Fontana Records is a

record label A record label, or record company, is a brand or trademark of music recordings and music videos, or the company that owns it. Sometimes, a record label is also a publishing company that manages such brands and trademarks, coordinates the pr ...

that was started in the 1950s as a subsidiary of the Dutch

Philips Records Philips Records is a record label founded by the Dutch electronics company Philips. It was founded as Philips Phonographische Industrie in 1950. In 1946, Philips acquired the company which pressed records for British Decca's Dutch outlet i ...

. The independent label distributor Fontana Distribution takes its name from the label.

History

Fontana started in the 1950s as a subsidiary of the Dutch

; when

Philips Koninklijke Philips N.V. (), commonly shortened to Philips, is a Dutch multinational conglomerate corporation that was founded in Eindhoven in 1891. Since 1997, it has been mostly headquartered in Amsterdam, though the Benelux headquarters is ...

restructured its music operations, it dropped Fontana in favor of Vertigo Records. Fontana's U.S. counterpart label was started in 1964 and distributed by

US subsidiary

Mercury Records Mercury Records is an American record label owned by Universal Music Group. It had significant success as an independent operation in the 1940s and 1950s. Smash Records and Fontana Records were sub labels of Mercury. In the United States, it ...

. The initial single release (F 1501) was a wild teen beat instrumental by famed British session drummer Bobby Graham, both sides featuring

Jimmy Page James Patrick Page (born 9 January 1944) is an English musician who achieved international success as the guitarist and founder of the rock band Led Zeppelin. Page is prolific in creating guitar riffs. His style involves various alternative ...

on guitar. Among the hitmakers were Wayne Fontana & the Mindbenders (then later on their own, simply as the Mindbenders), the Troggs, the New Vaudeville Band,

Manfred Mann Manfred Mann were an English rock band, formed in London and active between 1962 and 1969. The group were named after their keyboardist Manfred Mann, who later led the successful 1970s group Manfred Mann's Earth Band. The band had two diffe ...

, Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick & Tich, and

Steam Steam is a substance containing water in the gas phase, and sometimes also an aerosol of liquid water droplets, or air. This may occur due to evaporation or due to boiling, where heat is applied until water reaches the enthalpy of vaporizatio ...

, all of whom had No. 1 hits on the label. Other successful Fontana artists included

the Silkie The Silkie were an English folk music group. Their name was derived from an Orcadian song "The Great Silkie of Sule Skerry", which they sometimes performed. They were briefly considered to be the English equivalent of Peter, Paul and Mary, with t ...

, Nana Mouskouri,

the Pretty Things ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the ...

, the Herd, Gloria Lynne and the duo of Jane Birkin &

Serge Gainsbourg Serge Gainsbourg (; born Lucien Ginsburg; 2 April 1928 – 2 March 1991) was a French musician, singer-songwriter, actor, author and filmmaker. Regarded as one of the most important figures in French pop, he was renowned for often provoc ...

. The label also served as an outlet for other British acts such as the Merseybeats, the Others, Eden Kane, the Escorts and Sight & Sound. Fontna released southern soul 45s such as the Pallbeares also. In some cases, Fontana was early on artists who achieved greater fame and fortune with subsequent releases for other labels, like the Spencer Davis Group, the Guess Who,

Don Partridge Donald Eric Partridge (27 October 1941 – 21 September 2010)Report of death< ...

and Helen Reddy. Notably, in 1964, a group calling themselves The High Numbers released their first single, "I'm The Face"/"Zoot Suit." They achieved worldwide success after changing labels and management, and changing their name to

The Who The Who are an English rock band formed in London in 1964. Their classic lineup consisted of lead singer Roger Daltrey, guitarist and singer Pete Townshend, bass guitarist and singer John Entwistle, and drummer Keith Moon. They are considered ...

. It was also an outlet for some of the productions James Brown recorded under his deal with sister label Smash Records including Vicki Anderson. Fontana's British division was the UK licensee for

Motown Records Motown Records is an American record label owned by the Universal Music Group. It was founded by Berry Gordy Jr. as Tamla Records on June 7, 1958, and incorporated as Motown Record Corporation on April 14, 1960. Its name, a portmanteau of ''mot ...

(in 1961),

Columbia Records Columbia Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America, the North American division of Japanese conglomerate Sony. It was founded on January 15, 1889, evolving from the A ...

and

Epic Records Epic Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America, the North American division of Japanese conglomerate Sony. The label was founded predominantly as a jazz and classical m ...

(until 1962),

Vanguard Records Vanguard Recording Society is an American record label set up in 1950 by brothers Maynard and Seymour Solomon in New York City. It was a primarily classical label at its peak in the 1950s and 1960s, but also has a catalogue of recordings by a n ...

(until 1967),

Mainstream Records Mainstream Records was an American record company and independent record label founded by producer Bob Shad in 1964. Mainstream's early releases were reissues from Commodore Records. Its catalogue grew to include Bob Brookmeyer, Maynard Fergu ...

and ESP-Disk. As with Philips, labels were blue for singles, black for EPs and LPs. In the UK and Europe, the Fontana label was largely dormant after 1974, although in 1980–81 it was used for releases by Sector 27 and

Dennis Bovell Dennis Bovell (born 22 May 1953Huey, Steve"Dennis Bovell Biography" Allmusic. Retrieved 27 December 2014.) is a Barbados-born reggae guitarist, bass player and record producer, based in England. He was a member of the British reggae band Mat ...

. Fontana was revived in the 1980s as an outlet for acts such as

Tears for Fears Tears for Fears are an English pop rock band formed in Bath, England, in 1981 by Roland Orzabal and Curt Smith. Founded after the dissolution of their first band, the mod-influenced Graduate, Tears for Fears were associated with the new ...

, the Teardrop Explodes, Pere Ubu, Cocteau Twins and

Swing Out Sister Swing Out Sister are a British pop group best known worldwide for the 1986 song " Breakout". Other hits include " Surrender", " Twilight World", " Waiting Game", and a remake of the Eugene Record soul composition "Am I the Same Girl?" Histo ...

, and was active in the 1990s, releasing music for acts such as House of Love, Gorky's Zygotic Mynci, Ocean Colour Scene, Oleta Adams and James. It is currently an active division of Fontana Distribution, using the same logo. In 2009 the label released Brooke Hogan's album. US Weekly review Brooke Hogan
retrieved 22 December 2021 The Fontana UK website is at WIX.

US label variations

*1964—Pink label *1965-1970—Light blue or slightly darker-toned blue label (some of these labels were stamped with an "S") *1980s—Black and silver label

References

External links

Fontana story from BSN Pubs

A discography of American Fontana albums in the 1960s and early 1970s

* ttp://globaldogproductions.info/f/fontana-uk.html A discography of UK Fontana singles from 1958 to 1974
A discography of Australian Fontana singles
{{Authority control Record labels established in 1954 Record labels disestablished in 1970 Re-established companies Dutch record labels Philips Labels distributed by Universal Music Group

History

US label variations

See also

References

External links