Baby Records was an Italian record label which was founded in 1974 by Freddy Naggiar.

History

Initially located in Piazza della Repubblica in

Milan Milan ( , , ; ) is a city in northern Italy, regional capital of Lombardy, the largest city in Italy by urban area and the List of cities in Italy, second-most-populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of nea ...

, the company later moved to new premises in Via Timavo. Naggiar signed a distribution contract with Yep and in 1975 the label got its first hit in the Italian charts with

Santo California I Santo California are an Italian musical group active since 1974. They are best known for their debut single " Tornerò" which became an international no. one hit in 1975. History The group was founded by five musicians originating from Campan ...

's "Tornerò".

Success

Over the years Baby Records signed many popular

Italo disco Italo disco (variously capitalized, and sometimes hyphenated as Italo-disco) is a music genre which originated in Italy in the late 1970s and was mainly produced in the 1980s. Italo disco evolved from the then-current underground dance, pop, ...

and

Electropop Electropop is a popular music fusion genre combining elements of the electronic and pop styles. It has been described as a variant of synth-pop with emphasis on a hard electronic sound. The genre was developed in the 1980s and saw a rev ...

acts including

Den Harrow Den Harrow was an Italo disco project from the mid 1980s, with Stefano Zandri (born 4 June 1962) as the face of the artist (lip syncing), and Tom Hooker doing most of the vocals. It was revealed many years later that Zandri did not sing on any o ...

Gazebo A gazebo is a pavilion structure, sometimes octagonal or Gun turret, turret-shaped, often built in a park, garden, or spacious public area. Some are used on occasions as bandstands. In British English, the word is also used for a tent-like can ...

, Albert One,

La Bionda La Bionda were an Italian disco duo consisting of siblings Carmelo (1949–2022) and Michelangelo La Bionda (born 1952). They are considered among the pioneers of the Italo disco music genre. The siblings were born in Ramacca, Sicily and move ...

Pino Presti Giuseppe Prestipino Giarritta (born 23 August 1943), professionally known by his pseudonym Pino Presti, is an Italian conductor, arranger, bassist, composer and record producer from Milan. He is a 5th-dan black belt in Shotokan Karate. Pres ...

, K.I.D.
Stefano Pulga
Spargo,

DD Sound La Bionda were an Italian disco duo consisting of siblings Carmelo (1949–2022) and Michelangelo La Bionda (born 1952). They are considered among the pioneers of the Italo disco music genre. The siblings were born in Ramacca, Sicily and moved ...

, Kimera,

Al Bano Albano Antonio Carrisi (; born 20 May 1943), better known as Al Bano, is an Italian singer and actor. Having sold over 25 million records globally and career spanning seven decades, he is one of the most recognisable Italian singers in the worl ...

Romina Power Romina Francesca Power (born October 2, 1951) is an American and naturalized Italian actress and singer. She is the daughter of actor Tyrone Power and actress Linda Christian. With ex-husband Albano Carrisi, she formed the music duo Al Ban ...

Ricchi e Poveri Ricchi e Poveri (; "The Rich and The Poor") is an Italian pop music, pop group formed in Genoa in 1967, originally consisting of Angela Brambati, Angelo Sotgiu, Franco Gatti and Marina Occhiena. Active since the late 1960s, they have sold over ...

Dario Farina Dario is a masculine given name, etymologically related to Darius. Given name * Dario Allevi (born 1965), Italian politician *Dario Argento (born 1940), Italian film director * Dario Badinelli (born 1946), Italian triple jumper *Dario Bellezza ( ...

, and others. It also released albums by Italian 1960s pop star

Rosanna Fratello Rosanna Fratello (; born 26 March 1951) is an Italian singer and actress. Biography and career Rosanna Fratello was born in San Severo, Foggia, and as a child she moved to Cinisello Balsamo, Milan, where she has grown up. Rosanna emerged as sin ...

, albums of children's songs sang by

and I Cavalieri del Re, and instrumental music albums by American pianist and composer

Stephen Schlaks Stephen or Steven is an English first name. It is particularly significant to Christians, as it belonged to Saint Stephen ( ), an early disciple and deacon who, according to the Book of Acts, was stoned to death; he is widely regarded as the firs ...

and Venetian ensemble

Rondò Veneziano Rondò Veneziano is an Italian chamber orchestra, specializing in Baroque music, playing original instruments, but incorporating a rock-style rhythm section of synthesizer, bass guitar and drums, led by ''Maestro'' Gian Piero Reverberi, who is ...

. In 1983, Baby Records released ''Mixage'', the first of a series of dance music compilation albums. This was followed by ''Bimbomix'', a compilation album targeted to a younger audience. In 1986, an unofficial Baby Records anthem called Highway To Freedom was released by a group called Fahreinheit 104, which consisted of Baby Records singers, producers, and composers, including

Tom Hooker Tom Hooker or Thomas Barbéy (born Thomas Beecher Hooker on November 18, 1957) is an American singer and fine art photographer. He was the voice and one of the songwriters behind most songs for popular Italo disco artist Den Harrow. The 2018 do ...

, Maurizio Vandelli, Dario Farina, and Jane Hill. The music video, shot in a

Kent Kent is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Essex across the Thames Estuary to the north, the Strait of Dover to the south-east, East Sussex to the south-west, Surrey to the west, and Gr ...

chalk quarry, also featured

Eddy Huntington Edward Huntington (born 29 October 1965) is an English pop singer who began his professional singing career in Italy. Huntington became popular in Europe and the former USSR mainly with his song "U.S.S.R." which peaked at No.6 in Switzerland and ...

alongside the cast of thousands of others. In 1987, it released Italian prog-rock band

Le Orme Le Orme (Italian: "The Footprints") is an Italian progressive rock band formed in 1966 in Marghera, a ''frazione'' of Venice. The band was one of the major groups of the Italian progressive rock scene in the 1970s. They are one of few Italian ro ...

's "Dimmi che cos'è".

Later years

By the end of the 1980s, the company ventured into international and television productions. Successful releases in the 1990s included Down Low's "Once Upon a Time" and

super group ''Super Group'' is an album by the Japanese rock music, rock trio Shonen Knife. It was released in Japan on 7 November 2008, in the USA on 20 May 2009, and in the UK and Europe in 2010. The original Japanese CD issue was released as a mini-LP ca ...

Rappers Against The Racism's "Only You" reached a new peak in the charts. In 1994 Baby Records changed its name to Baby Records International and expanded its operations to other areas, such as Germany, England and North America.

References

External links

*
http://www.discogs.com/label/Baby+Records+(2) Baby Records
at

Discogs Discogs ( ; short for " discographies") is a database of information about audio recordings, including commercial releases, promotional releases, and bootleg or off-label releases. Database contents are user-generated, and described in ''T ...

http://www.discogs.com/label/Baby+Records+International Baby Records International
at

{{Authority control Italian record labels Pop record labels Record labels established in 1974