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Cameo-Parkway Records was the parent company of Cameo Records and Parkway Records, which were major American Philadelphia-based record labels from 1956 (for Cameo) and 1958 (for Parkway), to 1967. Among the types of music released were doo-wop, dance hits, popular/rock, rockabilly, big band, garage rock, soul, and novelty records. Until 1962, Cameo was also the parent company name for both labels, and Parkway was a subsidiary. In 1962, the parent company was renamed from Cameo to Cameo-Parkway, to give both labels equal status. In some foreign markets, Cameo-Parkway was also a label name, issuing records by artists from both labels.
[edit] HistoryCameo Records was founded in December 1956 in Philadelphia by Bernie Lowe and Kal Mann. (It has no connection to another 1920s record label called Cameo Records.) Dave Appell joined the label early as A&R director. Mann and Appell also became a songwriting team and wrote many of the labels' hits. Parkway, initially a subsidiary label, was formed in 1958. The first hit for Cameo was "Butterfly" by Charlie Gracie, which reached #1 nationally in early 1957. Cameo continued to have hits by groups like the R&B group the Rays, who had a #3 hit with "Silhouettes" later that year. In 1958, they had further hits with "Dinner With Drac", a novelty record by John Zacherle in the top 10, and "Mexican Hat Rock", an instrumental by the Applejacks, in the top 20. In 1959, Bobby Rydell scored his first hit with "We Got Love" on Cameo. From 1960 to 1963, Bobby Rydell was the label's second largest hit maker after Chubby Checker. He had hits like "Wild One" (his biggest), "Volare" and "Swinging School", "Forget Him" and others. Chubby Checker had a minor novelty hit in the summer of 1959 called "The Class", which featured Checker doing comic imitations of singers Fats Domino, The Coasters, Elvis Presley, Cozy Cole and the Chipmunks. In 1960, Checker's cover of Hank Ballard's "The Twist" became Parkway's first big hit. Although Ballard's version only reached #16 on the R&B chart in 1958, Chubby Checker's version went to #1 in 1960, and again in early 1962. Checker had several hits, including "Pony Time" (his second #1), "Let's Twist Again", "The Fly", "Slow Twistin'" (with Dee Dee Sharp), "Limbo Rock", "Popeye", "Birdland" and others. Around 1961, the Cameo and Parkway labels began developing some new stars. The vocal group the Dovells, which featured Len Barry as the lead singer, released "Bristol Stomp" which reached #2 in late 1961, followed by "Bristol Twistin' Annie," "Do The New Continental," "Hully Gully Baby" and other dance-related songs in 1962 and 1963. "You Can't Sit Down," a vocal version of the Phil Upchurch instrumental hit, was #35 in Cash Box magazine's year end survey for 1963. The R&B quartet the Orlons released "The Wah-Watusi" which hit #2 in the summer of 1962. They had a few more top 20 hits, including "South Street" and "Don't Hang Up." Fifteen-year-old Dee Dee Sharp had done a duet with Chubby Checker on "Slow Twistin'", and recorded her first solo single, "Mashed Potato Time", on the same day. It went to #2 in the spring of 1962. More dance songs followed, including the follow up "Gravy", and another dance song, "Ride!" In the summer of 1963, the #1 hit "So Much in Love" by the smooth R&B group the Tymes marked the last hit from Cameo-Parkway's peak period. [edit] Decline and shutdownFor the next few years, with the onslaught of the British Invasion, the Cameo and Parkway labels were not as successful as before. Artists like Jo Ann Campbell, Maynard Ferguson, Clark Terry, the instrumental group LeRoy & His Rockin' Fellers, and stars like Clint Eastwood and Merv Griffin had little success on the label. Artists who later became big, including The Kinks and Bob Seger, also had unsuccessful records at Cameo and Parkway. The last major hits for the label were "96 Tears" by Question Mark and the Mysterians which went to #1 in the fall of 1966, "Beg, Borrow and Steal by The Ohio Express, and a novelty remake of "Wild Thing" by an impressionist imitating Robert F. Kennedy under the name Senator Bobby. In mid-1967, Cameo-Parkway became a subsidiary of MGM Records and released four more albums (two on Cameo, one on Parkway, and one on Vando) as well as two more singles, both by Chris Bartley on Vando. For the first time, both label names appeared on the record labels, although either the Cameo or Parkway name was emphasized, and the two series continued to use separate catalogue numbering systems. This suggests a gradual merger of the two labels was in progress, but it was never completed. By late 1967, after their financial problems worsened, the Cameo-Parkway company was sold to Allen Klein and renamed ABKCO Records, with Bell Records acquiring its remaining subsidiary Vando label. [edit] Subsidiary labelsWyncote Records was a budget label started in 1964. It released compilation albums of material by Cameo and Parkway artists, as well as new albums of soundtrack and easy listening music. These records were mainly distributed in department stores. Other related labels, mostly independently owned but distributed by Cameo-Parkway, included:
[edit] ReissuesABKCO reissued Cameo-Parkway recordings in the early 1970s, but allowed them to fall out of print after that time. They were mostly officially unavailable on compact disc or any other format for many years. In May 2005, ABKCO revived the Cameo-Parkway name for reissues only, and released a multi-CD box set of the labels' most notable output: Cameo-Parkway: 1957-1967. In October 2005 they began to issue various single-artist "best of" CD compilations, including Bobby Rydell, Chubby Checker, Dee Dee Sharp, The Dovells, The Orlons, The Tymes and Question Mark & the Mysterians. A various artists CD titled Cameo-Parkway: The Greatest Hits was also issued. Other tracks by Bobby Paris and Yvonne Baker were licensed to Universal Music for their Complete Introduction To Northern Soul box set in 2008. Many more obscure songs remain officially unavailable. Cameo-Parkway Publishing is on EMI's "list of missing royaltors" as of 2009.[1] [edit] See also[edit] References
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