The Independent and Liberty Records Years
Upon its formation in 1947, Imperial focused on the release of rhythm & blues/R&B, country, and Mexican music including recordings by such R&B artists as Fats Domino, Frankie Ford, and Ricky Nelson as well as those by yodeling country singer, Slim Whitman. In the United Kingdom, Imperial was distributed by London Records.
Imperial expanded its operations by purchasing Aladdin Records in 1960 and Minit Records in 1963 (having distributed Minit since 1960). Throughout the 1950s, Imperial was one of the primary labels issuing a vast quantity of R&B from New Orleans, though their involvement with producer, writer Dave Bartholomew, and later in the 1960s with their distribution and of the independent Minit Records (and purchase, a few years later).
Later in 1963 after Imperial lost Fats Domino and Ricky Nelson to rival labels, Chudd sold the label to Liberty Records. Under Liberty's management, the label enjoyed success from such artists as holdover Irma Thomas as well as Johnny Rivers, Jackie DeShannon, Classics IV and Cher.
During the British Invasion years, Liberty (whose recordings were distributed by EMI in the UK) licensed artists including The Hollies, Billy J. Kramer with The Dakotas and The Swinging Blue Jeans from EMI for release on the Imperial label. Recordings by Liberty UK act The Bonzo Dog Band and Kim Fowley were issued in the USA on the Imperial label.
By 1970 the label became part of Liberty's merger with United Artists, but was phased out shortly thereafter with its artists being transferred to United Artists. EMI now owns the Imperial Records catalogue.
This is not the same Imperial currently in Japan or that was a division of EMI's Dutch arm.
Read more about this topic: Imperial Records
Famous quotes containing the words independent, liberty, records and/or years:
“Surrealism, n. Pure psychic automatism, by which it is intended to express, whether verbally or in writing, or in any other way, the real process of thought. Thought’s dictation, free from any control by the reason, independent of any aesthetic or moral preoccupation.”
—André Breton (1896–1966)
“The philosopher is like a man fasting in the midst of universal intoxication. He alone perceives the illusion of which all creatures are the willing playthings; he is less duped than his neighbor by his own nature. He judges more sanely, he sees things as they are. It is in this that his liberty consists—in the ability to see clearly and soberly, in the power of mental record.”
—Henri-Frédéric Amiel (1821–1881)
“It’s always the generals with the bloodiest records who are the first to shout what a hell it is. And it’s always the war widows who lead the Memorial Day parades.”
—Paddy Chayefsky (1923–1981)
“To me, literature is a calling, even a kind of salvation. It connects me with an enterprise that is over 2,000 years old. What do we have from the past? Art and thought. That’s what lasts. That’s what continues to feed people and given them an idea of something better. A better state of one’s feelings or simply the idea of a silence in one’s self that allows one to think or to feel. Which to me is the same.”
—Susan Sontag (b. 1933)