I worked for at the Pye recording studios in Marble Arch,London and I remember a store room full of tapes from various American labels that today would be worth a fortune.
The Pye label was founded around 1957 and was first called PYE NIXA, which had many hit records with mainly pop artists such as LONNIE DONNIGAN and the Trad Jazz man, CHRIS BARBAR.              
Pye International was set up to cater for American releases and began in 1959 The original label colour was blue, but in the sixties releases were on the classic red and yellow label, with "R & B" series on the label. Pye had licensing deals with American record companies, such as the Chess/Checker/Cadet/Argo labels. Early artists were Etta James, Bo Diddley, Howlin Wolf, Sonny Boy Williamson, John Lee Hooker and Chuck Berry. Another artist was Dionne Warwick who recorded for Scepter records. Her first hit in 1962 was "Don't Make Me Over"and during the sixties she had many other hits such as. "Walk On By", "Anyone Who Had A Heart","You'll Never Get To Heaven","Do You Know The Way To San Jose" and"Always Something There To Remind me".
In the mid-sixties the labels had many Soul hits including James Brown's"I Got You" and It's A Man's Man's Man's World.
Pye International came to an end in the late seventies but some of the greatest R & B, Blues and Soul music ever released in this country came from this label. Hit the Pye International button below.

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