Norton Records is an American

independent record label An independent record label (or indie label) is a record label that operates without the funding or distribution of major record labels; they are a type of small and medium-sized enterprise, small- to medium-sized enterprise, or SME. The labels ...

founded by musicians

Miriam Linna Miriam Linna (born October 16, 1955) is a Canadian-American drummer who has run the Brooklyn, Brooklyn, New York-based independent record label Norton Records since 1986, originally with her husband, the late producer and singer-songwriter Bill ...

and Billy Miller in 1986. The label concentrates on releasing rock,

rockabilly Rockabilly is one of the earliest styles of rock and roll music. It dates back to the early 1950s in the United States, especially the Southern United States, South. As a genre, it blends the sound of Western music (North America), Western musi ...

, primitive music, punk,

garage rock Garage rock (sometimes called garage punk or 60s punk) is a raw and energetic style of rock music that flourished in the mid-1960s, most notably in the United States and Canada, and has experienced a series of subsequent revivals. The style is ...

, and early

rhythm and blues Rhythm and blues, frequently abbreviated as R&B or R'n'B, is a genre of popular music that originated within African American communities in the 1940s. The term was originally used by record companies to describe recordings marketed predomina ...

. Most of its output, both new releases and reissues, is issued on vinyl.

Beginnings

Billy Miller first met Miriam Linna while she was drumming for the Cramps in 1976. The two were properly introduced one day in 1977 while Miller was selling items at a record show; they chatted about music and he sold Linna a copy of "You Must Be a Witch", a single by the Lollipop Shoppe. Miller later said, "You can't let a gal with taste like that slip away!" A year later, in 1978, Miller and Linna started ''Kicks'', a magazine which was devoted to obscure rock, soul, and rockabilly. In 1986, the couple published an article in ''Kicks'' about

West Virginia West Virginia is a mountainous U.S. state, state in the Southern United States, Southern and Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States.The United States Census Bureau, Census Bureau and the Association of American ...

guitarist Hasil Adkins, for which the response was so intense that Linna and Miller decided to form a record label to reissue his music. They named their company after Ed Norton,

Art Carney Arthur William Matthew Carney (November 4, 1918 – November 9, 2003) was an American actor and comedian. A recipient of an Academy Awards, Academy Award, a Golden Globe Awards, Golden Globe Award, and six Primetime Emmy Awards, he was best kn ...

's character on the TV sitcom ''

The Honeymooners ''The Honeymooners'' is an American television sitcom that originally aired from 1955 to 1956, created by and starring Jackie Gleason, and based on a recurring comedy sketch of the same name that had been part of Gleason's variety show. It f ...

.'' Adkins had recorded about 15 singles in the 1950s, but many had never been released or collected on an LP. The label's debut release was a four-song 7" titled "Haze's House Party", soon followed by the Adkins compilation '' Out to Hunch.'' "We made 500 copies and prayed that it would sell," Linna recalled of the compilation album. In 1987, Norton released an Adkins 7" with two songs, and Miller co-produced recording sessions for a later LP, ''The Wild Man''.

Releases

Along with previously unreleased discoveries, Linna and Miller have reissued hundreds of obscurities and classics from the 1950s and 1960s. Their label's extensive catalog also includes current talent. Notable artists released on Norton are

Tommy James Tommy James (born Thomas Gregory Jackson; April 29, 1947) is an American musician, singer, songwriter, and record producer. James is the frontman of the rock band Tommy James and the Shondells, which is known for hit singles such as "Mony Mony", ...

Doug Sahm Douglas Wayne Sahm (November 6, 1941 – November 18, 1999) was an American musician, singer-songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist from San Antonio, Texas. He is regarded as a key Tejano music, Tex-Mex music and Music of Texas, Texan Music pe ...

, Gene Vincent, Kim Fowley,

Reigning Sound Reigning Sound was an American rock and roll band originally based in Memphis, Tennessee, Memphis, Tennessee, United States. As of 2019, along with fronting Reigning Sound, Greg Cartwright also reformed his past band Greg Oblivian and the Tip T ...

, King Coleman, Esquerita, Charlie Feathers,

Flat Duo Jets Flat Duo Jets was an American rock band from Carrboro, North Carolina, and Athens, Georgia. This rockabilly, punk blues, and psychobilly band was a major influence on several bands of the 1990s and 2000s, including The White Stripes. The band ...

, Ron Haydock, Flamin' Groovies co-founder Roy Loney,

Terry Manning Terry Don Manning (December 29, 1947 – March 25, 2025) was an American recording engineer, record producer, musician and photographer. In a career spanning more than 50 years, he worked with Led Zeppelin, Iron Maiden, Bryan Adams, ZZ Top, the ...

Rudy Ray Moore Rudolph Frank Moore (March 17, 1927October 19, 2008), known as Rudy Ray Moore, was an American comedian, singer, actor, and film producer.Ronnie Self, Jack Starr, Gene Summers, the Teenbeats, King Uszniewicz, Gino Washington, Andre Williams, and

Link Wray Fred Lincoln "Link" Wray Jr. (May 2, 1929 – November 5, 2005) was an American guitarist, songwriter, and vocalist who became popular in the late 1950s. His 1958 Instrumental rock, instrumental single "Rumble (instrumental), Rumble", reached the ...

. In 2009, Norton released three outer space-themed

Sun Ra Le Sony'r Ra (born Herman Poole Blount, May 22, 1914 – May 30, 1993), better known as Sun Ra, was an American jazz composer, bandleader, piano and synthesizer player, and poet known for his experimental music, "cosmic" philosophy, prolific ou ...

compilations: ''Interplanetary Melodies'', ''The Second Stop Is Jupiter,'' and ''Rocket Ship Rock''. Norton releases include themed singles series with special sleeve and label designs. The 45 RPM Jukebox Series in 1999, for example, featured nine singles by Pacific Northwest garage bands

the Sonics The Sonics are an American garage rock band from Tacoma, Washington, that formed in 1960. Their aggressive, hard-edged sound has been a major influence on Punk rock, punk and Garage rock, garage music worldwide, and they have been named inspir ...

and the Wailers in Etiquette Records/Norton sleeves. The

Rolling Stones The Rolling Stones are an English Rock music, rock band formed in London in 1962. Active for over six decades, they are one of the most popular, influential, and enduring bands of the Album era, rock era. In the early 1960s, the band pione ...

Cover series of 7-inch records, pairing contemporary artists covering Stones songs, began in 2003 and features 32 split singles with

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 ...

-styled graphics. The Sun Records Jukebox Series collected 28 Sun label rarities by

Carl Perkins Carl Lee Perkins (April 9, 1932 – January 19, 1998)#nytimesobit, Pareles. was an American guitarist, singer and songwriter. A rockabilly great and pioneer of rock and roll, he began his recording career at the Sun Studio, in Memphis, Tennes ...

Roy Orbison Roy Kelton Orbison (April 23, 1936 – December 6, 1988) was an American singer, songwriter, and guitarist known for his distinctive and powerful voice, complex song structures, and dark, emotional ballads. Orbison's most successful periods were ...

, and Sonny Burgess among many others on 14 split singles with classic Sun Records-inspired designs. Norton's El Paso Rock series of LPs and CDs chronicles the early days of the

El Paso, Texas El Paso (; ; or ) is a city in and the county seat of El Paso County, Texas, United States. The 2020 United States census, 2020 population of the city from the United States Census Bureau, U.S. Census Bureau was 678,815, making it the List of ...

, rock scene, beginning with the first recordings of Bobby Fuller, including the original 1964 pre-hit version of " I Fought the Law" first released on Fuller's own Exeter label. Volume two in the series has more of Fuller's music in a selection of "never before issued live mayhem from

Texas Texas ( , ; or ) is the most populous U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Louisiana to the east, Arkansas to the northeast, Oklahoma to the north, New Mexico to the we ...

teen clubs, shopping centers, bowling alleys circa 1962–64 plus insane home recordings."

Acclaim

In ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...

''s "Declaration of Independents" column, Norton received kudos for their Sonics and Fabulous Wailers reissues, and '' Goldmine'' praised Norton's

Big Star Big Star was an American rock band formed in Memphis, Tennessee in 1971 by Alex Chilton (vocals, guitar), Chris Bell (vocals, guitar), Jody Stephens (drums), and Andy Hummel (bass). They have been described as the "quintessential American ...

CD ''Nobody Can Dance'' as "the most exciting reissue of the decade... one of the strongest pieces of music I've heard in 25 years."

WFMU WFMU (91.1 MHz) is a non-commercial educational station, non-commercial, listener-supported, independent radio, independent community radio station city of license, licensed to East Orange, New Jersey, with studios in Jersey City. It is owned by ...

, a radio station in

Jersey City, New Jersey Jersey City is the List of municipalities in New Jersey, second-most populous

, celebrated the label's 15 years in the business with the "Norton Records 15th Anniversary Roast", which aired October 25, 2001, on ''Music to Spazz By'' hosted by Dave "the Spazz" Abramson.

Music events

Norton Records stages events in the New York area, such as their 2005 New Year's Eve Rock N' Roll Show & Dance at Union Pool in

Brooklyn Brooklyn is a Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City located at the westernmost end of Long Island in the New York (state), State of New York. Formerly an independent city, the borough is coextensive with Kings County, one of twelv ...

, which was headlined by Linna and Miller's band the A-Bones (named for a 1964 song by the Trashmen) and emceed by the Mighty Hannibal.

Publishing ventures

In addition to the magazines ''Kicks'' and ''Bad Seed'', Linna published a book in 1997 about photographer Eddie Rocco, who contributed to Charlton Brown's ''Ebony Song Parade'' and freelanced for

Fort Worth Fort Worth is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the county seat of Tarrant County, Texas, Tarrant County, covering nearly into Denton County, Texas, Denton, Johnson County, Texas, Johnson, Parker County, Texas, Parker, and Wise County, Te ...

's '' Sepia'' magazine. ''The Great Lost Photographs of Eddie Rocco'' collects many unpublished 1950s and 1960s pictures including shots of Esquerita,

Ruth Brown Ruth Alston Brown (; January 12, 1928 – November 17, 2006) was an American singer-songwriter and actress, sometimes referred to as the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, Queen of R&B". She was noted for bringing a popular music, pop music ...

the Treniers The Treniers (pronounced /trəˈniərz/) were an United States, American Rhythm and blues, R&B and jump blues Musical ensemble, musical group led by identical twins Cliff and Claude Trenier. They were originally billed as the Trenier Twins, wh ...

, and Roy Orbison. After finding a copy at the Smithsonian's Museum of American History bookstore, Dr. Ink (aka Dr. Roy Peter Clark) highlighted Rocco's importance in an April 2, 2003, review:

Rocco's work would come to the attention of Charlton Publications, a house that specialized in printing lyrics of popular music along with photos of the stars. Founded in 1931, Charlton produced a series of popular music magazines, which provided beat-happy boppers of all ethnicities with information on R&B musicians, songwriters, and disc jockeys... In spite of its reputation for mass-producing pulp fiction and comic books, Charlton Publications, writes Miriam Linna, "has long gone unlauded for pioneering true racial integration in mass market magazines at a time when other teen periodicals remained safely segregated." Rocco was no
Pat Boone Patrick Charles Eugene Boone (born June 1, 1934) is an American singer, songwriter, actor, author, television personality, radio host and philanthropist. He sold nearly 50 million records, had 38 Top 40 hits, and has acted in many films. Boone ...
, exploiting and whitewashing black creativity. Instead, he and his camera were telling the untold story of the evolution of black music beyond the borders of a black audience.

In 2009, Linna launched her paperback book imprint, Kicks Books, with '' Sweets and Other Stories'' by Andre Williams, followed in 2011 by ''This Planet Is Doomed''–a collection of Sun Ra's poetry–and ''Save the Last Dance for Satan'',

Nick Tosches Nicholas P. Tosches (; October 23, 1949 – October 20, 2019) was an American journalist, novelist, biographer, and poet. His 1982 biography of Jerry Lee Lewis, ''Hellfire (Nick Tosches book), Hellfire'', was praised by ''Rolling Stone'' magazi ...

' account of the music business and the Mafia. There are several Kicks titles in print including ''I Fought the Law,'' Linna's Bobby Fuller biography published in 2015. Kicks Books releases have been accompanied by Kicks Perfume custom fragrances, and Kicks also pressed a 7" Sun Ra centennial memorial souvenir record in 2014 to launch a three-book Sun Ra series.

20th anniversary

Norton Records kicked off its 20th anniversary in 2006 with a massive (for an indie) 80-page catalog, featuring a cover photograph of Marty Lott (the Gulf Coast Fireball, aka The Phantom) and a dedication: "Our 20th Anniversary catalog is dedicated to the memory of Norton's very first artist, the immortal Hasil Adkins." Adkins died in 2005. Also in 2006, Norton released '' Dangerous Game'', the first solo album by Mary Weiss, the original lead singer of the Shangri-Las. Backed by the Reigning Sound, Weiss recorded 13 original songs plus a

cover version In popular music, a cover version, cover song, remake, revival, or simply cover is a new performance or recording by a musician other than the original performer or composer of the song. Originally, it referred to a version of a song release ...

of the Shangri-Las' "Heaven Only Knows".

25th anniversary

On November 10–13, 2011, Norton's 25th anniversary celebration was a four-night "all star spectacular" at The Bell House in Brooklyn. The bands which performed included

Black Lips Black Lips is an American garage rock band from Atlanta, Georgia, formed in 1999. History The band formed in Dunwoody, Georgia, after guitarist Cole Alexander and bassist Jared Swilley left the Renegades, and guitarist Ben Eberbaugh left the ...

, the 5.6.7.8's, the Alarm Clocks, Andre Williams, Dave "Baby" Cortez, the Mighty Hannibal,

Mick Collins Mick Collins (born December 18, 1965) is a musician from Detroit, Detroit, Michigan. Biography Collins first received exposure to early rock and roll music through his family's record collection. Living in Detroit, he was also surrounded by ...

, the Great Gaylord, the Reigning Sound, Jackie and the Cedrics,

Question Mark and the Mysterians ? and the Mysterians (or Question Mark and the Mysterians) are an American garage rock band from Bay City, Michigan, Bay City and Saginaw, Michigan, Saginaw in Michigan, initially active between 1962 and 1969. Much of the band's music consiste ...

, Bloodshot Bill, Figures of Light, and many others. Concurrent with the celebration, Norton issued a number of new releases, including the Figures of Light album ''Drop Dead'' and a self-titled album by Cortez.

Hurricane damage

Norton's

Red Hook, Brooklyn Red Hook is a neighborhood in western Brooklyn, New York City, United States, within the area once known as South Brooklyn. It is located on a peninsula projecting into the Upper New York Bay and is bounded by the Gowanus Expressway and the Ca ...

, warehouse and mail order operation was heavily damaged by

Hurricane Sandy Hurricane Sandy (unofficially referred to as Superstorm Sandy) was an extremely large and devastating tropical cyclone which ravaged the Caribbean and the coastal Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic region of the United States in late ...

on October 29, 2012, and the label lost most of its back catalog. Fans of the label and local volunteers organized fund-raisers and over several months helped to clean up the warehouse and save as many of the records as possible. As of January 2016, only 66 of Norton's releases were not back in print. Linna said she was planning to restore the rest of the catalog by the end of 2016.

Retail

In January 2016, the label opened a brick-and-mortar retail store, the Norton Record Shop, in the Prospect Heights area of Brooklyn, to sell records and printed matter. Miller died of

multiple myeloma Multiple myeloma (MM), also known as plasma cell myeloma and simply myeloma, is a cancer of plasma cells, a type of white blood cell that normally produces antibody, antibodies. Often, no symptoms are noticed initially. As it progresses, bone ...

in November 2016. Linna issued the acclaimed lost Dion album on Norton in 2018. The shop closed in 2018, and mail order operations were moved to

Cleveland Cleveland is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located along the southern shore of Lake Erie, it is situated across the Canada–U.S. maritime border and approximately west of the Ohio-Pennsylvania st ...

Ohio Ohio ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Lake Erie to the north, Pennsylvania to the east, West Virginia to the southeast, Kentucky to the southwest, Indiana to the ...

. She published the 576 page book ''Mind Over Matter: The Myths and Mysteries of Detroit's Fortune Records'' in 2020.

References

External links

Norton Records official siteNorton Records on MySpaceNortonville
{{Authority control Garage rock record labels American independent record labels Outsider music Record labels established in 1986 Rhythm and blues record labels Rock and roll record labels 1986 establishments in New York (state)