The Philips record label was founded in 1950 and was quite a recent arrival on the recorded music scene when compared with old-timers such as Columbia and Brunswick, both of whom can trace their ancestry back to the late nineteenth century. The label was founded by Dutch electronics group Philips, who manufactured such diverse products as radio sets and TVs, generators and electric razors. The distinctive Philips blue shield logo, featuring three wavy lines separating two groups of stars in a circle, was also included on the record label. Competitors amusingly described the logo as ‘a vicious circle with three crooked lines and two double-crosses’…
...Initially the record label focused on high-quality classical recordings made by artists from Germany, France and Holland. However, after the separation of the UK and US wings of Columbia Records in 1954, Philips started distributing Columbia recordings in the UK. By the late Fifties, Philips bosses realised that there was a young and highly lucrative market out there for pop. The Fontana label was created by Philips at the same time, but many acts were also signed to the parent Philips label.
In 1958 British singer Mary O’Brien formed a vocal trio with two other girls and called themselves the Lana Sisters. The act toured with Cliff Richard and Adam Faith and appeared twice at London’s Royal Albert Hall. By 1960 the group folded and Mary formed a new singing act with her brother Dion and Tim Field, who had been working together as a duo. They decided to call themselves the Springfields. Dion O’Brien became Tom Springfield and Mary adopted her nickname Dusty to call herself Dusty Springfield. The rest, as they say, is history.
The group was quickly signed to the Philips label and their first two singles, ‘Breakaway’ and ‘Bambino’, were minor UK hits in 1961. Their Stateside breakthrough came the following year when ‘Silver Threads And Golden Needles’ reached Number 20 in the US Billboard chart. They were the first ever British act to enter the US Top 20 – two months ahead of the Tornados’ ‘Telstar’ and 15 months before the Beatles. The single featured top session musician Judd Proctor on guitar, with Dusty’s vocal soaring effortlessly above. Follow-up ‘Dear Hearts And Gentle People’ was not as big a hit, but still entered the Hot 100. Dusty would go solo, with phenomenal success, in late 1963 but not before the group had two Top 5 hits in the UK with ‘Island Of Dreams’ and ‘Say I Won’t Be There’.
Marty Wilde was born Reginald Smith, but received his stage name from impresario Larry Parnes (along with Billy Fury, Vince Eager, Georgie Fame and a host of others). In the late Fifties, Marty was one of the leading British rock’n’roll singers along with contemporaries Tommy Steele and Cliff Richard. His backing group the Wildcats included bass-player Brian Locking and drummer Brian Bennett (both of whom would later join the Shadows) and session guitarist Big Jim Sullivan, who claimed to have played on 800 charting UK singles and 54 Number 1 songs.
Marty was a regular on TV shows 6.5 Special and Oh Boy, his recording career consisting mainly of cover versions of American hits such as ‘Teenager In Love’ and ‘Rubber Ball’; because of this he made little Stateside impact. Daughter Kim became a singer and, latterly, a TV landscape gardener. Like her singer-songwriter brother Ricky, she adopted her father’s stage surname, and, though not on Philips, was considerably more successful in breaking in the States than her father (ironically, her biggest hit was a Supremes cover).
Born in 1943, Johnny Hallyday is considered by many to be France’s answer to Elvis Presley in much the same way that Cliff Richard was once thought of as the English version. He has somewhat unfairly been described as ‘the biggest rock star you’ve never heard of’, but is one of the hardest-working rock stars in the business, having completed 181 tours and sold more than 110 million records with eighteen of his albums certified platinum. He contributes four tracks to our compilation, including ‘Be-Bop a-Lula’ and ‘I Got A Woman’. Given these were covers of covers of Gene Vincent and Ray Charles material, he was always unlikely to hit big in the Sates.
Frankie Vaughan was a much-loved English entertainer famous for his top hat, tails and bow tie and for always carrying a cane. He had a succession of UK chart hits on Philips in the Fifties and Sixties including ‘Green Door’ (1956), ‘Tower Of Strength’ (1957) and ‘Hello Dolly’ (1964). He was born Frank Abelson, his stage name deriving from his Jewish grandmother’s nickname for him. She called him her ‘number one grandson’ and ‘one’, with her heavy accent, became ‘Vaughan’. His song ‘Hercules’ (1962) is included in our compilation, but his only big US hit, ‘Judy’, had come four years earlier on Epic.
Philips Records has been part of Universal Music since 1998, with the name being licensed from the parent company. This compilation is a unique record of a time when the famous shield logo could be found on many singles in music collections back in 1962.
trax disc 2:
1. Be Bop A Lula - Johnny Hallyday 2. Hercules - Frankie Vaughan 3. My Pockets Are Full But My Heart Is Broke - Bob Corso 4. Amapola - The Cliffters 5. These Foolish Things - The Dials 6. Say It Again - Ruth Brown 7. Everyone - Marty Wilde 8. Quicksand - Don Schroeder 9. Aunt Rhody - The Springfields 10. Gee Baby - Ben & Bea 11. Sweet Potatoes - Jimmy Dell 12. I Can Take His Baby Away - Darrell McCall 13. Deep Inside Me - Linda Brannon 14. Big Hand Little Hand - Ronnie Savoy 15. Master Puppeteer - Jan Fields 16. Bobby Is The One - Paul & Paula 17. The Ballad Of Lover's Hill - Teresa Brewer 18. My Own True Love - The Deltas 19. Boy Child - Sonny Martin 20. Don't Take Your Love From Me - Shani Wallis 21. Shake The Hand Of A Fool - Johnny Halliday 22. Gotta Travel On - The Springfields 23. High Noon - Bobby Mizzell 24. A Dream Is But A Dream - The Chesterfields 25. Destroyed - The Barrier Brothers
…originally served by Gyro1966...
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