Axe Records is a Canadian record label founded by

Greg Hambleton Greg Hambleton is a Canadian music industry entrepreneur living in Hamilton, Ontario. Over the years he has been a record producer, recording engineer, songwriter and music label executive with Axe Records. Career Hambleton was the recording eng ...

in 1972. After a number of years of inactivity, the label was revived in 2013. It is particularly notable as the original recording label of Canadian duo

Gary and Dave Gary and Dave were a Canadian pop duo composed of Gary Weeks (born May 22, 1950 in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island) and David Lloyd George "Dave" Beckett (born July 5, 1949 in Newmarket, Ontario). They are best known for their 1973 song "Cou ...

History

Axe Records was founded by Greg Hambleton in 1972. The label was initially distributed by

London Records London Recordings (or London Records and London Music Stream) is a British record label that marketed records in the United States, Canada, and Latin America for Decca Records from 1947 to 1980 before becoming semi-independent. The London nam ...

of Canada. The first artists signed to the label included Canadian group Thundermug. In 1974 Axe moved into offices in the Toronto Sound Studio building on Overlea Boulevard. By 1975, the label was distributed by

GRT Records GRT Records was the name of both a U.S. and a Canadian record label, both created by General Recorded Tape, a California-based company that existed from 1965 to 1979.Richard GreenGRT of Canada, Ltd. The Canadian Encyclopedia. Retrieved 2013-02-26. ...

in Canada.Uncredited
Axe sharpens sights in 3-pronged goal
Billboard, June 14, 1975, p. 47. Retrieved 2013-05-26. The company had no consistent international distribution. The company's most successful artist duo,

, was distributed by London Records in the United States. Its principal rock band, Thundermug, was distributed by the Big Tree and the Epic labels and, as of 1975, at the initiative of Hambleton, by

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 is ...

. International licensing arrangements were signed with

EMI Electrola Electrola is a German record label and subsidiary of Universal Music Group. Based in Munich, its roster has included Chumbawamba, Matthias Reim, Helene Fischer, Brings, Höhner and Santiano. History On 8 May 1925 the British Gramophone Comp ...

, Basart and Decca UK. The label's major recording success was with Gary and Dave. The label also released records by Thundermug, Fergus, The Sattalites, Rain (with Charity Brown),

Keith Hampshire Keith Hampshire (born 23 November 1945) is an English-born singer and actor. He recorded three songs which were top ten hits in Canada, and hosted the CBC Television show ''Keith Hampshire's Music Machine''. His voice has been compared to Dav ...

, Major Hoople's Boarding House, Steel River,

Tom Northcott Tom Northcott (born August 29, 1943 in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada) is a Canadian folk-rock singer with hits in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Musical career He became known to a Canadian audience by his regular appearances on CBC Tel ...

and

Walter Ostanek Ladislav John "Walter" Ostanek, CM (born 20 April 1935) is a Canadian musician. He is known as "Canada's Polka King." He has received twenty-one nominations for Grammy Awards and won three. Early life Born in Duparquet, Quebec in 1935, his f ...

, among others. In 2013, the label was revived by its founder and owner, Greg Hambleton, to re-issue and market the original recordings by its original artists, as well as to sign new artists.

Adam Carter Adam Henry Carter is a fictional character from the BBC espionage television series '' Spooks'', which follows the exploits of Section D, a counter-terrorism division of MI5. He is portrayed by British actor Rupert Penry-Jones. The character is ...

Classic Canadian record label resurrected in Hamilton

CBC News CBC News is a division of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation responsible for the news gathering and production of news programs on the corporation's English-language operations, namely CBC Television, CBC Radio, CBC News Network, and CBC.c ...

, July 29, 2013. Retrieved 2013-09-15.

References

External links

* {{Authority control Record labels established in 1972