United Artists Records | |
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Parent company |
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Founded | 1957 |
Founder | Max E. Youngstein |
Status | Defunct (fate: absorbed into Liberty Records by EMI in 1980) |
Distributor(s) | Self-distributed |
Genre | Various |
Country of origin | United States |
United Artists Records was a record label founded by Max E. Youngstein of United Artists in 1957 initially to distribute records of its movie soundtracks, though it soon branched out into recording music of a number of different genres.
In 1959, United Artists released Forest of the Amazons, a cantata by Brazilian composer Heitor Villa-Lobos adapted from the music he composed for MGM's Green Mansions, with the composer conducting the Symphony of the Air. Brazilian soprano Bidu Sayão was the featured soloist on the unusual recording, which was released on both LP and reel-to-reel tape.
Besides the movie soundtracks and the few classical releases, UA had quite a few rock 'n roll and r&b hits from 1959 (and into the 1960s) with hits by the Clovers, Marv Johnson, the Falcons, the Exciters, Patty Duke, the Delicates, Bobby Goldsboro, Jay and the Americans, and later Manfred Mann and the Easybeats. Berry Gordy placed a number of early Motown acts with UA including Marv Johnson and Eddie Holland in 1959. UA signed Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller ro produce the variety of artists signed to the label after they left Atlantic. They had hits with the Exciters, Bobby Goldsboro, Jay and the Americans, the Clovers, as well as Mike Clifford. UA also covered folk with the inclusion of Gordon Lightfoot on the roster, and easy listening mood music with the piano duo Ferrante & Teicher.