Donald's Encyclopedia of Popular Music

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

LIBERTY

US record label formed '55 in Hollywood by West Coast businessmen with Al Bennett as Vice President and head of A&R. The new label soon had hit singles and albums with Julie London, Timi Yuro and the Chipmunks (see David Seville). Eddie Cochran was signed '56; he became one of the most influential of all rock'n'roll singers, but his chart success at the time was not great, with only one top ten hit. In the '60s Liberty's Tommy Garrett was one of the hottest producers in the USA, making hits with Rocky Burnette, Bobby Vee, Gene McDaniels, Gary Lewis and the Playboys; he hired Phil Spector and Leon Russell to assist. The label also had Canned Heat and distributed Creedence Clearwater outside North America by agreement with Fantasy. Liberty had a deal with Decca UK, who released product in UK on London, but switched to EMI and their own logo. In '63 Liberty bought Imperial, in '66 Blue Note; in '69 the company was itself taken over by United Artists, who had started their record company in NYC '57. Apart from film soundtracks, UA's roster incl. Jay and the Americans, Bobby Goldsboro, Don McLean, the Crystals (from '65); UA also distributed Art Talmadge's Musicor label, with Gene Pitney. In the '70s Kenny Rogers, Paul Anka and Gerry Rafferty sold well, but Liberty-UA fell into debt to its distributor, Capitol, and was absorbed into the UK-based international EMI early '79 and merged into EMI America, which had been launched 1 Jan. '78 as an additional outlet for UK product (but two of the new label's first three no. 1 hits were by Americans Robert John and Kim Carnes), had hits with Sheena Easton, Cliff Richard, David Bowie. See EMI.