Mercury Records
Mercury Records was a record label founded in Chicago, Illinois in 1945 by Irving Green, Berle Adams and Arthur Talmadge. They were a major force in jazz and blues, classical music, rock and roll, and country music recordings.
Early in their history, Mercury opened two pressing plants, one in Chicago and the other in St. Louis, Missouri. With the use of automatic presses and providing 24-hour turnaround, they went into direct competition with major recording labels such as Columbia, Decca, and RCA Victor.
 Mercury Record sleeve artwork, c.1950
The company released an enormous number of recordings under the Mercury label as well as its subsidiaries (Blue Rock, Cumberland Records, Emarcy, Fontana, Limelight, Phillips, Smash, and Wing). In addition, they leased and purchased material by independent labels and redistributed them.
Under their own label, Mercury released all kinds of recordings from classical music to psychedelic rock. However, its subsidiaries focused on their own specialized categories of music.
In 1961 the Dutch company, Philips, signed an exchange agreement with Mercury, and Philips subsequently bought Mercury and its subsidiary labels to expand its US base. In 1962 Philips merged its record operations with Deutsche Grammophon to become PolyGram in the early 1970s.
See also
Referenced By
1961 in music | 2112 (album) | Aqualung (musician) | Big Bopper | Billy Ray Cyrus | Blues Magoos | Buju Banton | Car Wheels on a Gravel Road | Cardigans | Cardigans,The | Caress Of Steel | Chuck D | Clyde McPhatter | Danny Goldberg | Def Leppard | Elvis Costello | Elvis Costello & the Attractions | Emm Gryner | Esther Phillips | Finger 11 | Finger Eleven | Fly by Night | Frank Rizzo (Jerky Boys) | Fred Foster | Half Hour Of Power | Hanson | JATP | Jazz at the Philharmonic | Jerky Boys | Joan Osborne | John Cougar | John Cougar Mellencamp | John Mellencamp | Kerbdog (album) | List of Grammy Hall of Fame Award recipients A-D | List of Grammy Hall of Fame Award recipients E-I | List of Grammy Hall of Fame Award recipients J-P | List of advertising slogans | List of corporate slogans | List of record companies | List of record labels | Little Esther | Little Esther Phillips | Louis Jordan | Louis Jordan & His Elks Rendez-Vous Band | Louis Jordan & His Elks Rendezvous Band | Louis Jordan & His Orchestra | Louis Jordan & His Tympany 5 | Louis Jordan & His Tympany Five | Louis Jordan & His Tympany Five | Matt Hales | Mercury | Michelle Shocked | Mighty, Mighty Bosstones | Mighty Mighty Bosstones | My Kind of Country | Pere Ubu | Platters | PolyGram | Pyromania (album) | Quincy Jones | Reba McEntire | Richard M. Jones | Rush (album) | Shangri-Las | The Big Bopper | The Cardigans | The Mighty, Mighty Bosstones | The Mighty Mighty Bosstones | The Platters | The Shangri-Las | The Shangrilas | The Ultramagnetic MC's | The Ultramagnetic MCs | Ultramagnetic MC's | Ultramagnetic MCs
|
