Editing Embassy Records

{{Infobox record label <!-- See Wikipedia:WikiProject_Music -->
| name        = Embassy Records
| image       = <!-- logo, such as "LABEL-LOGO.jpg" -->
| image_size  = <!-- size -->
| image_alt   = 
| caption     = 
| parent      = [[Woolworths (United Kingdom)|Woolworths Group]] <small>(1954–65)</small> <br/>[[CBS Records International|CBS Records]] <small>(1973–1980)</small>
| founded     = {{start date|1954}}
| founder     =  David Morris Levy<br />Jacques Levy
| defunct     = {{end date|1980}}
| status      = Inactive
| distributor = {{flat list|
*[[Oriole Records (UK)|Oriole Music]]
*[[CBS Records International|CBS Records]]
}}
| genre       = Various
| country     = UK
| location    =  [[London, England]]
}}
'''Embassy Records''' was a UK budget [[record label]] that produced [[cover version]]s of current [[Hit single|hit songs]], which were sold exclusively in [[Woolworths (United Kingdom)|Woolworths]] shops at a lower price than the original recordings.<ref name="embassy">{{cite web|title=Embassy Records, Embassy Label Cover Versions from Woolies|publisher=embassyrecords.co.uk|url=http://www.embassyrecords.co.uk/|access-date=2009-09-02}}</ref>  The original label was active between 1954 and 1965, after which it disappeared when its parent company, [[Oriole Records (UK)|Oriole]], was taken over by [[Columbia Records|CBS Records]].<ref name="embassy"/>

Later, between 1973 and 1980, CBS Records revived the Embassy imprint to release budget versions of albums in the UK and Europe by artists who were signed to its parent company, [[Columbia Records]].<ref name="billboard">{{cite magazine|author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.-->|title=39 Releases to Mark CBS's Embassy Label|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=AwkEAAAAMBAJ&q=Embassy+Records+CBS+1973&pg=RA1-PA49|magazine=[[Billboard (magazine)|Billboard]]|location=New York City|publisher=Lynne Segall|page=49|date=September 29, 1973}}</ref>

==History 1954–1965==
Embassy Records was the result of a contractual arrangement between [[Oriole Records (UK)|Oriole Records]] and [[Woolworths (United Kingdom)|Woolworths]], with Embassy's product being sold exclusively through the latter's stores.<ref name="embassy"/> Between November 1954 and January 1965, Embassy released around 1,200 songs recorded by about 150 different artists and these releases were sold for half the price of a major label release of the era.<ref name="cranes">{{cite web|title=The Cranes Skiffle Group|publisher=St. Margarets Community Website|url=http://www.stmgrts.org.uk/archives/2009/05/the_cranes_skiffle_group.html|access-date=2009-09-02}}</ref>  The label's releases mostly consisted of [[A-side and B-side#Double A-side|double A-side]] [[Single (music)|singles]] that were cover versions of then-current or predicted UK [[UK Singles Chart|Top 20]] hits,<ref name="embassy"/> and it was not unusual for different artists or contrasting [[pop music|pop]] styles to appear on either side of a record. Embassy can therefore be seen as a UK equivalent of U.S. labels such as [[Hit Records|Hit]] and (in its early days) [[Bell Records]].

The label's product was recorded at the Embassy Recording Studios in [[Bond Street|New Bond Street]], [[Mayfair]], and manufactured by Oriole, who also licensed the material to many foreign outlets.<ref name="embassy"/> The tight Embassy recording schedule required four different songs to be recorded in one three-hour session.<ref name="cranes"/> Included in this standard three-hour session was the initial studio set-up time, before any actual songs were recorded, and a mandatory musicians' coffee break.<ref name="cranes"/> This meant that on average there was a little over 30 minutes allowed for the recording of an individual song, which, in turn, meant that the artists who did the actual singing had to be first-rate professional singers who could enter a studio and record a song in very few [[take]]s.<ref name="cranes"/> As a result, Embassy artists tended to be very experienced [[big band]] or [[Session musician|session singers]], who would also regularly broadcast live on [[BBC radio]].<ref name="authenticity">{{cite web|title=Authenticity.... A Tribute by Alex |publisher=embassyrecords.co.uk |url=http://www.embassyrecords.co.uk/id17.html |access-date=2009-09-02 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090311134314/http://www.embassyrecords.co.uk/id17.html |archive-date=2009-03-11 }}</ref> Sometimes these musicians used their professional name when recording for Embassy, but very often they used pseudonyms. The recording sessions usually took place on a Thursday, so that the cover version discs could be rushed out into the stores by the following Monday to compete with the real thing.<ref name="authenticity"/>

As well as releasing covers of current hit singles, Embassy Records also produced [[Extended play|EPs]] of [[trad jazz]], [[children's song]]s, light [[classical music]], and songs from [[musical theatre|musicals]].<ref name="cranes"/>

In late 1964, Embassy's parent label, Oriole, was taken over by CBS Records (Columbia Records in America).<ref name="cranes"/><ref name="global"/> Following this purchase, the label was discontinued, with the final Embassy release of the 1960s being "[[Keep Searchin' (We'll Follow the Sun)]]" by Paul Rich and the Beatmen (b/w "The Special Years" by Burt Shane) in January 1965.<ref name="global"/> By this time, the concept of budget cover version releases of current hit songs had been imitated by other labels such as Cannon, Crossbow, Top Six, and Top Pops.<ref name="cranes"/> CBS subsidiary [[Hallmark Records|Hallmark]]/[[Pickwick Records|Pickwick]] launched the ''[[Top of the Pops (record series)|Top of the Pops]]'' series of albums a few years after the demise of Embassy,<ref>{{cite web|title=Top of the Pops Vol. 1 |publisher=Top of the Pops: The definitive website |url=http://www.freewebs.com/toppopper/ukv1.htm |access-date=2009-09-02 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090803080514/http://www.freewebs.com/toppopper/ukv1.htm |archive-date=2009-08-03 }}</ref> but unlike Embassy's releases, no artists were ever identified on the records.<ref>{{cite web|title=Top Of The Pops Vol. 1 review|website=[[Allmusic]]|url={{AllMusic|class=album|id=r622291|pure_url=yes}}|access-date=2009-09-02}}</ref>

===The artists===
The artist whose name appears on the greatest number of Embassy recordings is [[Paul Rich]], a singer with the [[Lou Preager|Lou Preager Orchestra]], who recorded for Embassy between 1957 and 1965.<ref name="artistes">{{cite web|title=Embassy Artistes |publisher=embassyrecords.co.uk |url=http://www.embassyrecords.co.uk/id12.html |access-date=2009-09-02 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090311134253/http://www.embassyrecords.co.uk/id12.html |archive-date=2009-03-11 }}</ref> However, the artist who actually recorded the most songs for Embassy was [[Ray Pilgrim]].<ref name="artistes"/> Between 1960 and 1965 he recorded almost 150 songs for the Embassy label using the pseudonyms Bobby Stevens, the Typhoons, the Jaybirds, and the Starlings.<ref name="real">{{cite web|title=The Real Names Of Embassy Artists|publisher=The Wonder of Embassy Records|url=http://www.spanglefish.com/thewonderofembassyrecords/index.asp?pageid=141089|access-date=2009-09-02}}</ref>

[[Mike Redway]], who had been a singer with the [[Oscar Rabin Band]], recorded for Embassy under the pseudonym Redd Wayne, in addition to appearing on many of the Typhoons, Jaybirds and Starlings recordings for the label between 1962 and 1965.<ref name="artistes"/> Redway later sang the vocal version of the "Casino Royale Theme" over the closing credits of the 1967 ''[[Casino Royale (1967 film)|Casino Royale]]'' film.<ref>{{cite web|title=Mike Redway|publisher=Radiocafe|url=http://www.radiocafe.co.uk/mike-redway|access-date=2009-09-11}}</ref> [[Ken Barrie]], who later became the voice of [[Postman Pat]], recorded for Embassy under the name of Les Carle.<ref name="cranes"/>

The female singers who made the most recordings for the label were Jean Campbell, Joan Baxter, [[Maureen Evans]] and Barbara Kay, with all but the latter recording for Embassy under their own names.<ref name="global">{{cite web|title=Singles Discography for Embassy Records|publisher=Global Dog Productions|url=http://www.globaldogproductions.info/e/embassy-uk.html|access-date=2009-09-02}}</ref> Maureen Evans went on to have a hit for Oriole with "[[Like I Do (Nancy Sinatra song)|Like I Do]]" and Barbara Kay was one of the members of [[the Carefrees]], who released the [[Novelty song|novelty record]] "[[We Love You Beatles]]" in 1964.<ref>{{cite book|author=Brown, Tony.|year=2000|title=The Complete Book of the British Charts|publisher=Omnibus Press|isbn=0-7119-7670-8}}</ref> Barbara Kay, who was yet another singer who had previously been with the Oscar Rabin Band, was usually credited as Kay Barry on Embassy releases.<ref name="real"/>

[[Instrumental]] recordings would feature whatever session musicians were booked for that day, so the names used for the label, such as Bud Ashton, the Beatmen and the Happy Knights, did not imply any particular participants.<ref name="artistes"/> Similarly, the group names such as the Typhoons, the Jaybirds, and the Starlings did not imply any consistent membership and were generally made up of any musicians who were available on that particular day.<ref name="artistes"/> Additionally, [[Backing vocalist|backing vocals]] on many Embassy releases were provided by the [[Mike Sammes|Mike Sammes Singers]] but usually went uncredited.<ref>{{cite web|title=The Oriole Record Label |publisher=embassyrecords.co.uk |url=http://www.embassyrecords.co.uk/id13.html |access-date=2009-09-02 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090411103448/http://www.embassyrecords.co.uk/id13.html |archive-date=2009-04-11 }}</ref>

==History 1973–1980==
CBS Records revived the Embassy imprint in 1973, with the slogan "All the Best from Embassy", to release budget albums of [[out of print]], unissued, or foreign material in the UK and Europe, which had originally been released by [[Columbia Records]] (or its subsidiaries).<ref name="billboard"/>  Initially, 39 albums were released by the label in October, 1973, including titles by [[Barbra Streisand]], [[Aretha Franklin]], [[Tony Bennett]], [[Sly & the Family Stone]], [[Fleetwood Mac]], and [[Blood, Sweat & Tears]], among others.<ref name="billboard"/>  Many other Columbia artists had albums reissued on Embassy during the 1970s, including [[Johnny Mathis]], [[the Byrds]], [[Andy Williams]],  [[Johnny Cash]], [[Tammy Wynette]], and [[Spirit (band)|Spirit]].<ref>{{cite web|title=List of selected Embassy releases|publisher=[[Discogs]]|url=http://www.discogs.com/label/Embassy|access-date=2009-09-03}}</ref> CBS Records once again discontinued the Embassy imprint and ceased issuing albums in the UK and Europe in 1980.  However, there are known to be some [[Mexico|Mexican]] Embassy releases from much later on in the 1980s.<ref>{{cite web|title=International Album Releases: Highway 61 Revisited|publisher=Searching for a Gem: Bob Dylan's Officially Released Rarities and Obscurities|url=http://www.searchingforagem.com/1960s/International006.htm|access-date=2009-09-03}}</ref>

==Other uses of name==
*Embassy Records, a short-lived label that distributed recordings for the Warriors Dance record label during the 1990s
*Embassy Records, an [[independent record label]], based in New Orleans
*Embassy Productions, a [[Heavy metal music|heavy metal]] record label from the 1990s
*Avco Embassy, a record label that released records by [[the Chambers Brothers]], [[the Stylistics]] and [[Henry Mancini]] (amongst others) in the 1960s and 1970s
*Embassy 9 Records, a Canadian electronic [[independent record label]], based out of Chilliwack, BC

== See also ==
* [[Conqueror Records]], Sears store brand record label
* [[Oriole Records (U.S.)]], McCrory's store brand record label
* [[List of record labels]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
* [http://www.spanglefish.com/thewonderofembassyrecords/index.asp Embassy Records 1964 - 1965 tribute website]
* [http://www.globaldogproductions.info/e/embassy-uk.html A discography of Embassy singles: 1954 - 1965]

{{Woolworth}}

{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Defunct record labels of the United Kingdom]]
[[Category:Pop record labels]]
[[Category:British jazz record labels]]
[[Category:Record labels established in 1954]]
[[Category:Record labels disestablished in 1965]]
[[Category:Record labels established in 1970]]
[[Category:Record labels disestablished in 1980]]
[[Category:Re-established companies]]
[[Category:Columbia Records]]
[[Category:Store brands]]