Label Guide: Parrot

Parrot Records (1950s) was an American blues label, founded in 1952 in Chicago by radio DJ Al Benson. He was one of the first stars of Black radio and helped setting up several record labels, including the 1954 subsidiary of Parrot, Blue Lake Records. Parrot was releasing dozens of singles between 1953 and 1956, but only very few albums, incl. Ahmad Jamal Plays in 1955. This Parrot Records is completely unrelated to the London subsidiary portrayed below.

Parrot Records (1960s/1970s) was founded in 1964 as an American subsidiary of London Records. The label usually licensed recordings made by British Decca Records for release in the USA and Canada, including albums by The Zombies, Tom Jones, Them, Lulu, Savoy Brown and Alan Price. But Parrot also contracted American and Canadian artists for original releases. The label existed until 1979, but it was pretty much abandoned by London after 1975 with only one more album release in the second half of the decade.