Cameo-Parkway Records - Decline and Shutdown

Decline and Shutdown

In early 1964, three near-simultaneous events sent Cameo-Parkway into a sharp decline from which it would never fully recover. The first was the move of American Bandstand from Philadelphia to Los Angeles in February; suddenly, Cameo-Parkway's primary source of national exposure and promotion was gone. Just as devastating (as it was to many other American labels) was the second event: the onslaught of the British Invasion in 64/65, which dramatically changed the tastes of the American record buying public. Cameo tried to keep pace by licensing a handful of early British beat group singles, notably the first two flop singles by The Kinks, but none made the US charts.

The third and final event was that Bernie Lowe had become increasingly disenchanted with the business side of record making, and suffering from nervous exhaustion and bouts of depression, he sold his stake in the company in 1964. Mann and Appel soon followed, and by mid-1965 none of Cameo-Parkway's founding trio were associated with the label, and their biggest stars (Bobby Rydell and Chubby Checker) had also left. Cameo's new management was unable to duplicate their success with artists like Jo Ann Campbell, Maynard Ferguson, Clark Terry, the instrumental group LeRoy & His Rockin' Fellers and TV-stars-turned-singers like Clint Eastwood and Merv Griffin.

In mid-1966, 23-year-old Neil Bogart was made the label's new head of A&R. Turning to midwestern garage bands and orchestrated soul productions (including the distribution of Curtis Mayfield's "Windy C" label), Bogart managed to shepherd in a brief Cameo-Parkway renaissance. The last major hits for the label were "96 Tears" by Question Mark and the Mysterians, which went to #1 in the fall of 1966; a novelty remake of "Wild Thing" by an impressionist imitating Robert F. Kennedy under the name Senator Bobby (1966); and "Beg, Borrow and Steal" by The Ohio Express (1967). Bogart also signed Bob Seger to his first recording contract, and Cameo-Parkway issued Seger's first five singles, which were all huge regional hits in Michigan but failed to catch fire nationally.

In mid-1967 Cameo-Parkway became a subsidiary of MGM Records and released four more albums (two on Cameo, one on Parkway and one on Vando) as well as three more singles (one on Parkway and two on Vando). For the first time both label names appeared on the record labels, although either the Cameo or Parkway name was emphasized, and the two series continued to use separate catalogue numbering systems. This suggests that a gradual merger of the two labels was in progress, but it was never completed. By late 1967, after financial problems worsened, the Cameo-Parkway company was sold to Allen Klein and renamed ABKCO Records, with Bell Records acquiring its remaining subsidiary Vando label.