United Artists merged with co-owned Liberty Records
and its subsidiary Imperial Records
.
United Artists involvement with jazz was significant. The company recruited Alan Douglas
in 1960 to run its new jazz department. The company's jazz included albums by Duke Ellington
and Art Farmer
, although there were only a few jazz titles after about 1963. Around 1966 a subsidiary jazz label Solid State
was founded, which lasted until 1969, on which recordings by the Thad Jones-Mel Lewis Orchestra
and Chick Corea
, among others, were issued. Liberty's ownership of Blue Note
resulted in Solid State's artists being transferred to the more prestigious label, and Solid State itself being wound up.
In 1961, designer and photographer Frank Gauna who worked with Alan Douglas joined the company as art director
after Candid Records
was wound up. Gauna photographed and designed a variety of album cover
s for the company.
Mainstream pop acts were signed to the label, among them being Traffic
, the Spencer Davis Group
, Peter Sarstedt
, Shirley Bassey
, and War
. The label also attempted, without success, to update the style of 1950s rock group Bill Haley & His Comets
with a 1968 single. After UA bought the small Mediarts Records
label, their roster grew to include Don McLean
, Merrilee Rush
, Paul Anka
, Chris Rea
, Dusty Springfield
, Bill Conti
, Ferrante & Teicher
, Johnny Rivers
, Ike & Tina Turner
, Gerry Rafferty
and Crystal Gayle
. Later, through a distribution deal with Don Arden
's Jet Records
, Electric Light Orchestra
was signed to UA in America. UA also distributed the otherwise-independent Grateful Dead Records
in the early-to-mid 1970s.
In England, Andrew Lauder
, who had been head of A&R at the UK branch of Liberty Records
, transferred to UA when Liberty was shut down in 1971. His signings included The Groundhogs
, Hawkwind
, Brinsley Schwarz
, Man
(all originally Liberty artists), Help Yourself
, Dr. Feelgood
, The Buzzcocks, The Stranglers
and 999
. Lauder left UA in late 1977 to help found Radar Records
.
The label's most successful artist was country artist Kenny Rogers
who signed to UA in the mid-1970s, enjoying a long string of hit singles and albums.
, which took over distribution of the label. The official name of the company was changed to Liberty/United Records, but the United Artists Records name was retained under license. The deal led to an immediate setback as the change of ownership allowed Jet Records to end its relationship with UA and switch its distribution to CBS Records
, with the Jet back catalogue transferring to CBS distribution as well. This meant that UA completely lost the Electric Light Orchestra and wound up dumping mass quantities of ELO albums into the cutout market which CBS was unable to legally stop. Unable to generate enough income to cover the loan, Liberty/United Records was sold to EMI in 1979 for $3 million and assumed liabilities of $32 million.
In 1980, EMI dropped the United Artists name and revived the Liberty label for releases by artists who had been signed to UA. This incarnation of Liberty Records operated between 1980 and about 1986, when it was deactivated and its artists assigned to other EMI labels.
Many albums from the United Artists Records catalog were reissued on Liberty during these years. Two notable exceptions were a couple of Beatles albums not previously controlled by EMI in the United States: the A Hard Day's Night soundtrack album, and Let It Be
. (Let It Be was actually released by Apple Records
in both the UK and the US but because the movie had been distributed by United Artists Pictures, in America the album was distributed by United Artists rather than EMI.) Both Beatles albums were reissued on the Capitol
label, which already controlled the rest of The Beatles' catalog.
was enlisted to revive the United Artists
movie studio in 1986, he attempted to revive the United Artists Records label as well. However, they released only one album: the soundtrack for The Karate Kid Part II, a film which Weintraub had produced for Columbia Pictures
before being hired at UA.
The United Artists catalog is controlled by Capitol Records. Capitol Records also has the rights to soundtrack albums UA Records released under license from MGM Music
.
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,...
founded by Max E. Youngstein
Max E. Youngstein
Max E. Youngstein was an American film producer who worked for United Artists, formed United Artists Music and United Artists Records then became an independent film producer.-Biography:...
of United Artists
United Artists
United Artists Corporation is an American film studio. The original studio of that name was founded in 1919 by D. W. Griffith, Charles Chaplin, Mary Pickford and Douglas Fairbanks....
in 1957 initially to distribute records of its movie soundtrack
Soundtrack
A soundtrack can be recorded music accompanying and synchronized to the images of a motion picture, book, television program or video game; a commercially released soundtrack album of music as featured in the soundtrack of a film or TV show; or the physical area of a film that contains the...
s, though it soon branched out into recording music of a number of different genres.
History
Heitor Villa-Lobos
Heitor Villa-Lobos was a Brazilian composer, described as "the single most significant creative figure in 20th-century Brazilian art music". Villa-Lobos has become the best-known and most significant Latin American composer to date. He wrote numerous orchestral, chamber, instrumental and vocal works...
adapted from the music he composed for MGM's Green Mansions
Green Mansions (film)
Green Mansions is a 1959 American romantic adventure film directed by Mel Ferrer. Based upon the 1904 novel Green Mansions by William Henry Hudson, the film starred Audrey Hepburn as Rima, a jungle girl who falls in love with a Venezuelan traveller played by Anthony Perkins. Also appearing in the...
, with the composer conducting the Symphony of the Air. Brazilian soprano Bidu Sayao
Bidu Sayão
Bidú Sayão was a Brazilian opera soprano. One of Brazil's most famous musicians, Sayão was a leading artist of the Metropolitan Opera in New York City from 1937 to 1952.-Life and career:...
was the featured soloist on the unusual recording, which was released on both LP
LP album
The LP, or long-playing microgroove record, is a format for phonograph records, an analog sound storage medium. Introduced by Columbia Records in 1948, it was soon adopted as a new standard by the entire record industry...
and reel-to-reel tape.
Besides the movie soundtracks and the few classical releases, UA had quite a few rock 'n roll and r&b hits from 1959 (and into the 1960s) with hits by The Clovers
The Clovers
-History:The group formed in 1946 at Armstrong High School in Washington, D.C., with members Harold Lucas, Billy Shelton, and Thomas Woods. John "Buddy" Bailey was added soon after, and they began calling themselves the "Four Clovers", with Bailey on lead...
, Marv Johnson
Marv Johnson
Marv Johnson was an American R&B and soul singer, most notable for performing on the first record to be issued from what became Motown.-Biography:...
, The Falcons
The Falcons
The Falcons were an American rhythm and blues vocal group, some of whose members went on to be influential in soul music.The Falcons formed in 1955 in Detroit, Michigan on the Mercury Records imprint. After personnel changes in 1956, The Falcons had hits for the Lupine Records label with the...
, The Exciters
The Exciters
The Exciters were an American pop music group of the 1960s. They were originally a girl group, although a male member was added later. The group consisted of lead singer Brenda Reid, her husband Herb Rooney, Carolyn Johnson and Lillian Walker....
, Patty Duke
Patty Duke
Anna Marie "Patty" Duke is an American actress of stage, film, and television. First becoming famous as a child star, winning an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress at age 16, and later starring in her eponymous sitcom for three years, she progressed to more mature roles upon playing Neely...
, Bobby Goldsboro
Bobby Goldsboro
Bobby Goldsboro is an American country and pop singer-songwriter. He had a string of Pop and Country hits during the 1960s and 1970s, including his signature #1 classic "Honey," which sold well over one million copies in the United States.-Early life:Goldsboro was born in Marianna, Florida...
, and later Manfred Mann
Manfred Mann
Manfred Mann was a British beat, rhythm and blues and pop band of the 1960s, named after their South African keyboardist, Manfred Mann, who later led the successful 1970s group Manfred Mann's Earth Band...
and The Easybeats
The Easybeats
The Easybeats were an Australian rock and roll band. They formed in Sydney in late 1964 and broke up at the end of 1969. They are regarded as the greatest Australian pop band of the 1960s, and were the first Australian rock and roll act to score an international pop hit with their 1966 single...
.
Expansion
The soundtrackSoundtrack
A soundtrack can be recorded music accompanying and synchronized to the images of a motion picture, book, television program or video game; a commercially released soundtrack album of music as featured in the soundtrack of a film or TV show; or the physical area of a film that contains the...
s from the James Bond
James Bond
James Bond, code name 007, is a fictional character created in 1953 by writer Ian Fleming, who featured him in twelve novels and two short story collections. There have been a six other authors who wrote authorised Bond novels or novelizations after Fleming's death in 1964: Kingsley Amis,...
movies and A Hard Day's Night
A Hard Day's Night (film)
A Hard Day's Night is a 1964 British black-and-white comedy film directed by Richard Lester and starring The Beatles—John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr—during the height of Beatlemania. It was written by Alun Owen and originally released by United Artists...
were very popular United Artists releases in the 1960s. United Artists released many other movie soundtrack albums, including those of It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World
It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World
It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World is a 1963 American comedy film produced and directed by Stanley Kramer about the madcap pursuit of $350,000 in stolen cash by a diverse and colorful group of strangers...
and The Greatest Story Ever Told
The Greatest Story Ever Told
The Greatest Story Ever Told is a 1965 American epic film produced and directed by George Stevens and distributed by United Artists. It is a retelling of the story of Jesus Christ, from the Nativity through the Resurrection. This film is notable for its large ensemble cast and for being the last...
, and of the film versions of the musicals A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum
A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum (film)
A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum is a 1966 farce musical comedy film, based on the stage musical.Inspired by the farces of the ancient Roman playwright Plautus – specifically Pseudolus, Miles Gloriosus and Mostellaria – it tells the bawdy story of a slave named Pseudolus...
, Fiddler on the Roof
Fiddler on the Roof (film)
Fiddler on the Roof is the 1971 film adaptation of the 1964 Broadway musical of the same name, with music composed by Jerry Bock, lyrics by Sheldon Harnick, and book by Joseph Stein, set in Tsarist Russia in 1905, about Tevye and his Daughters. It was directed by Norman Jewison. The film won three...
and Man of La Mancha
Man of La Mancha (film)
Man of La Mancha is a 1972 film adaptation of the Broadway musical Man of La Mancha by Dale Wasserman, with music by Mitch Leigh and lyrics by Joe Darion...
. However, the movie soundtrack album of United Artists' most critically acclaimed and financially successful film musical, West Side Story
West Side Story (film)
West Side Story is a 1961 musical film directed by Robert Wise and Jerome Robbins. The film is an adaptation of the 1957 Broadway musical of the same name, which in turn was adapted from William Shakespeare's play Romeo and Juliet. It stars Natalie Wood, Richard Beymer, Russ Tamblyn, Rita Moreno,...
, was released by Columbia Records
Columbia Records
Columbia Records is an American record label, owned by Japan's Sony Music Entertainment, operating under the Columbia Music Group with Aware Records. It was founded in 1888, evolving from an earlier enterprise, the American Graphophone Company — successor to the Volta Graphophone Company...
, which had also released the Broadway
Broadway theatre
Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...
cast album (Leonard Bernstein
Leonard Bernstein
Leonard Bernstein August 25, 1918 – October 14, 1990) was an American conductor, composer, author, music lecturer and pianist. He was among the first conductors born and educated in the United States of America to receive worldwide acclaim...
, who wrote the music for West Side Story, was a Columbia recording artist). Many of these soundtracks have reverted back to Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc. is an American media company, involved primarily in the production and distribution of films and television programs. MGM was founded in 1924 when the entertainment entrepreneur Marcus Loew gained control of Metro Pictures, Goldwyn Pictures Corporation and Louis B. Mayer...
, whose MGM Music
MGM Music
-History:In 1986, after Ted Turner sold MGM to Kirk Kerkorian, MGM formed MGM Music for the licensing of music of which MGM owns the rights. Turner kept the MGM film library and rights to the soundtracks. MGM Music focuses on releasing soundtracks...
unit (no connection with the now-defunct MGM Records
MGM Records
MGM Records was a record label started by the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer film studio in 1946, for the purpose of releasing soundtrack albums of their musical films. Later it became a pop label, lasting into the 1970s...
) in turn have licensed them out to other labels for reissue; first Rykodisc
Rykodisc
Rykodisc Records is an American record label. It is owned by Warner Music Group, operates as a unit of WMG's Independent Label Group and is distributed through Alternative Distribution Alliance.-Company history:...
, and more recently, Universal Music and EMI (the Fiddler on the Roof movie soundtrack). However, it is Sony
Sony
, commonly referred to as Sony, is a Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan and the world's fifth largest media conglomerate measured by revenues....
, which now owns Columbia Records (and now a stake in MGM as well), that has released the West Side Story original cast album and film soundtrack on CD.
In addition to soundtracks and pop output, United Artists also produced a series of children's records under the "Tale Spinners For Children
Tale Spinners For Children
Tale Spinners For Children was a series of stories and novels adapted for young audiences on vinyl records in the early 1960s. They included a collection of old fairy tales, folklore, literary classics such as Don Quixote and Robinson Crusoe, and time-honored fables, with the title role sometimes...
" name throughout the 1960s. These were album-length adaptations of classic fairy tales and children's stories done in an audio drama format.
United Artists also had a few subsidiary labels: Ascot Records, Musicor Records
Musicor Records
Musicor Records was a New York City based record label, active during the 1960s and 1970s. The label was founded by songwriter Aaron Schroeder and distributed by United Artists Records...
, (United Artists was half owner of the company from 1960–1964 before selling out in 1965) Ultra Audio (an audiophile
Audiophile
An audiophile is a person who enjoys listening to recorded music, usually in a home. Some audiophiles are more interested in collecting and listening to music, while others are more interested in collecting and listening to audio components, whose "sound quality" they consider as important as the...
label) and Veep Records. Unart was initially created in 1958 and was only in operation until 1959 producing some vocal group 45 singles; Unart was recreated in 1967 for budget albums.
Other UA labels
United Artists Special Projects were budget records designed for product and movie tie-inTie-in
A tie-in is an authorized product based on a media property a company is releasing, such as a movie or video/DVD, computer game, video game, television program/television series, board game, web site, role-playing game or literary property...
s. Examples are The Incredible World of James Bond
The Incredible World of James Bond
The Incredible World of James Bond was a 1965 television special produced by David L. Wolper for United Artists Television to showcase the James Bond film series and promote the upcoming December 1965 release of the film Thunderball....
an album sold by Pepsi Cola and Frito Lay of cover version
Cover version
In popular music, a cover version or cover song, or simply cover, is a new performance or recording of a contemporary or previously recorded, commercially released song or popular song...
themes and original soundtrack music of the first three James Bond
James Bond
James Bond, code name 007, is a fictional character created in 1953 by writer Ian Fleming, who featured him in twelve novels and two short story collections. There have been a six other authors who wrote authorised Bond novels or novelizations after Fleming's death in 1964: Kingsley Amis,...
films and Music From Marlboro Country, various cover versions of the theme to The Magnificent Seven
The Magnificent Seven
The Magnificent Seven is an American Western film directed by John Sturges, and released in 1960. It is a fictional tale of a group of seven American gunmen who are hired to protect a small agricultural village in Mexico from a group of marauding Mexican bandits...
and original soundtrack music from Elmer Bernstein
Elmer Bernstein
Elmer Bernstein was an American composer and conductor best known for his many film scores. In a career which spanned fifty years, he composed music for hundreds of film and television productions...
's Return of the Seven
Return of the Seven
Return of the Seven , is the first sequel to the 1960 western, The Magnificent Seven. Made in 1966, Yul Brynner is the sole returning cast member from the first film, portraying Chris Adams....
that was sold by the Marlboro (cigarette) company.
Merger
Gordon LightfootGordon Lightfoot
Gordon Meredith Lightfoot, Jr. is a Canadian singer-songwriter who achieved international success in folk, folk-rock, and country music, and has been credited for helping define the folk-pop sound of the 1960s and 1970s...
recorded his first major label albums with United Artists from 1966–1969. In 1969, United Artists merged with co-owned Liberty Records
Liberty Records
Liberty Records was a United States-based record label. It was started by chairman Simon Waronker in 1955 with Al Bennett as president and Theodore Keep as chief engineer. It was reactivated in 2001 in the United Kingdom and had two previous revivals.-1950s:...
and its subsidiary Imperial Records
Imperial Records
Imperial Records is a United States based label started in 1947 by Lew Chudd and reactivated in 2006 by label owner EMI.- The independent and Liberty Records years :...
.
Alan Douglas (record producer)
Alan Douglas is an American record producer who has worked with Jimi Hendrix, Miles Davis, Lenny Bruce and the Last Poets. He runs his own record label, Douglas Records....
in 1960 to run its new jazz department. The company's jazz included albums by Duke Ellington
Duke Ellington
Edward Kennedy "Duke" Ellington was an American composer, pianist, and big band leader. Ellington wrote over 1,000 compositions...
and Art Farmer
Art Farmer
Arthur Stewart "Art" Farmer was an American jazz trumpeter and flugelhorn player. He also played flumpet, a trumpet/flugelhorn combination designed for him by David Monette. His identical twin brother, Addison Farmer Arthur Stewart "Art" Farmer (August 21, 1928, Council Bluffs, Iowa –...
, although there were only a few jazz titles after about 1963. Around 1966 a subsidiary jazz label Solid State
Solid State Records (jazz label)
Solid State Records was a jazz record label formed in 1966 by noted producers Sonny Lester and Phil Ramone, with arranger Manny Albam.The label released original recordings in the mid to late 1960s by Joe Williams, Chick Corea, Jimmy McGriff, Dizzy Gillespie, The Thad Jones / Mel Lewis Jazz...
was founded, which lasted until 1969, on which recordings by the Thad Jones-Mel Lewis Orchestra
Thad Jones/Mel Lewis Big Band
The Thad Jones / Mel Lewis Jazz Orchestra was a jazz big band formed by trumpeter Thad Jones and drummer Mel Lewis around 1965. The band performed for twelve years in its original incarnation, and included a 1972 tour of the Soviet Union during the height of the Cold War. The band won a 1978...
and Chick Corea
Chick Corea
Armando Anthony "Chick" Corea is an American jazz pianist, keyboardist, and composer.Many of his compositions are considered jazz standards. As a member of Miles Davis' band in the 1960s, he participated in the birth of the electric jazz fusion movement. In the 1970s he formed Return to Forever...
, among others, were issued. Liberty's ownership of Blue Note
Blue Note Records
Blue Note Records is a jazz record label, established in 1939 by Alfred Lion and Max Margulis. Francis Wolff became involved shortly afterwards. It derives its name from the characteristic "blue notes" of jazz and the blues. At the end of the 1950s, and in the early 1960s, Blue Note headquarters...
resulted in Solid State's artists being transferred to the more prestigious label, and Solid State itself being wound up.
In 1961, designer and photographer Frank Gauna who worked with Alan Douglas joined the company as art director
Art director
The art director is a person who supervise the creative process of a design.The term 'art director' is a blanket title for a variety of similar job functions in advertising, publishing, film and television, the Internet, and video games....
after Candid Records
Candid Records
Candid Records was founded as a subsidiary of Archie Bleyer's Cadence label in New York City in 1960. The jazz writer and civil rights activist, Nat Hentoff, worked as the label's A&R director, aiming to create a representative catalog of the jazz of the day...
was wound up. Gauna photographed and designed a variety of album cover
Album cover
An album cover is the front of the packaging of a commercially released audio recording product, or album. The term can refer to either the printed cardboard covers typically used to package sets of 10" and 12" 78 rpm records, single and sets of 12" LPs, sets of 45 rpm records , or the front-facing...
s for the company.
Mainstream pop acts were signed to the label, among them being Traffic
Traffic (band)
Traffic were an English rock band whose members came from the West Midlands. The group formed in April 1967 by Steve Winwood, Jim Capaldi, Chris Wood and Dave Mason...
, the Spencer Davis Group
Spencer Davis Group
The Spencer Davis Group was a mid-1960s British beat group from Birmingham, England, formed by Spencer Davis with Steve Winwood and his brother Muff Winwood...
, Peter Sarstedt
Peter Sarstedt
Peter Eardley Sarstedt is an Anglo-Indian singer-songwriter.-Career:Sarstedt was born in India and attended Victoria Boys' School in Kurseong, in the Darjeeling district of West Bengal. His family relocated to England in 1954...
, Shirley Bassey
Shirley Bassey
Dame Shirley Bassey, DBE , is a Welsh singer. She found fame in the late 1950s and was "one of the most popular female vocalists in Britain during the last half of the 20th century"...
, and War
War (band)
War is an American funk band from California, known for the hit songs "Low Rider", "Spill the Wine", "The Cisco Kid" and "Why Can't We Be Friends?". Formed in 1969, War was a musical crossover band which fused elements of rock, funk, jazz, Latin, rhythm and blues, and reggae...
. The label also attempted, without success, to update the style of 1950s rock group Bill Haley & His Comets
Bill Haley & His Comets
Bill Haley & His Comets was an American rock and roll band that was founded in 1952 and continued until Haley's death in 1981. The band, also known by the names Bill Haley and The Comets and Bill Haley's Comets , was the earliest group of white musicians to bring rock and roll to the attention of...
with a 1968 single. After UA bought the small Mediarts Records
Mediarts Records
Mediarts Records was a small record label founded by former Capitol Records executive Alan W. Livingston and producer Nik Venet. The label's first release was Dory Previn with 'On My Way To Where' Other artists signed on the label were e.g. Don McLean, Paul Anka, Odia Coates, Bill Conti, The Hello...
label, their roster grew to include Don McLean
Don McLean
Donald "Don" McLean is an American singer-songwriter. He is most famous for the 1971 album American Pie, containing the renowned songs "American Pie" and "Vincent".-Musical roots:...
, Merrilee Rush
Merrilee Rush
-Career:As a girl, Merrilee studied classical piano for 10 years. In 1960, Rush auditioned for a band, directed by her first husband, that played sock hops. Next, she was part of Merrilee and Her Men, doing covers of male pop hits. Then she joined a Seattle rhythm and blues group called Tiny Tony...
, Paul Anka
Paul Anka
Paul Albert Anka, is a Canadian singer, songwriter, and actor.Anka first became famous as a teen idol in the late 1950s and 1960s with hit songs like "Diana'", "Lonely Boy", and "Put Your Head on My Shoulder"...
, Chris Rea
Chris Rea
Chris Rea is an English singer-songwriter, recognisable for his distinctive, husky voice and slide guitar playing. The British Hit Singles & Albums stated that Rea was "one of the most popular UK singer-songwriters of the late 1980s. He was already a major European star by the time he finally...
, Dusty Springfield
Dusty Springfield
Mary Isobel Catherine Bernadette O'BrienSources use both Isabel and Isobel as the spelling of her second name. OBE , known professionally as Dusty Springfield and dubbed The White Queen of Soul, was a British pop singer whose career extended from the late 1950s to the 1990s...
, Bill Conti
Bill Conti
William "Bill" Conti is an American film music composer who is frequently the conductor at the Academy Awards ceremony.-Early life and career:...
, Ferrante & Teicher
Ferrante & Teicher
Ferrante & Teicher were a duo of American piano players, known for their light arrangements of familiar classical pieces, movie soundtracks, and show tunes.-Career:...
, Johnny Rivers
Johnny Rivers
Johnny Rivers is an American rock and roll singer, songwriter, guitarist, and record producer. His styles include folk songs, blues, and revivals of old-time rock 'n' roll songs and some original material...
, Ike & Tina Turner
Ike & Tina Turner
Ike & Tina Turner were an American rock & roll and soul duo, made of the husband-and-wife team of Ike Turner and Tina Turner in the 1960s and 1970s. Spanning sixteen years together as a recording group, the duo's repertoire included rock & roll, soul, blues and funk...
, Gerry Rafferty
Gerry Rafferty
Gerald "Gerry" Rafferty was a Scottish singer songwriter best known for his solo hits "Baker Street", "Right Down the Line", "Days Gone Down", "Night Owl", "Get It Right Next Time", and with the band Stealers Wheel, "Stuck in the Middle with You". Rafferty was born into a working-class family in...
and Crystal Gayle
Crystal Gayle
Crystal Gayle is an American country music singer best known for her 1977 country-pop hit, "Don't It Make My Brown Eyes Blue". An award-winning singer, she accumulated 18 number one country hits during the 1970s and 1980s...
. Later, through a distribution deal with Don Arden
Don Arden
Don Arden , born Harry Levy, was an English music manager, agent and businessman, best known for overseeing the careers of rock groups Small Faces, Electric Light Orchestra and Black Sabbath....
's Jet Records
Jet Records
Jet Records was a small British record label set up by Don Arden with artists like Electric Light Orchestra , Roy Wood, Gary Moore, Ozzy Osbourne, Riot and Magnum. The first release on the "Jet Records" label was "No Honestly", a UK top 10 for its singer and writer Lynsey De Paul in November 1974...
, Electric Light Orchestra
Electric Light Orchestra
Electric Light Orchestra were a British rock group from Birmingham who released eleven studio albums between 1971 and 1986 and another album in 2001. ELO were formed to accommodate Roy Wood and Jeff Lynne's desire to create modern rock and pop songs with classical overtones...
was signed to UA in America. UA also distributed the otherwise-independent Grateful Dead Records
Grateful Dead Records
In 1973, the Grateful Dead established their own record label, Grateful Dead Records. The band released several vinyl record LPs on this label in the mid-1970s, including Wake of the Flood in 1973, From the Mars Hotel in 1974, Blues for Allah in 1975, and a live double album, Steal Your Face, in...
in the early-to-mid 1970s.
In England, Andrew Lauder
Andrew Lauder (music executive)
Andrew Lauder is a record company executive and former A&R manager. Initially noted for his adventurous signings of bands as diverse as Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band, Can, Hawkwind and Brinsley Schwarz to Liberty Records and United Artists Records in the 1960s and 70s, he went on to form numerous...
, who had been head of A&R at the UK branch of Liberty Records
Liberty Records
Liberty Records was a United States-based record label. It was started by chairman Simon Waronker in 1955 with Al Bennett as president and Theodore Keep as chief engineer. It was reactivated in 2001 in the United Kingdom and had two previous revivals.-1950s:...
, transferred to UA when Liberty was shut down in 1971. His signings included The Groundhogs
The Groundhogs
Groundhogs are a British rock band founded in late 1963, that toured extensively in the 1960s, achieved prominence in the early 1970s and continued sporadically into the 21st century.-Career:...
, Hawkwind
Hawkwind
Hawkwind are an English rock band, one of the earliest space rock groups. Their lyrics favour urban and science fiction themes. They are also a noted precursor to punk rock and now are considered a link between the hippie and punk cultures....
, Brinsley Schwarz
Brinsley Schwarz
Brinsley Schwarz were a 1970s English pub rock band, named after their guitarist Brinsley Schwarz. With Nick Lowe on bass and vocals, keyboardist Bob Andrews and drummer Billy Rankin, the band evolved from the 1960s pop band Kippington Lodge.-Formation:...
, Man
Man (band)
Man are a rock band from South Wales whose style is a mixture of West Coast psychedelia, progressive rock, blues and country-rock. Formed in 1968 as a reincarnation of Welsh rock harmony group ‘’The Bystanders’’, Man are renowned for the extended jams in their live performances, and having had...
(all originally Liberty artists), Help Yourself
Help Yourself (band)
Help Yourself, known to their fans as "The Helps", were an English rock band of the early 1970s whose style developed from “American-flavoured country-rock… …to acid-drenched psych.”.-History:...
, Dr. Feelgood
Dr. Feelgood
Dr. Feelgood may refer to:In music:*Dr. Feelgood , an album by American band Mötley Crüe**"Dr. Feelgood" , a single and the title track from that album*"Dr. Feel Good", a song by Travie McCoy on the album Lazarus...
, The Buzzcocks, The Stranglers
The Stranglers
The Stranglers are an English punk/rock music group.Scoring some 23 UK top 40 singles and 17 UK top 40 albums to date in a career spanning five decades, the Stranglers are the longest-surviving and most "continuously successful" band to have originated in the UK punk scene of the mid to late 1970s...
and 999
999 (band)
999 are an English rock band who formed in London in 1977. They are often cited as one of the first punk rock bands. Between 1978 and 1981, they had five Top 75 singles in the UK Singles Chart, and one Top 40 single. After extensive touring across the Atlantic Ocean, the band's third and fourth...
. Lauder left UA in late 1977 to help found Radar Records
Radar Records
Radar Records was a UK-based record label formed by Martin Davis who had previously worked at United Artists Records, and Andrew Lauder, who had previously been head of A&R at the UK divisions of Liberty Records and United Artists...
.
The label's most successful artist was country artist Kenny Rogers
Kenny Rogers
Kenneth Donald "Kenny" Rogers is an American singer-songwriter, photographer, record producer, actor, and entrepreneur...
who signed to UA in the mid-1970s, enjoying a long string of hit singles and albums.
Sale to EMI
In 1978, UA executives Artie Mogull and Jerry Rubinstein bought the record company from Transamerica with a loan from EMIEMI
The EMI Group, also known as EMI Music or simply EMI, is a multinational music company headquartered in London, United Kingdom. It is the fourth-largest business group and family of record labels in the recording industry and one of the "big four" record companies. EMI Group also has a major...
, which took over distribution of the label. The official name of the company was changed to Liberty/United Records, but the United Artists Records name was retained under license. The deal led to an immediate setback as the change of ownership allowed Jet Records to end its relationship with UA and switch its distribution to CBS Records
Sony Music Entertainment
Sony Music Entertainment ' is the second-largest global recorded music company of the "big four" record companies and is controlled by Sony Corporation of America, the United States subsidiary of Japan's Sony Corporation....
, with the Jet back catalogue transferring to CBS distribution as well. This meant that UA completely lost the Electric Light Orchestra and wound up dumping mass quantities of ELO albums into the cutout market which CBS was unable to legally stop. Unable to generate enough income to cover the loan, Liberty/United Records was sold to EMI in 1979 for $3 million and assumed liabilities of $32 million.
In 1980, EMI dropped the United Artists name and revived the Liberty label for releases by artists who had been signed to UA. This incarnation of Liberty Records operated between 1980 and about 1986, when it was deactivated and its artists assigned to other EMI labels.
Many albums from the United Artists Records catalog were reissued on Liberty during these years. Two notable exceptions were a couple of Beatles albums not previously controlled by EMI in the United States: the A Hard Day's Night soundtrack album, and Let It Be
Let It Be (album)
Let It Be is the 12th and final studio album released by the English rock band The Beatles. It was released on 8 May 1970 by the band's Apple Records label shortly after the group announced their break-up....
. (Let It Be was actually released by Apple Records
Apple Records
Apple Records is a record label founded by The Beatles in 1968, as a division of Apple Corps Ltd. It was initially intended as a creative outlet for the Beatles, both as a group and individually, plus a selection of other artists including Mary Hopkin, James Taylor, Badfinger, and Billy Preston...
in both the UK and the US but because the movie had been distributed by United Artists Pictures, in America the album was distributed by United Artists rather than EMI.) Both Beatles albums were reissued on the Capitol
Capitol Records
Capitol Records is a major United States based record label, formerly located in Los Angeles, but operating in New York City as part of Capitol Music Group. Its former headquarters building, the Capitol Tower, is a major landmark near the corner of Hollywood and Vine...
label, which already controlled the rest of The Beatles' catalog.
UAR Today
When producer Jerry WeintraubJerry Weintraub
Jerry Weintraub is an American film producer and former chairman and CEO of United Artists. He now lives in Palm Desert, California.-Life and career:...
was enlisted to revive the United Artists
United Artists
United Artists Corporation is an American film studio. The original studio of that name was founded in 1919 by D. W. Griffith, Charles Chaplin, Mary Pickford and Douglas Fairbanks....
movie studio in 1986, he attempted to revive the United Artists Records label as well. However, they released only one album: the soundtrack for The Karate Kid Part II, a film which Weintraub had produced for Columbia Pictures
Columbia Pictures
Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc. is an American film production and distribution company. Columbia Pictures now forms part of the Columbia TriStar Motion Picture Group, owned by Sony Pictures Entertainment, a subsidiary of the Japanese conglomerate Sony. It is one of the leading film companies...
before being hired at UA.
The United Artists catalog is controlled by Capitol Records. Capitol Records also has the rights to soundtrack albums UA Records released under license from MGM Music
MGM Music
-History:In 1986, after Ted Turner sold MGM to Kirk Kerkorian, MGM formed MGM Music for the licensing of music of which MGM owns the rights. Turner kept the MGM film library and rights to the soundtracks. MGM Music focuses on releasing soundtracks...
.
United Artists Records and associated labels artists
- 999999 (band)999 are an English rock band who formed in London in 1977. They are often cited as one of the first punk rock bands. Between 1978 and 1981, they had five Top 75 singles in the UK Singles Chart, and one Top 40 single. After extensive touring across the Atlantic Ocean, the band's third and fourth...
. - A Band Called OA Band Called OA Band Called O were a band from Jersey, Channel Islands. Originally known as "The Parlour Band", playing progressive rock, they renamed to "A Band Called O" for two albums on CBS/Epic and later to "The O Band" for a further albums with UA...
- Amon Duul IIAmon Düül II-Studio Albums:-Live Albums:-Compilations:-Singles:-External links:*...
- The AnimalsThe AnimalsThe Animals were an English music group of the 1960s formed in Newcastle upon Tyne during the early part of the decade, and later relocated to London...
(Jet) - The AngelsThe Angels (band)The Angels are an American girl group, best known for their 1963 million selling #1 hit single, "My Boyfriend's Back".-History:The group originated in New Jersey as The Starlets which consisted of sisters, Barbara "Bibbs" and Phyllis "Jiggs" Allbut, Bernadette Carroll, and Linda Malzone. They had...
(Ascot) - Paul AnkaPaul AnkaPaul Albert Anka, is a Canadian singer, songwriter, and actor.Anka first became famous as a teen idol in the late 1950s and 1960s with hit songs like "Diana'", "Lonely Boy", and "Put Your Head on My Shoulder"...
- B. J. ArnauB. J. ArnauB. J. Arnau is an American-born female singer and actor active in the UK and the US from the late 1960s to the early 1980s. She is also known as Brenda Arnau.- Biography :...
- Zane Ashton
- Shirley BasseyShirley BasseyDame Shirley Bassey, DBE , is a Welsh singer. She found fame in the late 1950s and was "one of the most popular female vocalists in Britain during the last half of the 20th century"...
- The BeatlesThe BeatlesThe Beatles were an English rock band, active throughout the 1960s and one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music. Formed in Liverpool, by 1962 the group consisted of John Lennon , Paul McCartney , George Harrison and Ringo Starr...
(US and Canada) - Bad Boy
- Brass ConstructionBrass ConstructionBrass Construction was an American funk group formed in Brooklyn, New York in 1968. They were originally known as Dynamic Soul, and went on to record a string of hit singles and albums through to 1985.-Career:...
- Brinsley SchwarzBrinsley SchwarzBrinsley Schwarz were a 1970s English pub rock band, named after their guitarist Brinsley Schwarz. With Nick Lowe on bass and vocals, keyboardist Bob Andrews and drummer Billy Rankin, the band evolved from the 1960s pop band Kippington Lodge.-Formation:...
- Ronald Buchter (Ascot)
- The Buzzcocks
- CanCan (band)Can was an experimental rock band formed in Cologne, West Germany in 1968. Later labeled as one of the first "krautrock" groups, they transcended mainstream influences and incorporated strong minimalist and world music elements into their often psychedelic music.Can constructed their music largely...
- Al CaiolaAl CaiolaAl Caiola is a guitarist who plays jazz, country, rock, western, and pop music. He has been both a studio musician and stage performer...
(Ultra Audio and United Artists) - Andrea Carroll
- CherCherCher is an American recording artist, television personality, actress, director, record producer and philanthropist. Referred to as the Goddess of Pop, she has won an Academy Award, a Grammy Award, an Emmy Award, three Golden Globes and a Cannes Film Festival Award among others for her work in...
- The CloversThe Clovers-History:The group formed in 1946 at Armstrong High School in Washington, D.C., with members Harold Lucas, Billy Shelton, and Thomas Woods. John "Buddy" Bailey was added soon after, and they began calling themselves the "Four Clovers", with Bailey on lead...
- Odia CoatesOdia CoatesOdia Coates was an American singer, best known for her work with Canadian singer-songwriter Paul Anka.-Early life:...
- Bill ContiBill ContiWilliam "Bill" Conti is an American film music composer who is frequently the conductor at the Academy Awards ceremony.-Early life and career:...
- Pat CooperPat CooperPat Cooper is an American actor and comedian. Cooper is primarily known for his stand-up routines, where he often makes reference to his Italian heritage from Mola di Bari, Italy...
- Cornelius Brothers & Sister RoseCornelius Brothers & Sister RoseCornelius Brothers & Sister Rose was a family soul singing group from Dania Beach, Florida, that attained brief popularity in the early 1970s. The original members were the siblings Carter Cornelius, Eddie Cornelius, and Rose Cornelius. Another sister, Billie Jo Cornelius, was added later...
- CurfewCurfewA curfew is an order specifying a time after which certain regulations apply. Examples:# An order by a government for certain persons to return home daily before a certain time...
- The D-MenThe D-MenThe D-Men were an American beat music group. They began in Stamford, Connecticut, in 1963. They played continuously around the US and in many New York clubs, including Trude Heller's and The World, and in many Greenwich Village clubs such as The Bottom Line and The Downtown...
(Veep & United Artists) - Spencer Davis GroupSpencer Davis GroupThe Spencer Davis Group was a mid-1960s British beat group from Birmingham, England, formed by Spencer Davis with Steve Winwood and his brother Muff Winwood...
(US) - Dr. FeelgoodDr. FeelgoodDr. Feelgood may refer to:In music:*Dr. Feelgood , an album by American band Mötley Crüe**"Dr. Feelgood" , a single and the title track from that album*"Dr. Feel Good", a song by Travie McCoy on the album Lazarus...
(UK) - Patty DukePatty DukeAnna Marie "Patty" Duke is an American actress of stage, film, and television. First becoming famous as a child star, winning an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress at age 16, and later starring in her eponymous sitcom for three years, she progressed to more mature roles upon playing Neely...
- The EasybeatsThe EasybeatsThe Easybeats were an Australian rock and roll band. They formed in Sydney in late 1964 and broke up at the end of 1969. They are regarded as the greatest Australian pop band of the 1960s, and were the first Australian rock and roll act to score an international pop hit with their 1966 single...
- Electric Indian
- Electric Light OrchestraElectric Light OrchestraElectric Light Orchestra were a British rock group from Birmingham who released eleven studio albums between 1971 and 1986 and another album in 2001. ELO were formed to accommodate Roy Wood and Jeff Lynne's desire to create modern rock and pop songs with classical overtones...
(United Artists & Jet) - The ExcitersThe ExcitersThe Exciters were an American pop music group of the 1960s. They were originally a girl group, although a male member was added later. The group consisted of lead singer Brenda Reid, her husband Herb Rooney, Carolyn Johnson and Lillian Walker....
- Roderick Falconer
- The FalconsThe FalconsThe Falcons were an American rhythm and blues vocal group, some of whose members went on to be influential in soul music.The Falcons formed in 1955 in Detroit, Michigan on the Mercury Records imprint. After personnel changes in 1956, The Falcons had hits for the Lupine Records label with the...
- Ferrante & TeicherFerrante & TeicherFerrante & Teicher were a duo of American piano players, known for their light arrangements of familiar classical pieces, movie soundtracks, and show tunes.-Career:...
(Ultra Audio and United Artists) - George Fischoff
- Sergio FranchiSergio FranchiSergio Franchi was an Italian tenor.Franchi was born in Cremona, Italy. His father wanted him to become an electrical engineer, so he studied both music and engineering simultaneously. The family moved to South Africa in 1952, where Sergio worked part-time as a draftsman, while continuing to study...
- Connie FrancisConnie FrancisConnie Francis is an American pop singer of Italian heritage and the top-charting female vocalist of the 1950s and 1960s. Although her chart success waned in the second half of the 1960s, Francis remained a top concert draw...
- Crystal GayleCrystal GayleCrystal Gayle is an American country music singer best known for her 1977 country-pop hit, "Don't It Make My Brown Eyes Blue". An award-winning singer, she accumulated 18 number one country hits during the 1970s and 1980s...
- Bobby GoldsboroBobby GoldsboroBobby Goldsboro is an American country and pop singer-songwriter. He had a string of Pop and Country hits during the 1960s and 1970s, including his signature #1 classic "Honey," which sold well over one million copies in the United States.-Early life:Goldsboro was born in Marianna, Florida...
- The GroundhogsThe GroundhogsGroundhogs are a British rock band founded in late 1963, that toured extensively in the 1960s, achieved prominence in the early 1970s and continued sporadically into the 21st century.-Career:...
- Bill Haley & His CometsBill Haley & His CometsBill Haley & His Comets was an American rock and roll band that was founded in 1952 and continued until Haley's death in 1981. The band, also known by the names Bill Haley and The Comets and Bill Haley's Comets , was the earliest group of white musicians to bring rock and roll to the attention of...
- HawkwindHawkwindHawkwind are an English rock band, one of the earliest space rock groups. Their lyrics favour urban and science fiction themes. They are also a noted precursor to punk rock and now are considered a link between the hippie and punk cultures....
- Roy HeadRoy HeadRoy Head is an American singer, best known for his hit "Treat Her Right."-Career:Head achieved fame as a member of a musical group out from San Marcos, Texas known as The Traits. The group's sponsor landed their first recording contract in 1958 with TNT Music in San Antonio, Texas while they were...
and the Traits (Ascot) - Help YourselfHelp Yourself (band)Help Yourself, known to their fans as "The Helps", were an English rock band of the early 1970s whose style developed from “American-flavoured country-rock… …to acid-drenched psych.”.-History:...
- Leroy HolmesLeRoy HolmesLeRoy Holmes was an American songwriter, composer, arranger and conductor....
- The HighwaymenThe Highwaymen (folk band)The Highwaymen were a circa 1960 "collegiate folk" group, which originated at Wesleyan University and had a Billboard number-one hit in 1961 with "Michael" and another Top 20 hit in 1962 with "Cottonfields"...
- Jay and the AmericansJay and the AmericansJay and the Americans was a pop music group popular in the 1960s. Their initial lineup consisted of John "Jay" Traynor, Howard Kane , Kenny Vance and Sandy Deanne , though their greatest success on the charts came after Traynor had been replaced as lead singer by Jay Black.-Early years:They were...
- Marv JohnsonMarv JohnsonMarv Johnson was an American R&B and soul singer, most notable for performing on the first record to be issued from what became Motown.-Biography:...
- George JonesGeorge JonesGeorge Glenn Jones is an American country music singer known for his long list of hit records, his distinctive voice and phrasing, and his marriage to Tammy Wynette....
- Deke Leonard's IcebergDeke LeonardRoger "Deke" Leonard is a rock musician, "serving a life sentence in the music business." Best known as a member of the progressive rock band Man, which he joined and left several times, and for fronting his own rock and roll band Iceberg, which he formed and disbanded several times, he is also...
- Gordon LightfootGordon LightfootGordon Meredith Lightfoot, Jr. is a Canadian singer-songwriter who achieved international success in folk, folk-rock, and country music, and has been credited for helping define the folk-pop sound of the 1960s and 1970s...
- Little Anthony & The ImperialsLittle Anthony & The ImperialsLittle Anthony and the Imperials is a rhythm and blues/soul/doo-wop vocal group from New York, first active in the 1950s. Lead singer Jerome Anthony "Little Anthony" Gourdine was noted for his high-pitched falsetto voice, influenced by Jimmy Scott...
(DCP, Veep & United Artists) - Little Romeo and the Casanovas (Ascot)
- Don McLeanDon McLeanDonald "Don" McLean is an American singer-songwriter. He is most famous for the 1971 album American Pie, containing the renowned songs "American Pie" and "Vincent".-Musical roots:...
- Sylvia McNeillSylvia McNeillSylvia McNeill was born 5 August 1947 in Harrogate, North Yorkshire, England.She began her career singing and playing bass guitar with various groups and bands. She went abroad for several years, touring American bases on the continent...
- ManMan (band)Man are a rock band from South Wales whose style is a mixture of West Coast psychedelia, progressive rock, blues and country-rock. Formed in 1968 as a reincarnation of Welsh rock harmony group ‘’The Bystanders’’, Man are renowned for the extended jams in their live performances, and having had...
- Manfred MannManfred MannManfred Mann was a British beat, rhythm and blues and pop band of the 1960s, named after their South African keyboardist, Manfred Mann, who later led the successful 1970s group Manfred Mann's Earth Band...
(Ascot & United Artists) - Nathaniel MayerNathaniel MayerNathaniel Mayer was a rhythm & blues singer who started his career in the early 1960s at Fortune Records in Detroit...
- Bobbi MartinBobbi MartinBobbi Martin was an American country and pop music singer, songwriter, and guitarist. She grew up and began her singing career in Baltimore, working her way up from local venues onto the national nightclub circuit. She died at the age of 56 at the Brighton Wood Knoll medical facility in Baltimore...
- George MartinGeorge MartinSir George Henry Martin CBE is an English record producer, arranger, composer and musician. He is sometimes referred to as "the Fifth Beatle"— a title that he often describes as "nonsense," but the fact remains that he served as producer on all but one of The Beatles' original albums...
- Garnett Mimms
- Melba MontgomeryMelba MontgomeryMelba Montgomery is an American country music singer. She is best known for duet hit recordings in the 1960s with country music singer George Jones....
- Neu!Neu!Neu! was a German band formed by Klaus Dinger and Michael Rother after their split from Kraftwerk in the early 1970s...
- Maxine NightingaleMaxine NightingaleMaxine Nightingale is a British R&B and soul music singer. She is best known for her hits in the 1970s, with the million seller "Right Back Where We Started From" Maxine Nightingale (born 2 November 1952; Wembley, London) is a British R&B and soul music singer. She is best known for her hits in...
- Gene PitneyGene PitneyEugene Francis Alan Pitney, known as Gene Pitney , was an American singer-songwriter, musician and sound engineer. Through the mid-1960s, he enjoyed success as a recording artist on both sides of the Atlantic and was among the group of early 1960s American acts who continued to enjoy hits after the...
(Musicor) - Popol VuhPopol Vuh (German band)Popol Vuh was a German electronic avantgarde band, in the mainstream-media so called Krautrock, founded by pianist and keyboardist Florian Fricke in 1969 together with Holger Trülzsch and Frank Fiedler...
(rest of the world) - Mark RadiceMark RadiceMark Radice is an American singer/musician and producer, who has worked with a variety of different artists and achieved minor success with his own material in the 1970s...
- Gerry RaffertyGerry RaffertyGerald "Gerry" Rafferty was a Scottish singer songwriter best known for his solo hits "Baker Street", "Right Down the Line", "Days Gone Down", "Night Owl", "Get It Right Next Time", and with the band Stealers Wheel, "Stuck in the Middle with You". Rafferty was born into a working-class family in...
- Chris ReaChris ReaChris Rea is an English singer-songwriter, recognisable for his distinctive, husky voice and slide guitar playing. The British Hit Singles & Albums stated that Rea was "one of the most popular UK singer-songwriters of the late 1980s. He was already a major European star by the time he finally...
- Sharon ReddSharon ReddSharon Redd was an American singer from New York. She was the half sister of R&B singer Pennye Ford.-Biography and career:...
- Del ReevesDel ReevesFranklin Delano Reeves , better known as Del Reeves, was an American country music singer, best known for his "girl-watching" novelty songs of the 1960s including "Girl on the Billboard" and "The Belles of Southern Bell"...
- Johnny RiversJohnny RiversJohnny Rivers is an American rock and roll singer, songwriter, guitarist, and record producer. His styles include folk songs, blues, and revivals of old-time rock 'n' roll songs and some original material...
- Tito RodríguezTito RodriguezTito Rodríguez was a popular 1950s and 1960s Puerto Rican singer and bandleader. He is known by many fans as "El Inolvidable" , a moniker based on his most popular interpretation, a song written by composer Julio Gutierrez.-Early years:Rodríguez , born in Santurce, Puerto Rico,...
(United Artists Latino) - Kenny RogersKenny RogersKenneth Donald "Kenny" Rogers is an American singer-songwriter, photographer, record producer, actor, and entrepreneur...
- Jimmy RoselliJimmy RoselliMichael John "Jimmy" Roselli was one of the most significant Italian-American pop singers of his time, during an era of formidable competition from such performers as Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Perry Como, Frankie Laine, Vic Damone and Jerry Vale.-Life:Jimmy Roselli's biggest and only pop hit was...
- Merrilee RushMerrilee Rush-Career:As a girl, Merrilee studied classical piano for 10 years. In 1960, Rush auditioned for a band, directed by her first husband, that played sock hops. Next, she was part of Merrilee and Her Men, doing covers of male pop hits. Then she joined a Seattle rhythm and blues group called Tiny Tony...
- Jean ShepardJean ShepardOllie Imogene Shepard , better known as Jean Shepard, is an American honky tonk singer-songwriter who was a pioneer for women in country music. Shepard released a total of 73 singles to the Hot Country Songs chart, one of which reached the #1 spot...
- Dusty SpringfieldDusty SpringfieldMary Isobel Catherine Bernadette O'BrienSources use both Isabel and Isobel as the spelling of her second name. OBE , known professionally as Dusty Springfield and dubbed The White Queen of Soul, was a British pop singer whose career extended from the late 1950s to the 1990s...
(US) - Stampede(UK) Keith Law
- The StranglersThe StranglersThe Stranglers are an English punk/rock music group.Scoring some 23 UK top 40 singles and 17 UK top 40 albums to date in a career spanning five decades, the Stranglers are the longest-surviving and most "continuously successful" band to have originated in the UK punk scene of the mid to late 1970s...
(UK) - The TammysThe TammysThe Tammys were an American girl group made up of sisters Gretchen and Cathy Owens and their friend Linda Jones. They are best known for their song "Egyptian Shumba" with its faux Middle-Eastern instrumentals and sweet girlish vocals backed up by wild shrieks....
- TrafficTraffic (band)Traffic were an English rock band whose members came from the West Midlands. The group formed in April 1967 by Steve Winwood, Jim Capaldi, Chris Wood and Dave Mason...
(US) - Ike & Tina TurnerIke & Tina TurnerIke & Tina Turner were an American rock & roll and soul duo, made of the husband-and-wife team of Ike Turner and Tina Turner in the 1960s and 1970s. Spanning sixteen years together as a recording group, the duo's repertoire included rock & roll, soul, blues and funk...
- The VenturesThe VenturesThe Ventures is an American instrumental rock band formed in 1958 in Tacoma, Washington. Founded by Don Wilson and Bob Bogle, the group in its various incarnations has had an enduring impact on the development of music worldwide. With over 100 million records sold, the group is the best-selling...
- WarWar (band)War is an American funk band from California, known for the hit songs "Low Rider", "Spill the Wine", "The Cisco Kid" and "Why Can't We Be Friends?". Formed in 1969, War was a musical crossover band which fused elements of rock, funk, jazz, Latin, rhythm and blues, and reggae...
(Far Out Productions) - Dottie WestDottie WestDottie West was an American country music singer and songwriter. Along with her friends and co-recording artists Patsy Cline and Loretta Lynn, she is considered one of the genre's most influential and groundbreaking female artists...
- WhitesnakeWhitesnakeWhitesnake are an English rock band, founded in 1978 by David Coverdale after his departure from his previous band, Deep Purple. The band's early material has been compared by critics to Deep Purple, but by the mid 1980s they had moved to a more commercial hard rock style...
- George Williams
- The Orchids
- Bobby WomackBobby WomackRobert Dwayne "Bobby" Womack is an American singer-songwriter and musician. An active recording artist since the early 1960s where he started his career as the lead singer of his family musical group The Valentinos and as Sam Cooke's backing guitarist, Womack's career has spanned more than 40...
- Ranger's apprenticeRanger's ApprenticeRanger's Apprentice is a series of fantasy novels written by Australian author John Flanagan. The first novel in the series, titled The Ruins of Gorlan, was released in Australia on 1 November 2004 and in the United States on 16 June 2005. As of 2011 all eleven books have been released in Australia...