Oriole Records was the first British record label founded in 1925 by the London-based Levy Company, which owned a gramophone record subsidiary called Levaphone Records. Initially the Levy family founded the first record shop out of store that sold bicycles and sewing machines in Whitechapel at 19 High Street in Whitechapel, and later moved to 139 Whitechapel High Street also in Whitechapel. It recorded popular music in England, and also issued masters from United States Vocalion Records in May and June 1927. The original label was discontinued in 1935.
Owner, David Morris Levy and his brother Jacques (no relation to his Roulette Records namesake) revived the Oriole label in 1950. For a few years (ending in 1955) it was the exclusive UK licensee for the American Mercury Records label, with releases by artists such as Frankie Laine, Vic Damone and Patti Page. These releases appeared first on the Oriole label itself and later on the Mercury label.
Jacques produced records starting in the 1931 at the West End studios at Rosslyn House, 94-98 Regent Street, where they stayed until 1937 when they moved to 73 New Bond Street, London W1S 1RR with chief engineers Ted Sibbick and Bill Johnson built into what was once an art gallery. In 1949, the segregated the work and the label, with Oriole Records Ltd moving into 101 New Bond Street, London W1S 1SR, and with Levy moving out to a factory at Aston Clinton, near Aylesbury. From 1938 or 1939, David Morris Levy lived nearby at Flat 98, Clarence Gate Gardens, near Baker Street in London NW1 6QP until his 1971 death, and also maintained a residence at Wild Air, Cliff Road, Birchington, Kent, CT7 9JX.
Oriole achieved a few home-made hits in the late 1950s and early 1960s, including the Chas McDevitt skiffle group's version of Freight Train (featuring Nancy Whiskey on vocals); Like I Do by Maureen Evans (based on the same music utilized by Allan Sherman's Hello, Muddah! Hello Faddah!, Ponichelli's Dance of The Hours), and the label's biggest hit, Russ Hamilton's We Will Make Love, which reached #2 in the UK charts, and the B side of which (Rainbow) reached #4 in the USA on Kapp Records. The label also had successes with tracks licensed from European labels, notably Domenico Modugno's original recording of Volare and recordings by Swedish instrumental group, The Spotnicks. In the 1960s Oriole licensed several productions by Joe Meek (The Dowlands, Alan Klein and Screaming Lord Sutch).
Oriole also produced cover versions of the hits of the day, which it released on its cut-price Embassy Records label, sold exclusively in Woolworths Limited stores. The repertoire consisted of cut-price cover versions of British pop hits, first released in November 1954.
During the tenure of A&R manager John Schroeder, Oriole was the first UK label (after the odd release on London and Fontana) to license recordings on a regular basis from the U.S. Tamla and Motown Records catalogue, but none of the releases charted (it was not until a few years later, and on EMI's Stateside label, that the Detroit label would begin its run of hits in the UK). Nonetheless, several of the singles have since come to be highly regarded, with famous recordings including "Do You Love Me" (The Contours), "You've Really Got a Hold on Me" (The Miracles), and "Fingertips" (Little Stevie Wonder). Oriole released 19 single 45rpm Motown releases on the black and white Oriole American label whilst 7 albums appeared on the normal black and yellow Oriole label. The releases were known as Tamla Motown outside of the US, nor some of the rarest Motown releases and command extremely high prices among collectors.
Oriole had two record pressing factories, one situated in leafy Aston Clinton and the other in Colnbrook.
The Oriole record company lasted until September 21, 1964, when it was bought, lock, stock and plant, by CBS Inc., parent of the American Columbia Records, who were looking to set up their own manufacturing facility in the UK. The result was CBS Records, and with its coming the Oriole label disappeared forever. David Morris Levy, originally stayed on as Managing Director, but severed all ties with CBS in 1967
David Morris Levy's sons, John Jacob, an attorney at Nicholas Morris in London and Edward Frederick, principal of Chelsea Music Publishing in London are still active in the music business.
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