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Mercury Records

Parent company	Universal Music Group
Founded	1945
Founder(s)	Irving Green Berle Adams Arthur Talmadge
Distributing label	Mercury Records (In the UK) The Island Def Jam Music Group (US distribution)
Genre(s)	Various
Country of origin	UK
Official Website	http://www.mercuryrecords.co.uk

Mercury Records is a record label currently headquartered in the UK, and is a subsidiary of Universal Music Group. In the US, its name and logo are now only used on back catalogue, country releases, and re-issues.

History

Mercury Records was founded in Chicago, Illinois in 1945 by Irving Green, Berle Adams and Arthur Talmadge. They were a major force in jazz and blues, classical music, rock and roll, and country music recordings. Early in the labels history, Mercury opened two pressing plants, one in Chicago and the other in St. Louis, Missouri. With the use of automatic presses and providing 24-hour turnaround, they went into direct competition with major recording labels such as Columbia, Decca, and RCA Victor.

By hiring two promoters, Tiny Hill and Jimmy Hilliard, they penetrated the pop market with names such as Frankie Laine, Vic Damone and Patti Page.

In 1947 Jack Rael, a musician and publicist/manager, persuaded Mercury to let Patti Page (whom he managed) record a song that had been planned to be done by Vic Damone, "Confess." The budget was too small for them to hire a second singer to provide the "answer" parts to Page, so at Rael's suggestion she did both voices. This became the first documented example of "overdubbing," and Patti Page became one of the artists best known for the use of this technique.

Mercury Record sleeve artwork, c.1950

The company released an enormous number of recordings under the Mercury label as well as its subsidiaries (Blue Rock Records, Cumberland Records, EmArcy Records, Fontana Records, Limelight Records, Philips Records, Smash Records and Wing Records). In addition, they leased and purchased material by independent labels and redistributed them.

Under their own label, Mercury released a variety of recording styles from classical music to psychedelic rock. However, its subsidiaries focused on their own specialized categories of music.

In 1951, under the direction of recording engineer C. Robert Fine and producer David Hall, Mercury Records initiated a minimalist single-microphone monaural recording technique. The first record in this new Mercury Olympian Series was "Pictures at an Exhibition" performed by Rafael Kubelík and the Chicago Symphony. The NY Times music critic likened the sound to "being in the living presence of the orchestra" and Mercury began releasing their classical releases under the 'Living Presence' series' name, often produced by Fine's wife Wilma Cozart Fine. In 1955, Mercury began using 3 omni-directional microphones to make stereo recordings on 3-track tape. The technique was an expansion on the mono process—center was still paramount. Once the center, single microphone was set, the sides were set to provide the depth and width heard in the stereo recordings. The center mike still fed the mono LP releases, which accompanied stereo LPs into the 1960's. In 1961, Mercury enhanced the three-microphone stereo technique by using 35mm magnetic film instead of half-inch tape for recording. The greater thickness and width of 35mm magnetic film prevented tape layer print-through and pre-echo and gained in addition extended frequency range and transient response. The Mercury 'Living Presence' stereo records were mastered directly from the 3-track tapes or films, with a 3-2 mix occurring in the mastering room.

In 1961 the Dutch company Philips Records, having lost its distribution deal with Columbia Records outside North America, signed an exchange agreement with Mercury, and Philips subsequently bought Mercury and its subsidiary labels to expand its US base. In 1962 Philips merged its record operations with Deutsche Grammophon to become PolyGram in 1972.

logo used from the late 60s to the mid-late 90s

Under PolyGram, Mercury absorbed Casablanca Records, home of heavy metalers KISS and disco stars Donna Summer and Village People, in 1982 and primarily became a rock/pop label with KISS, Scorpions, Rush, Tears for Fears, Bon Jovi, and Def Leppard.

In late 1998, PolyGram was bought by Seagrams, which then absorbed the company into its Universal Music Group. Under the reorganization, Mercury Records was folded into the newly formed Island Def Jam Music Group. Mercury's pop roster was predominantly taken over by Island Records, while its urban found a new home at Def Jam Records. Mercury's former country unit became Mercury Nashville Records and is still active as an imprint of Universal Music Group Nashville. Mercury also continues to operate as a fully functional label in the UK.