Harley John Vaughan Usill (13 July 1925 – 7 October 1991) was a British record company executive. He was joint founder and managing director of British record label
Argo Records
Argo Records was a record label in Chicago that was established in 1955 as a division of Chess Records.
Originally the label was called Marterry, but bandleader Ralph Marterie objected, and within a couple of months the imprint was renamed Ar ...
.
After an extended period in various occupations, including a period as assistant director to documentary maker
Humphrey Jennings
Frank Humphrey Sinkler Jennings (19 August 1907 – 24 September 1950) was an English documentary filmmaker and one of the founders of the Mass Observation organisation. Jennings was described by film critic and director Lindsay Anderson in 195 ...
,
Usill started Argo in 1951. The company released primarily spoken-word recordings. Due to cash problems, the company was taken over by
British Decca in 1957, though with Usill remaining as
Managing Director
A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especially ...
, and being given pretty much full autonomy to run the
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 ...
as he wished.
After Argo's parent company was absorbed 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 ...
in 1979, Usill ended his connection with Argo and established
ASV the following year.
References
External links
* https://web.archive.org/web/20120207064550/http://www.argo-records.com/history.html
* https://web.archive.org/web/20120810145544/http://www.kevindaly.org.uk/biography/argo/
1925 births
1991 deaths
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