Infinity Records was a short-lived subsidiary of

MCA Records MCA Records was an American record label owned by MCA Inc. established in 1972, though MCA had released recordings under that name in the UK from the 1960s. The label achieved success in the 1970s through the 1980s, often by acquiring other ...

established in

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

in 1977. The label was conceived by MCA president

Sidney Sheinberg Sidney Jay Sheinberg (January 14, 1935 – March 7, 2019) was an American businessman, lawyer and entertainment executive. He served as president and CEO of MCA Inc. and Universal Pictures for over 40 years. Early life and education Sheinber ...

as a way for the Los Angeles-based entertainment conglomerate to expand its business on the East Coast. Ron Alexenberg, who had previously been the head of the

Epic Records Epic Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America, the American division of Japanese conglomerate Sony is a Japanese multinational conglomerate (company), cong ...

division of CBS Records (now part of

Sony Music Entertainment Sony Music Entertainment (SME), commonly known as Sony Music, is an American multinational music company owned by Japanese conglomerate Sony Group Corporation. It is the recording division of Sony Music Group, with the other half being the ...

) was hired as CEO. The biggest hit the Infinity label had was "

Escape Escape or Escaping may refer to: Arts and media Film * ''Escape'' (1928 film), a German silent drama film * ''Escape!'' (film), a 1930 British crime film starring Austin Trevor and Edna Best * ''Escape'' (1940 film), starring Robert Taylor and ...

" by

Rupert Holmes Rupert Holmes (born David Goldstein; February 24, 1947) is a British-American composer, singer-songwriter, dramatist and author. He is widely known for the hit singles " Escape (The Piña Colada Song)" (1979) and " Him" (1980). He is also know ...

, which was number 1 at the end of 1979. Other acts that had chart entries on Infinity included

Hot Chocolate Hot Chocolate are a British soul band formed by Errol Brown and Tony Wilson. The group had at least one hit song every year on the UK Singles Chart from 1970 to 1984. Their hits include " You Sexy Thing", a UK number two which also made ...

Dobie Gray Dobie Gray (born Lawrence Darrow Brown; July 26, 1940 – December 6, 2011) was an American singer and songwriter. Gray's music spanned multiple genres, including soul, country, pop, and musical theater. His hit songs included " The 'In' Cro ...

New England New England is a region consisting of six states in the Northeastern United States: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. It is bordered by the state of New York (state), New York to the west and by the ...

, Orleans, Orsa Lia,

TKO A technical knockout (TKO) is a professional fighting term. TKO may also refer to: Sports * TKO, the name of a professional wrestling move referring to either the cutter or stunner variant * TKO Group Holdings, a combat sports company Music Ar ...

and

Spyro Gyra Spyro Gyra is an American jazz fusion band that was formed in Buffalo, New York, in 1974. The band's music combines jazz, R&B, funk, and pop music. The band's name comes from ''Spirogyra'', a genus of green algae which founder Jay Beckenste ...

. Under the distribution of MCA, the Infinity Records label released titles in the US, Canada, the UK, Japan and parts of Europe. Infinity spent lavishly on promotion but failed to earn a profit. In addition to developing new talent, Infinity also paid substantial sums to acquire established artists from other labels. In October 1979, Infinity released ''Pope John Paul II Sings at the Festival of Sacrosong'', an album of speeches and songs sung by

Pope The pope is the bishop of Rome and the Head of the Church#Catholic Church, visible head of the worldwide Catholic Church. He is also known as the supreme pontiff, Roman pontiff, or sovereign pontiff. From the 8th century until 1870, the po ...

John Paul II Pope John Paul II (born Karol Józef Wojtyła; 18 May 19202 April 2005) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 16 October 1978 until Death and funeral of Pope John Paul II, his death in 2005. In his you ...

in his native

Polish Polish may refer to: * Anything from or related to Poland, a country in Europe * Polish language * Polish people, people from Poland or of Polish descent * Polish chicken * Polish brothers (Mark Polish and Michael Polish, born 1970), American twin ...

. Due to the tremendous popularity of the new Pope, supported by a US tour, Infinity thought the record would be a major hit. The company paid a substantial fee (which went to charity) to the

Catholic Church The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

to obtain exclusive rights to the recording. The album briefly peaked at #126 on the ''Billboard'' 200 albums chart; however, it received poor reviews and was quickly seen as a colossal failure. Most of the one million advance copies of the John Paul II album were returned unsold to the label, producing a huge financial loss. MCA pulled the plug on Infinity in November 1979, and it was immediately absorbed by the parent company. Rupert Holmes, Spyro Gyra and Orleans were the only acts to be retained by MCA, and most of the Infinity label catalog went out of print. The collapse of Infinity also coincided with rising costs of manufacturing for vinyl LP records and a huge sales slump for the music industry. Infinity has since become known as one of the most expensive failures in the history of the record business. There are at least two other record labels that also have used the name Infinity Records. One of these other labels was a subsidiary of

Festival Records Festival Records, later known as Festival Mushroom Records, was an Australian recording and publishing company founded in Sydney, Australia, in 1952 and operated until 2005. Festival was a subsidiary of News Limited from 1961 to 2005. The com ...

, which for many years was Australia's leading independent record company, but is now also defunct. Other companies with the Infinity Records name do not have an affiliation with MCA.

Partial list of Infinity Records recording artists

Solomon Burke Solomon Vincent McDonald Burke (born James Solomon McDonald, March 21, 1940 – October 10, 2010) was an American singer who shaped the sound of rhythm and blues as one of the founding fathers of soul music in the 1960s. He has been called ...

* Dixon House Band *

* Robert A. Johnson credited as "Robert Johnson" (a

Memphis Memphis most commonly refers to: * Memphis, Egypt, a former capital of ancient Egypt * Memphis, Tennessee, a major American city Memphis may also refer to: Places United States * Memphis, Alabama * Memphis, Florida * Memphis, Indiana * Mem ...

based

Roots rock Roots rock is a genre of rock music that looks back to rock's origins in contemporary folk music, folk, blues, and country music. First emerging in the late 1960s, it is seen as a response to the perceived excesses of the then dominant psychedel ...

guitarist, not the famous

Blues Blues is a music genre and musical form that originated among African Americans in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues has incorporated spiritual (music), spirituals, work songs, field hollers, Ring shout, shouts, cha ...

musician) *

The Kats Demi Gene Moore ( ; née Guynes; born November 11, 1962) is an American actress. After rising to prominence in the early 1980s, she became the world's highest-paid actress by 1995. Her accolades include a Golden Globe Award, a Screen Actors G ...

(signed to the label but had no recordings issued) * Orsa Lia *

* Screams *

Artists associated with other labels named ''Infinity Records'' that are not related to MCA include: *

Richard Batchens Richard Batchens is an Australian record producer and audio engineer. From 1971 to 1976 he was the main in-house producer for Festival Records' imprint Infinity Records. His work includes most of the early albums and singles for Sherbet (band), ...

* The Texans (

Johnny Burnette John Joseph Burnette (March 25, 1934 – August 14, 1964) was an American singer and songwriter of rockabilly and pop music. In 1952, Johnny, his brother Dorsey Burnette, and their mutual friend Paul Burlison, formed the band that became ...

and Dorsey Burnette) *

Donald Dempsey Donald A. Dempsey Sr. (11 June 1932 – 27 January 2005) was an American recording executive who helped launch Ozzy Osbourne and Merle Haggard. He would often visit his brother and sister-in-law in Connecticut, Norman Dempsey Sr and Dorothy ...

* Giambattista Fedrici

References

External links

Time Magazine article on the John Paul II album
{{Authority control American record labels Record labels established in 1978 Record labels disestablished in 1979 MCA Records