Label Guide: AVCO

Avco Records was a record label started by music producers/composers Hugo Peretti and Luigi Creatore (Hugo & Luigi) together with film and TV producer Joseph E. Levine in 1968 as Avco Embassy Records. Hugo and Luigi had previously worked together from the late 1950s for a number of labels, including Mercury, Roulette, and RCA Victor, where they were involved with acts such as Elvis Presley, The Tokens, and Sam Cooke. Levine was the head of Avco Embassy Pictures following a long career in the film industry.

The label was named simply Avco Records when the 'Embassy' part was dropped in 1971. Among its best-known artists were The Stylistics, Little Anthony & the Imperials, and Van McCoy, who scored massive early disco hits for the label in the mid-1970s. Hugo & Luigi then bought out Avco Records and renamed it to H&L Records in 1976. In 1978, H&L Records filed for bankruptcy, and in 1984, Amherst Records acquired the Avco/H&L Records catalog.