MAM Records was a British

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 ...

launched in 1970 by the management company Management Agency & Music Ltd. (MAM). It was founded by

Gordon Mills Gordon William Mills (15 May 1935 – 29 July 1986) was a successful London-based music industry manager and songwriter. He was born in Madras, British India and grew up in Trealaw in the Rhondda Valley, South Wales. During the 1960s and 1970s ...

and Tom Jones and distributed by

Decca Records Decca Records is a British record label established in 1929 by Edward Lewis (Decca), Edward Lewis. Its U.S. label was established in late 1934 by Lewis, Jack Kapp, American Decca's first president, and Milton Rackmil, who later became American ...

. The first single released on MAM was "I Hear You Knocking" by

Dave Edmunds David William Edmunds (born 15 April 1944) is a Welsh singer-songwriter, guitarist and record producer. Although he is mainly associated with pub rock and new wave, having many hits in the 1970s and early 1980s, his natural leaning has alwa ...

in 1970. Later that year,

Gilbert O'Sullivan Raymond Edward "Gilbert" O'Sullivan (born 1 December 1946) is an Irish singer-songwriter who achieved his most significant success during the early 1970s with hits including "Alone Again (Naturally)", " Clair", and " Get Down". O'Sullivan's s ...

started his run of hit singles on MAM with "

Nothing Rhymed Nothing, the complete absence of anything, has been a matter of philosophical debate since at least the 5th century BC. Early Greek philosophers argued that it was impossible for ''nothing'' to exist. The atomists allowed ''nothing'' but only i ...

", and he also provided MAM with its first hit album in 1971 with ''

Himself A reflexive pronoun is a pronoun that refers to another noun or pronoun (its antecedent) within the same sentence. In the English language specifically, a reflexive pronoun will end in ''-self'' or ''-selves'', and refer to a previously n ...

''. Other hit albums such as '' Back to Front'', '' I'm a Writer, Not a Fighter'', and '' A Stranger In My Own Back Yard'' followed. Lynsey de Paul signed with the label in 1972 and her run of hit singles on MAM started with "

Sugar Me "Sugar Me" is a song written by Lynsey de Paul and Barry Green. The first version of this song to be released was recorded by de Paul as her first single on MAM Records in 1972. It was produced by Gordon Mills and the B-side was de Paul's versio ...

". She also released her debut album, ''

Surprise (Lynsey de Paul album) ''Surprise'' is the first album released by Lynsey de Paul on the MAM record label in 1973. In Australia, the album name was changed to ''Sugar Me'', after de Paul's first hit single. All of the songs on the album were written or co-written b ...

'', on MAM in 1973, and a best of

compilation album A compilation album comprises Album#Tracks, tracks, which may be previously released or unreleased, usually from several separate recordings by either one or several Performing arts#Performers, performers. If by one artist, then generally the tr ...

, ''The World of Lynsey de Paul'' (also known as ''Lynsey Sings'') in 1974. Engelbert Humperdinck was also a major recording artist with MAM; Gordon Mills was Engelbert Humperdinck's manager. While not scoring any hits, the label also released singles by

Frank Ifield Francis Edward Ifield OAM (born 30 November 1937) is a British-Australian country music singer and guitarist who often incorporated yodelling into his music. After living in Australia, Ifield returned to the United Kingdom in November 1959 wher ...

as well as

Johnny Nash John Lester Nash Jr. (August 19, 1940October 6, 2020) was an American singer-songwriter, best known in the United States for his 1972 hit " I Can See Clearly Now". Primarily a reggae and pop singer, he was one of the first non-Jamaican artists ...

Leapy Lee Lee Graham (born Graham Pulleyblank, 2 July 1939) better known by his stage name Leapy Lee, is an English singer, best known for his 1968 single " Little Arrows," which reached No. 2 in the UK Singles Chart, and was a Top 20 country and pop hit ...

and Tina Charles. Distribution of MAM records switched to EMI in the mid 1970s. The company was one of the most successful record companies in the United Kingdom throughout the early 1970s. It diversified into

slot machines A slot machine (American English), fruit machine (British English) or poker machine (Australian English and New Zealand English) is a gambling machine that creates a game of chance for its customers. Slot machines are also known pejoratively as ...

and

airlines An airline is a company that provides air transport services for traveling passengers and freight. Airlines use aircraft to supply these services and may form partnerships or alliances with other airlines for codeshare agreements, in whic ...

but, by the end of the 1970s, it was losing ground to

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

companies such as

RCA Records 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 A ...

. MAM was sold in the 1980s to

Chrysalis Records Chrysalis Records () is a British record label that was founded in 1968. The name is both a reference to the pupal stage of a butterfly and a combination of its founders' names, Chris Wright and Terry Ellis. It started as the Ellis-Wright Ag ...

. Following the sale of Chrysalis to

EMI Records EMI Records (formerly EMI Records Ltd.) is a multinational record label owned by Universal Music Group. It originally founded as a British flagship label by the music company of the same name in 1972, and launched in January 1973 as the succ ...

in 1991, many recordings previously owned by MAM were reissued by EMI. After the breakup of EMI in 2013, Chrysalis was sold to

BMG Rights Management BMG Rights Management GmbH (also known simply as BMG) is an international music company based in Berlin, Germany. It combines the activities of a music publisher and a record label. BMG was founded in October 2008 after Bertelsmann sold its ...

. Now MAM's catalogue belongs to BMG, and is distributed by

Warner Music Warner Music Group Corp. ( d.b.a. Warner Music Group, commonly abbreviated as WMG) is an American multinational entertainment and record label conglomerate headquartered in New York City. It is one of the " big three" recording companies and t ...

ADA Ada may refer to: Places Africa * Ada Foah, a town in Ghana * Ada (Ghana parliament constituency) * Ada, Osun, a town in Nigeria Asia * Ada, Urmia, a village in West Azerbaijan Province, Iran * Ada, Karaman, a village in Karaman Province, ...

Staff

In 1978,

Tab Martin Tab Martin (born Alan Raymond Brearley, December 24, 1944) is an English people, English bass guitarist. He has been a member of well-known English bands from the 1960s. He was a member of the Tornados and played on their hit "Globetrotter". He ...

and Dominic De Sousa were working for the label. Martin joined up as head of A&R and creative services. De Sousa was responsible for UK artists liaison. Geoffrey Everitt was the MD for the company at the time.''

Record World ''Record World'' magazine was one of the three main music industry trade magazines in the United States, along with '' Billboard'' and '' Cashbox''. It was founded in 1946 under the name ''Music Vendor'', but in 1964 it was changed to ''Record Wo ...

'', August 26, 1978
Page 68 ENGLAND By PHILIP PALMER, CHART COMEBACK BID:
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References

Record labels established in 1970 Defunct record labels of the United Kingdom London Records {{UK-record-label-stub