32 Facts About Mercury Records

Mercury Records is an American record label owned by Universal Music Group.

Mercury Records was started in Chicago in 1945 and over several decades, saw great success.

The success of Mercury has been attributed to the use of alternative marketing techniques to promote records.

Early in the label's history, Mercury Records opened two pressing plants, one in Chicago and the other in St Louis, Missouri.

Some early Mercury Records recordings featured a caricature of him as their logo.

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Under their own label, Mercury Records released a variety of recording styles from classical music to psychedelic rock.

In 1962, Mercury Records began marketing a line of phonographs made by Philips bearing the Mercury Records brand name.

In July 1967, Mercury Records became the first U S record label to release cassette music tapes .

In 1969, Mercury Records changed its corporate name to Mercury Records Record Productions Inc, while its parent Conelco became North American Philips Corp.

Mercury Records, by having Bon Jovi, Cinderella, Def Leppard, Kiss, Treat, Candy, and Scorpions on their roster, was a premiere label for glam metal.

Under the reorganization, Mercury Records was folded into the newly formed The Island Def Jam Music Group .

Mercury Records was relaunched in 2007 as a label under The Island Def Jam Music Group, appointing record executive David Massey as the President and CEO of the new venture.

In 1951, under the direction of recording engineer C Robert Fine and recording director David Hall, Mercury Records initiated a recording technique using a single microphone to record symphony orchestras.

Besides the recordings with the Chicago and Minneapolis orchestras, Mercury Records recorded Howard Hanson with the Eastman Rochester Orchestra, Frederick Fennell with the Eastman Wind Ensemble, and Paul Paray with the Detroit Symphony Orchestra.

In late 1955, Mercury Records began using three omnidirectional microphones to make stereo recordings on three-track tape.

From 1961, Mercury Records enhanced the three-microphone stereo technique by using 35-mm magnetic film instead of half-inch tape for recording.

In 2003, Speakers Corner Mercury Records began issuing 180-gram, audiophile-quality LP reissues.

In 2012, Decca Classics, the current owner of the Mercury Records Living Presence label, issued a value-priced 51-CD box that included 50 of the 1990s CD titles, a bonus CD containing an interview with Wilma Cozart Fine, and a deluxe booklet detailing the history of Mercury Records Living Presence.

Mercury Records Classics was relaunched in 2012 as an international classical label by UMGI, appointing musicologist and record executive Dr Alexander Buhr as managing director.

In 2013, Mercury Records Classics released Olafur Arnalds' label debut For Now I Am Winter, which entered the US Classical Chart at number one.

In 2014, Mercury Records Classics released "Aranjuez", Milos Karadaglic's recording of iconic guitar concertos by Joaquin Rodrigo, featuring Yannick Nezet-Seguin and the London Philharmonic Orchestra.

In 2016, Mercury Records Classics became Mercury Records KX and changed its focus to post-classical music.

Mercury's Nashville unit dates back to 1957, when Mercury formed a joint venture with Starday Records specifically for releasing artists performing country music.

Today, Mercury Records Nashville continues to be an active imprint under Universal Music Group Nashville, where it continues to manage the country back catalog that once belonged to PolyGram .

In 1958, Mercury Records switched its distribution in the UK from Pye to EMI, and in 1964 to Philips.

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Mercury Records operated as an imprint in the UK under Phonogram, a division of Dutch electronics company Philips from the mid-1960s until 1998, when Phonogram was bought by Universal Music.

Mercury Records joined the company from Island Records, where he was general manager.

In March 2013, Mercury Records UK was absorbed into Virgin EMI by Universal Music.

Some successful Australian artists on Mercury Records included: INXS, Kamahl, Bullamakanka, Darren Hayes, Carl Riseley, The Preatures, Tiddas, Dragon, Teen Queens, Melissa Tkautz and Karise Eden.

In France, Mercury Records operates as a part of the Mercury Music Group, a division of Universal Music Group, which Group controls the French operations of UMG labels Mercury, Fontana Records, Verve Records, Decca Records, Blue Note Records, Island Records, and Virgin Records, among others.

Mercury Records label was first launched in Japan in 1952, by Taihei Onkyo.

Mercury Records's name was later changed to Nippon Mercury in 1953 the Mercury label started to be handled by King Records and later, by Nippon Victor.