Liberty Records
Liberty Records was an American record company that existed with interruptions between 1955 and 1995. In it went Nocturne Records on.
Beginnings
Liberty Records was founded in 1955 by 40-year-old Simon Waronker in Hollywood after previously working for 20th Century Fox as a high-paying film musician. His previous Century Fox colleague Lionel Newman was also the first artist Liberty released on a single . This record appeared under catalog number 55001 and made the beginning of the so-called 55000 series for single releases, which was published until 1967. The 56000 series followed immediately and ran out in 1970 with the number 56218 (Sugarloaf: Tongue In Cheek / Woman). The first star at Liberty was the Californian singer Julie London , who brought Liberty into the US charts for the first time in the first year of the company with the title Cry Me A River at number nine. Davis Seville had the first number one hit with Witch Doctor on April 28, 1958. Liberty brought out a total of six number one hits, the last in 1965 This Diamond Ring with Gary Lewis & the Playboys . He was the most successful interpreter at Liberty, in addition to his number one hit, he was able to place in the top 10 with six other titles. Between 1959 and 1970, Bobby Vee released 44 singles on Liberty, making him the most published singer there. In the 56000 series, Liberty also released recordings in the USA with European artists such as Gilbert Becaud (F), Kiki Dee (GB), Katja Ebstein (D) and Suzanne Doucet (D).
LPs
Also in 1955 Liberty began to publish long-playing records (LP). Initially, they were given catalog numbers of 3000. In July 1955 the LP Mucho Cha Cha Cha came out with the Don Swan Orchestra under the number 3001. According to the origin of the Liberty founder, it was an instrumental record. At the end of 1955, the first vocal LP with Julie London was released under No. 3006 under the title Julie Is Her Name , it reached 2nd place in the LP charts. In May 1959 reached Exotica by Martin Denny , a Liberty Square LP first first center in 1958 launched its Liberty 7000 series, which was reserved solely for stereo plates, including new editions were earlier mono plates. The last mono LP was released in 1968 with Gary Lewis & Playboys entitled Gary Lewis Now! under catalog no. 3568. At this time Liberty had started to publish stereo versions parallel to the mono editions, which received a 7000 number instead of the 3000 number (3539 = 7539).
In 1960 Liberty started its Premier Series with the catalog numbers of the 13000 series for mono and 14000 for stereo. The record company advertised this series with references to particularly high technical quality and carefully designed production with specially selected artists. In the LP charts, however, these records received little attention, only 50 guitars Go South Of The Border with Tommy Garrett was ranked 36th in the top 40. Liberty published other musical genres under the series 6000 for jazz, 15000 for classical and 16000 for soundtracks.
Change of ownership
When Liberty, now based in Los Angeles , stagnated in 1963 and the company's owner Waronker fell seriously ill, Liberty's Vice President Al Bennett initiated the sale to electronics company Avnet, which Liberty took over for $ 12 million. Even under Avnet, Liberty achieved no success, but was in the red. Thereupon Avnet canceled the sale and left the record company to Bennett along with the sublabels Imperial, Dolton, Aladdin and Minit for eight million dollars. In 1966 Liberty started another subcontractor with the Sunset label. Two years later, Liberty was sold for $ 38 million to the insurance company Transamerica Corporation , which affiliated the label to the record company that it owned, United Artists . Under new ownership, Liberty experienced rapid decline. All Bennett was sacked, the previous Liberty stars like Bobby Vee, Gary Lewis and Jan and Dean were neglected, the sublabels Dolton, Imperial and Minit were liquidated. The newly hired artists like Canned Heat , Ike and Tina Turner and Bobby Womack had only moderate success. After 56218 Sugarloaf's Tongue In Cheek / Woman (No. 56218), no new records were released under the Liberty label, all artists were taken over by United Artists. In February 1979 the British record company EMI acquired United Artists along with all of the Liberty Masters and revived the label name Liberty for some time. From 1980 to 1984 EMI used the name Liberty for its country publications , including with Kenny Rogers and Dottie West . In 1992, EMI formed a new sub-company in Nashville , for which they reused the Liberty name. In 1995 the Liberty label was finally closed.
No. 1 singles on Billboard
| year | title | Interpreter | Catalog no. |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1958 | Witch Doctor | Davis Seville | 55132 |
| 1958 | The Chipmunk Song | The Chipmunks | 55168 |
| 1959 | Come Softly To Me | The Fleetwoods | 55188 |
| 1961 | Take Good Care Of My Baby | Bobby Vee | 55354 |
| 1963 | Surf City | Jan and Dean | 55580 |
| 1965 | This diamond ring | Gary Lewis & the Playboys | 55756 |
More Liberty singles in the Billboard Top 10
| year | title | Interpreter | Catalog no. | placement |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1955 | Cry Me A River | Julie London | 55006 | 9. |
| 1956 | Tonight You Belong To Me | Patience and Prudence | 55022 | 4th |
| 1957 | I'm available | Margie Rayburn | 55102 | 7th |
| 1958 | Summertime Blues | Eddie Cochran | 55144 | 8th. |
| 1959 | Alvin's Harmonica | The Chipmunks | 55179 | 3. |
| 1960 | You're sixteen | Johnny Burnett | 55285 | 8th. |
| 1960 | Devil or Angel | Bobby Vee | 55270 | 6th |
| 1960 | Rubber ball | Bobby Vee | 55287 | 6th |
| 1961 | A Hundred Pounds Of Clay | Gene McDaniels | 55308 | 3. |
| 1961 | Hurt | Timi Yuro | 55343 | 4th |
| 1961 | The Mountain's High | Dick & DeeDee | 55350 | 2. |
| 1961 | This time | Troy Shondell | 55353 | 6th |
| 1961 | Tower of Strength | Gene McDaniels | 55371 | 5. |
| 1961 | Run To Him | Bobby Vee | 55388 | 2. |
| 1962 | Chip chip | Gene McDaniels | 55405 | 10. |
| 1962 | Old Rivers | Walter Brennan | 55436 | 5. |
| 1962 | The Night Has A Thousand Eyes | Bobby Vee | 55521 | 3. |
| 1963 | Drag City | Jan & Dean | 55641 | 10. |
| 1963 | Dead Man's Curve | Jan & Dean | 55672 | 8th. |
| 1964 | The Little Old Lady From Pasadena | Jan & Dean | 55704 | 3. |
| 1964 | This diamond ring | Gary Lewis | 55756 | 1. |
| 1965 | Count Me In | Gary Lewis | 55778 | 2. |
| 1965 | Save Your Heart For Me | Gary Lewis | 55809 | 2. |
| 1965 | Everybody Loves A Clown | Gary Lewis | 55818 | 4th |
| 1965 | She's just my style | Gary Lewis | 55846 | 3. |
| 1966 | Sure Gonna Miss Her | Gary Lewis | 55865 | 9. |
| 1966 | Green grass | Gary Lewis | 55880 | 8th. |
| 1967 | Come Back When You Grow Up | Bobby Vee | 55982 | 3. |
| 1969 | Hawaii Five-O | The Ventures | 56068 | 4th |
| 1970 | Green-eyed lady | Sugarloaf | 56183 | 3. |
| 1971 | Proud Mary | Ike & Tina Turner | 56216 | 4th |
Liberty in Germany
Until 1961, Liberty recordings were distributed in Germany by the British record company London / Decca . From 1962 Liberty entered the German market itself and published numerous productions under catalog numbers 22000 and 23000. This included most of the titles from the US top 10. In many cases, the A and B sides differed from the US originals. In the course of 1967 new catalog numbers were introduced with the 15000 series and records with German titles were brought onto the market for the first time. One of the first German-language productions was the single by Vic Dana All die Words / Say only goodbye (No. 23479). Then singles appeared with Suzanne Doucet , and in 1969 Katja Ebstein was signed. It was the only German title that could place in the German top 50. After Liberty ceased its activities in the American market in 1970, the label also disappeared in Germany.
Liberty in the German top 50
| year | Interpreter | title | Catalog no. | placement |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1966 | Cher | Bang bang | 23185 | 17th |
| 1967 | Brenton Wood | Gimme Little Sign | 15021 | 25th |
| 1968 | Eddie Cochran | Summertime Blues | 22331 | 25th |
| 1968 | Canned heat | On The Road Again | 15090 | 13. |
| 1969 | Bonzo Dog Band | I'm the urban spaceman | 15144 | 39. |
| 1969 | Canned heat | Going up the country | 15169 | 36. |
| 1969 | Fifth dimension | Aquarius | 15193 | 2. |
| 1969 | Fifth dimension | Sunshine Of Your Love | 15243 | 36. |
| 1969 | JJ Light | Heya | 15228 | 12. |
| 1970 | Canned heat | Let's work together | 15302 | 6th |
| 1970 | Katja Ebstein | Miracles are happening from time to time | 15317 | 16. |
| 1970 | Canned heat | Sugar Bee | 15340 | 39. |
| 1970 | Katja Ebstein | And when a new day awakens | 15385 | 28. |
| 1971 | Ike & Tina Turner | Proud Mary | 15432 | 21st |
| 1971 | Katja Ebstein | This world | 15444 | 16. |
literature
- Angelika and Lothar Binding: The large binding single catalog 3rd edition , Heidelberg 1994
- Martin Reichold: The great rock & pop single price catalog 2001 , Vereinigte Motor-Verlage Stuttgart, ISBN 3-89113-120-8
- Günter Ehnert: German Chart Singles 1956–1980 , Taurus Press Hamburg 1990, ISBN 3-922542-24-7
Web links
- The Liberty Record Story
- Discography (55000th series) at www.globaldogproductions.info
- Discography (56000th series) at www.globaldogproductions.info
- Billboard listings at www.musicvf.com
Individual evidence
- ^ Liberty Merger with Nocturne, Billboard Magazine , June 4, 1955, p. 18