The Winner Records was a United Kingdom-based

record label "Big Three" music labels A record label or record company is a brand or trademark of Sound recording and reproduction, music recordings and music videos, or the company that owns it. Sometimes, a record label is also a Music publisher, ...

from 1912 onwards. Its records were manufactured by the

Edison Bell Edison Bell was an English company that was the first distributor and an early manufacturer of gramophones and gramophone records. The company survived through several incarnations, becoming a top producer of budget records in England through t ...

Record Works,

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

. This company, founded by James Hough, had originated in the early 1890s as an importer of Edison and Columbia

phonograph cylinder Phonograph cylinders (also referred to as Edison cylinders after its creator Thomas Edison) are the earliest commercial medium for Sound recording and reproduction, recording and reproducing sound. Commonly known simply as "records" in their heyda ...

s; from 1898 Hough had also made cylinder records, initially using a separate company, Edisonia. When Edison set up his own European operation in 1904, the import franchise was withdrawn, but the name Edison Bell remained in use. From 1909 the official name of Edison-Bell was J. E. Hough Ltd. Winner Records were designed to offer well-recorded and pressed gramophone records at a budget price. Winner records, with black or red labels, were mostly of a popular music type, although they included some items of musical distinction, such as early recordings by

John Barbirolli Sir John Barbirolli ( Giovanni Battista Barbirolli; 2 December 189929 July 1970) was a British conductor and cellist. He is remembered above all as conductor of the Hallé Orchestra in Manchester, which he helped save from dissolution in 1943 ...

, then a child-prodigy performer on the

violoncello The violoncello ( , ), commonly abbreviated as cello ( ), is a middle pitched bowed (sometimes plucked and occasionally hit) string instrument of the violin family. Its four strings are usually tuned in perfect fifths: from low to high, C ...

, and nearly all of the discography of

Marie Novello Marie Novello, also known as Marie Novello Williams (born Maria Williams; 31 March 1884 – 21 June 1928) was a Welsh people, Welsh pianist. She was one of Theodor Leschetizky's last students and performed in public from childhood. Her early ...

, one of the last students of

Theodor Leschetizky Theodor Leschetizky (sometimes spelled Leschetitzky; ; 22 June 1830 – 14 November 1915) was a Polish pianist, professor, and composer active in Austria-Hungary. He was born in Landshut in the Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria, then a crown land ...

. In the early 1920s the company introduced a higher-quality series, Velvet Face Records, so called because the material of which they were made was allegedly smoother than that used by other manufacturers. These had green labels, and the catalogue included some ambitious items, such as an abridged version (1925) of

Edward Elgar Sir Edward William Elgar, 1st Baronet, (; 2 June 1857 – 23 February 1934) was an English composer, many of whose works have entered the British and international classical concert repertoire. Among his best-known compositions are orchestr ...

's oratorio ''The Dream of Gerontius'' and, from Novello, what has been reported as the first recording of

Bach's Johann Sebastian Bach (German: Help:IPA/Standard German, �joːhan zeˈbasti̯an baχ ( – 28 July 1750) was a German composer and musician of the late Baroque music, Baroque period. He is known for his prolific output across a variety ...

Toccata and Fugue in D minor, BWV 565 The Toccata and Fugue in D minor, Bach-Werke-Verzeichnis, BWV 565, is a composition for Pipe organ, organ by, according to the oldest sources, German composer Johann Sebastian Bach. It is one of the most widely recognisable works in the organ re ...

(arranged for piano by

Carl Tausig Karl Tausig (sometimes "Carl"; born Karol Tausig; 4 November 184117 July 1871) was a Polish virtuoso pianist, arranger and composer. He is generally regarded as Franz Liszt's most distinguished pupil and one of the greatest pianists of all time. ...

) and a complete recording of Mendelssohn's First Piano Concerto, her sole recording of a work extending over more than two record sides. In 1919, Winner was the first to issue a recording by a jazz band. All recordings prior to 1922 were made by Edison Bell in London. Subsequently, several recordings were leased from Star Piano Company,

Emerson Records Emerson Records was an American record company and label created by Victor Emerson in 1915. Victor Hugo Emerson was the chief recording engineer at Columbia Records. In 1914 he left the company, created the Emerson Phonograph Company, and then ...

, and

Paramount Records Paramount Records was an American record label known for its recordings of jazz and blues in the 1920s and early 1930s, including such artists as Ma Rainey, Tommy Johnson (guitarist), Tommy Johnson and Blind Lemon Jefferson. Early years Paramoun ...

. Subsequent to 1925, recordings from

Crown A crown is a traditional form of head adornment, or hat, worn by monarchs as a symbol of their power and dignity. A crown is often, by extension, a symbol of the monarch's government or items endorsed by it. The word itself is used, parti ...

and Plaza Music Company were used. Edison-Bell was eventually absorbed by England-based company

Decca Records Decca Records is a British record label established in 1929 by Edward Lewis (Decca), Edward Lewis after his acquisition of a gramophone manufacturer, The Decca Gramophone Company. It set up an American subsidiary under the Decca name, which bec ...

. Decca introduced a new series of Winner records that were primarily sourced from American

Vocalion Vocalion Records is an American record label, originally founded by the Aeolian Company, a piano and organ manufacturer before being bought out by Brunswick in 1924. History The label was founded in 1916 by the Aeolian Company, a maker of pian ...

. These were discontinued January 1935. More than 3500 Winner gramophone discs had been issued. A full listing of Winner records is published by the

CLPGS The City of London Phonograph and Gramophone Society (CLPGS)In the United Kingdom, the term 'phonograph' is used for a player of cylinders, while a 'gramophone' plays disc records. In many other parts of the world the term 'phonograph' is used for ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Winner Records, The Defunct record labels of the United Kingdom British jazz record labels Record labels established in 1912 Record labels disestablished in 1935 1912 establishments in the United Kingdom 1935 disestablishments in the United Kingdom

See also

References