20th Century Fox Records (also known as 20th Fox Records and 20th Century Records, or simply 20th Century Fox Film Scores and Fox Records) was a wholly owned subsidiary of film studio

20th Century Fox 20th Century Studios, Inc. (previously known as 20th Century Fox) is an American film production company headquartered at the Fox Studio Lot in the Century City area of Los Angeles. As of 2019, it serves as a film production arm of Walt Dis ...

. The history of the label covers three distinct 20th Century Fox-related operations in the analog era, ranging chronologically from about 1938 to 1981.

History

Early history

20th Century Fox was formed through the merger of Darryl F. Zanuck's Twentieth Century Pictures with the

Fox Film The Fox Film Corporation (also known as Fox Studios) was an American Independent film production studio formed by William Fox (1879–1952) in 1915, by combining his earlier Greater New York Film Rental Company and Box Office Attractions Film C ...

Corporation on May 31, 1935. Before the merger, Fox Film Corporation tried out a couple of short-lived record labels in conjunction with its Movietone sound system. Although Movietone was a dedicated sound-on-film system, in 1929-30 Fox produced some soundtracks on disc to accompany features shown in theaters not yet equipped for optical sound.David N. Lewis: "Where Did You Come From: The 20th Century Fox Label" ARSC Journal XLIII, No. 1 Spring 2012 Between 1933 and 1937, a custom record label called ''Fox Movietone'' was produced starting at F-100 and running through F-136. It featured songs from Fox movies, first using material recorded and issued on the

RCA Victor RCA Records is an American record label currently owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America. It is one of Sony Music's four flagship labels, alongside RCA's former long-time rival Columbia Records; also Aris ...

Bluebird label and halfway through switched to material recorded and issued on

ARC ARC may refer to: Business * Aircraft Radio Corporation, a major avionics manufacturer from the 1920s to the '50s * Airlines Reporting Corporation, an airline-owned company that provides ticket distribution, reporting, and settlement services * ...

's dime store labels. These scarce records were sold only at Fox Theaters. In 1938, 20th Century began a new, semi-private line of records employing white labels with typed, or mimeographed, information. Matrix numbers are variable, but the earliest known records in this series correspond to the picture ''Sally, Irene and Mary'' (1938) and the latest ones to '' The Gang's All Here'' (1943). These discs were limited exclusively to studio properties recorded on 20th Century Fox soundstages and were used for promotional purposes and as giveaways to staff and visitors to the studio itself. After this small scale venture was discontinued, 20th Century Fox stayed out of record production for about 15 years, though its music division remained very active in licensing 20th Century Fox musicals and soundtrack music for use on record albums to other companies, such as that for the 1956 film '' The King and I'', released on

Capitol Records Capitol Records, LLC (known legally as Capitol Records, Inc. until 2007) is an American record label distributed by Universal Music Group through its Capitol Music Group imprint. It was founded as the first West Coast-based record label of note ...

. The studio also had success in the 1950s with films starring popular singers Elvis Presley and Pat Boone, with Presley making his film debut in '' Love Me Tender'' (1956) and Boone debuting in ''

Bernardine Bernardine is a Latinate diminutive of the given name " Bernard". It can be applied to men, notably Saint Bernadine, but is now much more often a female name. Bernadine and Bernadene are variant spellings of the female name. The nickname '' ...

'' and then following it up with '' April Love'' (both 1957). Fox set up a record company in South Africa and started talks with Roulette Records to form a partnership in the US but talks fell through and Fox decided to set up their own company in the US.

20th Fox Records

20th Fox Records was established in 1958 with Henry Onorati at its head; Onorati was hired away from Dot Records to run the new label. Onorati brought with him "Carol of the Drum," a

Katherine K. Davis Katherine Kennicott Davis (June 25, 1892 – April 20, 1980) was an American composer, pianist, arranger, and teacher, whose most well-known composition is the Christmas song "Carol of the Drum," later known as "The Little Drummer Boy". Life and ...

Christmas carol that had been recorded at Dot, but not released; it was retooled as "

The Little Drummer Boy "The Little Drummer Boy" (originally known as "Carol of the Drum") is a popular Christmas song written by American composer Katherine Kennicott Davis in 1941. First recorded in 1951 by the Trapp Family, the song was further popularized by a 19 ...

" and issued on 20th Fox as a single by the Harry Simeone Chorale. It became a Christmas standard in short order and put the label on a sound footing. During Onorati's tenure, 20th Fox was at its most ambitious and the album program was oriented towards an adult audience, whereas the singles attempted, without much success, to crack the sales charts. 20th Fox albums often appeared in deluxe packaging, and sometimes the film soundtrack albums featured narration, or were bridged with dialog from the films, which hadn't been done on records before. Other releases, such as those featuring

Glenn Miller Alton Glen Miller (March 1, 1904 – December 15, 1944) was an American big band founder, owner, conductor, composer, arranger, trombone player and recording artist before and during World War II, when he was an officer in the United States Arm ...

, George Gershwin, and

Shirley Temple Shirley Temple Black (born Shirley Jane Temple;While Temple occasionally used "Jane" as a middle name, her birth certificate reads "Shirley Temple". Her birth certificate was altered to prolong her babyhood shortly after she signed with Fox in ...

, were sourced from vault film elements. 20th Fox also featured new albums by veteran artists such as Eubie Blake, Claude Hopkins and Stuff Smith; Hugo Winterhalter made his debut as a leader on 20th Fox. In 1962, Onorati resigned from 20th Fox and went back to Dot; his last 20th Fox project was the soundtrack album for '' The Longest Day''. Onorati was replaced by Basil J. Bova.

20th Century Fox Records

Upon assuming the top job at 20th Fox, Basil Bova's first order of business was to quell rumors that the label planned to merge with

Cameo-Parkway Records 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, ...

. In May 1963, Bova renamed 20th Fox Records as 20th Century-Fox Records and the label design was changed to incorporate the movie studio logo. 20th Century Fox was unusual in that its singles and album programs were separate entities; whereas the singles exploited pop and novelty fare, the album program was considerably more adult and represented a continuation of the plan Onorati had originally devised for the label. Exceptions include albums based around successful singles, such as ''Sing We Now of Christmas'' which included "The Little Drummer Boy" by The Harry Simeone Chorale, ''Navy Blue'' by

Diane Renay Diane Renay (born July 13, 1945), born Renee Diane Kushner, is an American pop singer, best known for her 1964 hit song, "Navy Blue". Early life Renay was born to a Jewish family in South Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. She started singing at an ea ...

and two albums by Mary Wells who enjoyed five mid-chart hits in 1964 and 1965. Bova anticipated that the soundtrack album for ''

Cleopatra Cleopatra VII Philopator ( grc-gre, Κλεοπάτρα Φιλοπάτωρ}, "Cleopatra the father-beloved"; 69 BC10 August 30 BC) was Queen of the Ptolemaic Kingdom of Egypt from 51 to 30 BC, and its last active ruler.She was also a ...

'' would be "the blockbuster of them all". Appearing before the film's release by about two months in June 1963, the soundtrack debuted at #2 on the Billboard album chart and sold steadily. But the film opened to losses so great that belt-tightening was felt throughout the studio structure, and in 1965 it reached the record label. The 20th Century Fox studio closed its newsreel division in 1965, cutting off the label's access to documentary audio for use in a series of current events albums, and tentative steps towards branching out into folk music and psychedelic rock were stopped altogether. From 1966,

ABC Records ABC Records was an American record label founded in New York City in 1955. It originated as the main popular music label operated by the Am-Par Record Corporation. Am-Par also created the Impulse! jazz label in 1960. It acquired many labels befo ...

handled distribution of 20th Century Fox Records, and the label issued soundtrack LPs only, but also briefly instituted a budget subsidiary, Movietone Records, to handle back catalog. 20th Century Fox Records enjoyed one more hit album with the soundtrack to ''

Valley of the Dolls Valley of the Dolls may refer to: * ''Valley of the Dolls'' (novel), a 1966 novel by Jacqueline Susann ** ''Valley of the Dolls'' (film), a 1967 film adapted from the novel *** " (Theme from) Valley of the Dolls", the title song from the film, pe ...

'', though it did not contain

Dionne Warwick Marie Dionne Warwick (; born December 12, 1940) is an American singer, actress, and television host. Warwick ranks among the 40 biggest U.S. hit makers between 1955 and 1999, based on her chart history on ''Billboards Hot 100 pop singles cha ...

's version of the film's theme. They also released the soundtrack to '' Hello Dolly'', starring Barbra Streisand, among other film-related projects. In 1970, the 20th Century Fox studio shut down the record label, though ABC Records still continued to distribute stock on ''The Little Drummer Boy'', a repackaging of ''Sing We Now of Christmas''.

20th Century Records

The label was dormant (with

distributing the label's back catalog during that time) from 1970 to early 1972, when the label was revived as 20th Century Records by Russ Regan on a budget of $1 million a year for the first 3 years. The first three acts signed to the 20th Century label were The DeFranco Family, Maureen McGovern, and Barry White; however,

Brighter Side of Darkness Brighter Side of Darkness was an American R&B/soul group. They were formed in 1971 at Calumet High School in Chicago, Illinois. Their lead singers were Ralph Eskridge and 12-year-old Darryl Lamont. The other members were Randolph Murph and Larry W ...

gave the newly renamed label their first hit record in 1973 with ''Love Jones''. The label also had major hits with Barry White's The Love Unlimited Orchestra, Love Unlimited, Carl Douglas (best known for the song " Kung Fu Fighting"), Edwin Starr,

Stephanie Mills Stephanie Dorthea Mills (born March 22, 1957) is an American singer and songwriter. She rose to stardom as "Dorothy" in the original seven-time Tony Award winning Broadway run of the musical ''The Wiz'' from 1974 to 1979. The song " Home" from t ...

, Leon Haywood, Carl Carlton and the ''

Star Wars ''Star Wars'' is an American epic film, epic space opera multimedia franchise created by George Lucas, which began with the Star Wars (film), eponymous 1977 film and quickly became a worldwide popular culture, pop-culture Cultural impact of S ...

'' soundtrack in 1977. The label also released the debut album from The Alan Parsons Project in 1976 in most of the world except Europe.

Other projects

The company also re-released the Harry Simeone Chorale's recording of " Little Drummer Boy" and the album on which it was first featured, ''Sing We Now of Christmas'', later reissued as ''The Little Drummer Boy'' (this was part of the first 1958-era label series). It became the best selling Christmas album of all time. The rights were later acquired by

PolyGram PolyGram N.V. was a multinational entertainment company and major music record label formerly based in the Netherlands. It was founded in 1962 as the Grammophon-Philips Group by Dutch corporation Philips and German corporation Siemens, to be a ...

, which released it on CD in 1988, on the Mercury Records label. Among the movie soundtrack albums released by 20th Century Fox Records were those of ''

Zorba the Greek ''Zorba the Greek'' ( el, Βίος και Πολιτεία του Αλέξη Ζορμπά, , Life and Times of Alexis Zorbas) is a novel written by the Cretan author Nikos Kazantzakis, first published in 1946. It is the tale of a young Greek int ...

'', '' The Bible: In the Beginning'', '' Doctor Dolittle'', and '' Patton'', all of them 20th Century Fox films. However, the label did not issue the soundtrack albums of any of the Rodgers and Hammerstein films released by the studio. Instead, the albums made from five of these films were released by

('' Oklahoma!'' and ''

Carousel A carousel or carrousel (mainly North American English), merry-go-round (List of sovereign states, international), roundabout (British English), or hurdy-gurdy (an old term in Australian English, in South Australia, SA) is a type of amusement ...

'' due to star Shirley Jones' recording contract and '' The King and I'' due to contractual obligations of Yul Brynner), and the remaining two albums by

(''

South Pacific The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the continen ...

'' and '' The Sound of Music'' due to stars Mitzi Gaynor's and

Julie Andrews Dame Julie Andrews (born Julia Elizabeth Wells; 1 October 1935) is an English actress, singer, and author. She has garnered numerous accolades throughout her career spanning over seven decades, including an Academy Award, a British Academy Fi ...

' recording contracts with that label). Years later, the Capitol albums reappeared on CD in expanded versions issued by Angel Records. (The film versions of ''Oklahoma'' and ''South Pacific'', although released in roadshow format by the Magna Corporation, were given general release by 20th Century Fox.)

Later years

In 1966, Fox had a deal with

for distribution and until 1970, this partnership enjoyed success. By 1970, with the parent 20th Century Fox in financial trouble (which eventually led to discontent that resulted in the ousting of Darryl Zanuck), the new output of the record company dropped to zero. Although albums that had been selling were distributed by

, no new product was forthcoming and 20th Century-Fox then shut down its record subsidiary. It was re-activated in 1972 as 20th Century Records and designed a smart new blue label with a new logo. Russ Regan, a veteran "record man", became the new head of the label, a move that increased their credibility in the business considerably. Promotion seemed better, too, as the first two singles issued by the new incarnation both charted. Their biggest selling artist at the time, Barry White, scored two number one hits with " Love's Theme" with Love Unlimited Orchestra and his own "

Can't Get Enough of Your Love, Babe "Can't Get Enough of Your Love, Babe" is a song written, recorded, and produced by American musician Barry White. Released in June 1974 as the first single from his third album, '' Can't Get Enough'' (1974), the song topped the US ''Billboard'' ...

". 20th Century-Fox had budgeted a million dollars a year for three years to support the revived label, but it began paying its own way after only six months. In 1976, Russ Regan left to form his own Parachute Records label which was distributed by Casablanca Records (Regan folded Parachute in mid-1979, and, ironically, Casablanca would later redistribute 20th Century's back catalog after PolyGram bought the label). Barry White then set up his own label, Unlimited Gold Records, through CBS, which had performed the pressing duties for 20th since 1972, after he chose not to renew his contract with Fox in 1978. The company reverted to 20th Century-Fox Records with a new label design featuring the movie studio's logo and launched a new distribution deal for Carl Davis'

Chi Sound Records Chi-Sound Records is an independent record label set up in 1976 by established Chicago record producer Carl Davis. He had been involved in the music industry since the early 1960s working with locally based labels, including Vee-Jay and Okeh, a s ...

in 1978 after leaving their deal with United Artists Records. In 1979, RCA Records took over distribution of the label.

Closure

The label was active until 1981, being sold to

in early 1982. Oil magnate Marvin Davis, who had acquired 20th Century Fox, was not interested in the record company, hence its sale. All of its catalog and contracts for then-current artists including

, Dusty Springfield and Carl Carlton were folded into and became part of the

Casablanca Casablanca, also known in Arabic as Dar al-Bayda ( ar, الدَّار الْبَيْضَاء, al-Dār al-Bayḍāʾ, ; ber, ⴹⴹⴰⵕⵍⴱⵉⴹⴰ, ḍḍaṛlbiḍa, : "White House") is the largest city in Morocco and the country's econom ...

label, which PolyGram had purchased in 1977. Universal Music Group, the successor of PolyGram, now owns the old 20th Century-Fox Records catalog with reissues handled by Universal Music Enterprises (UMe), which took over distribution from Mercury, which

Island Records Island Records is a multinational record label owned by Universal Music Group. It was founded in 1959 by Chris Blackwell, Graeme Goodall, and Leslie Kong in Jamaica, and was eventually sold to PolyGram in 1989. Island and A&M Records, anoth ...

absorbed in 2014. Soundtracks that 20th Century Fox owned are controlled by Fox Music (now

Hollywood Records Hollywood Records is an American record label of the Disney Music Group. The label focuses in pop, rock, alternative, hip hop, and country genres, as well as specializing in mature recordings not suitable for the flagship Walt Disney Records l ...

) but are often licensed to other entities for reissues.

Fox Music Records

It was launched in 1992 as Fox Records in a joint venture with BMG Music. One of the artists of the label was Jamie Foxx. It folded again in 1995. Fox Music licensed music heard on Fox feature films or TV shows to other record companies. For example, the rights to the soundtrack of the film '' Titanic'' are licensed to Sony Music. Also, ''Glee'' cast albums are licensed to Sony Music's

Columbia Records Columbia Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music, Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America, the North American division of Japanese Conglomerate (company), conglomerate Sony. It was founded on Janua ...

in a 50/50 venture with 20th Century Fox. These albums were issued using the

20th Century Fox TV Records Fox Music was the music division label of 20th Century Fox. It encompassed music publishing and licensing businesses, dealing primarily with television and film soundtracks. It was located in Century City, California. During CEO Robert Kraft's ...

imprint, which was launched in 2009 and distributed by Columbia. In 2019, Fox Music was absorbed into the Disney Music Group upon The Walt Disney Company's absorption of parent company

21st Century Fox Twenty-First Century Fox, Inc., doing business as 21st Century Fox (21CF), was an American multinational mass media corporation that was based in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. It was one of the two companies formed on June 28, 2013, f ...

. Disney Music Group is distributed by Universal Music, which owns the 20th Century Fox Records catalog.

Artists

* Al Martino * Alan Parsons Project *

Ambrosia In the ancient Greek myths, ''ambrosia'' (, grc, ἀμβροσία 'immortality'), the food or drink of the Greek gods, is often depicted as conferring longevity or immortality upon whoever consumed it. It was brought to the gods in Olympus ...

* Richard Barrett * Big Country *

* Carl Carlton * Gene Chandler *

Patti Dahlstrom Patti Dahlstrom is a singer, songwriter, and teacher. She recorded four albums in the 1970s and co-wrote the Helen Reddy hit "Emotion". Career One of five children, Dahlstrom was born in Houston, Texas. She began writing songs before her teen y ...

* DeFranco Family * Carl Douglas * The Emotions * The Exciters *Fire & Rain * Leif Garrett * Byrdie Green * Harry Simeone Chorale * Leon Haywood * Patti Hendrix * Dan Hill *

Honk Honk may refer to: * Honk (band) * ''Honk'' (magazine) * ''Honk!'', a musical adaptation of the Hans Christian Andersen story ''The Ugly Duckling'' * HONK!, the Festival of Activist Street Bands in Somerville, Massachusetts * ''Honk, the Moose'', ...

Lena Horne Lena Mary Calhoun Horne (June 30, 1917 – May 9, 2010) was an American dancer, actress, singer, and civil rights activist. Horne's career spanned more than seventy years, appearing in film, television, and theatre. Horne joined the chorus of th ...

Impalas The impala or rooibok (''Aepyceros melampus'') is a medium-sized antelope found in East Africa, eastern and southern Africa. The monotypic taxon, only Extant taxon, extant member of the genus ''Aepyceros'' and tribe Aepycerotini, it was first ...

Ahmad Jamal Ahmad Jamal (born Frederick Russell Jones, July 2, 1930) is an American jazz pianist, composer, bandleader and educator. For six decades, he has been one of the most successful small-group leaders in jazz. Biography Early life Jamal was born Fr ...

* Jigsaw * Kitty Kallen *

Kinsman Dazz The Dazz Band is an American R&B/funk band most popular in the early 1980s. Emerging from Cleveland, Ohio, the group's biggest hit songs include "Let It Whip" (1982), "Joystick" (1983), and "Let It All Blow" (1984). The name of the band is a p ...

* Love Unlimited * Frankie Lymon * Mahogany Rush * Peter McCann * Maureen McGovern * Milan the Leather Boy *

* Nite City * Kenny Nolan * Jim Photoglo * Genya Ravan *

Rhyze Rhyze was an American R&B and funk band. They are probably best known for their song " Just How Sweet Is Your Love" which was an R&B and dance hit. Much of their output was material written by Paul Kyser and Leon Stuckey. Career Nu-Sound Express ...

* Rubicon * Harriet Schock * Dusty Springfield * Edwin Starr * Evelyn Thomas *Triple S Connection * Mary Wells * Adam West * Barry White and the Love Unlimited Orchestra * Betty Grable

References

External links

The 20th Century Records Story
{{Authority control Defunct record labels of the United States Records Record labels based in California Entertainment companies based in California Companies based in Los Angeles Soundtrack record labels Mass media companies established in 1958 Mass media companies disestablished in 1972 Record labels established in 1958 Record labels disestablished in 1970 1958 establishments in California 1972 disestablishments in California Re-established companies Mass media companies established in 1972 Mass media companies disestablished in 1981 Record labels established in 1972 Record labels disestablished in 1981 1981 disestablishments in California Defunct companies based in Greater Los Angeles