Cameo Records was an American

record label A record label, or record company, is a brand or trademark of music recordings and music videos, or the company that owns it. Sometimes, a record label is also a publishing company that manages such brands and trademarks, coordinates the produ ...

that flourished in the 1920s. It was owned by the Cameo Record Corporation in New York City. Cameo released a disc by

Lucille Hegamin Lucille Nelson Hegamin (November 29, 1894 – March 1, 1970) was an American singer and entertainer and an early African-American blues recording artist. Life and career Lucille Nelson was born in Macon, Georgia, the daughter of John and Minni ...

every two months from 1921 to 1926. Cameo records are also noted for dance music. The catalogue also included the Original Memphis Five and the Varsity Eight. Musicians such as

Red Nichols Ernest Loring "Red" Nichols (May 8, 1905 – June 28, 1965) was an American jazz cornetist, composer, and jazz bandleader. Biography Early life and career Nichols was born in Ogden, Utah, United States. His father was a college music profes ...

, Miff Mole, Adrian Rollini, and

Frank Signorelli Frank Signorelli (May 24, 1901 – December 9, 1975) was an American jazz pianist. Biography Signorelli was born to an Italian Sicilian family in New York City, New York. Signorelli was a founding member of the Original Memphis Five in 1917, ...

made trips to the Cameo studios. In 1926, Cameo started recording using a microphone-electrical process. An interesting blues number is 583, "Crazy Blues", by

Salt & Pepper Salt is a mineral composed primarily of sodium chloride (NaCl), a chemical compound belonging to the larger class of salts; salt in the form of a natural crystalline mineral is known as rock salt or halite. Salt is present in vast quantitie ...

Listen to the podcast at 26:46, where the disc is mentioned as an "early electric".
The Cameo Record Corporation started

Lincoln Records Lincoln Records was an American record label that existed from 1923 to 1930. The bulk of material on Lincoln was dance music by bands assembled from the pool of New York musicians. Lincoln Records filled a market niche for people who wanted inex ...

(1924) and

Romeo Records Romeo Records was an American jazz record label that started in 1926 as a subsidiary of Cameo Records. The discs were sold exclusively at S. H. Kress & Co. department stores and retailed for 25 cents each. In 1931 Romeo was acquired by the Ame ...

(1926). In 1928 it merged with

Pathé Records Pathé Records was an international record company and label and producer of phonographs, based in France, and active from the 1890s through the 1930s. Early years The Pathé record business was founded by brothers Charles and Émile Pathé, ...

, and then the

American Record Corporation American Record Corporation (ARC), also referred to as American Record Company, American Recording Corporation, or ARC Records, was an American record company. Overview ARC was created in January 1929 by Louis G. Sylvester, president of Scran ...

. The resulting company stopped using the Cameo name in the 1930s. This label is not affiliated with Cameo-Parkway Records which was active in the 1950s and 1960s.

References

External links

Cameo Records
on the Internet Archive'
Great 78 Project
{{Authority control American record labels Record labels established in 1921 Record labels disestablished in 1930 Jazz record labels

See also

References

External links