Pye Records
From Biocrawler, the free encyclopedia.
Pye Records was a British record label. Its best known artist was Petula Clark, who recorded for the label from 1957 through 1971.
The Pye Compagny originally sold televisions and radios and entered the record business when it bought Nixa Records in 1953. In 1955, Pye acquired Polygon Records, a label that had been established by Clark's father to control distribution of her recordings, and merged it with Nixa Records to form Pye Nixa Records. In 1959, the name was changed to Pye Records and ATV acquired 50% of the label. ATV bought the other half of the business in 1966. Two subsidiaries where created during the sixties: Pye Golden Guinea Records and Piccadilly Records. They were replaced by Dawn Records in the seventies. When the rights to the name Pye expired in 1980, the label changed its name to PRT Records.
In 1958 Pye International Records was started. The company distributed many American labels, including Chess Records, A&M Records, Kama Sutra Records, Buddah Records, and King Records in the UK.
Notable artists on Pye Records
- Petula Clark (1957-1971)—In addition to dozens of singles, her output for Pye included seventeen albums.
- Donovan (1965-1971)
- The Kinks (1964-1971)
- The Searchers (1963-1967)
