Portrait Records was a sister

label A label (as distinct from signage) is a piece of paper, plastic film, cloth, metal, or other material affixed to a container or product, on which is written or printed information or symbols about the product or item. Information printed dir ...

Epic Records Epic Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America Sony Corporation of America (SONAM, also known as SCA), is the American arm of the Japanese conglomerate Sony Group ...

and later of

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 ...

. Notable artists

Cyndi Lauper Cynthia Ann Stephanie Lauper Thornton (born June 22, 1953) is an American singer, songwriter, actress, and activist. Her career has spanned over 40 years. Her album ''She's So Unusual'' (1983) was the first debut album by a female artist to achi ...

and

Sade Sade may refer to: People * Marquis de Sade (1740–1814), French aristocrat, writer, and libertine * Sade (singer) (born 1959, Helen Folasade Adu), British Nigerian musician and lead singer of the eponymous band * Sade Baderinwa (born 1969), WAB ...

signed with Portrait, but their contracts were absorbed by Epic after that incarnation of the label was shuttered.

History & Overview

Portrait began in

1976 Events January * January 3 – The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights enters into force. * January 5 – The Pol Pot regime proclaims a new constitution for Democratic Kampuchea. * January 11 – The 1976 Phila ...

as a sister label of Epic; its initial signings were

Joan Baez Joan Chandos Baez (; born January 9, 1941) is an American singer, songwriter, musician, and activist. Her contemporary folk music often includes songs of protest and social justice. Baez has performed publicly for over 60 years, releasing more ...

, Burton Cummings, and the McCrarys. Cummings' "Stand Tall" was the lead-off single. Baez's '' Blowin' Away'' album and the McCrarys' self-titled debut bowed in early 1977. The label design was similar to that of Columbia's singles; design on it was in grey tones, while the logo was handwritten orange with a red outline. This was also the launch of Epic/Portrait/Associated (EPA) under the CBS moniker. One of the signings the label had was the band

Heart The heart is a muscular organ in most animals. This organ pumps blood through the blood vessels of the circulatory system. The pumped blood carries oxygen and nutrients to the body, while carrying metabolic waste such as carbon dioxide t ...

. The band had been signed with

Mushroom Records Mushroom Records was an Australian flagship record label, founded in 1972 in Melbourne. It published and distributed many successful Australian artists and expanded internationally, until it was merged with Festival Records in 1998. Festival Mu ...

, but left after a dispute in

advertising Advertising is the practice and techniques employed to bring attention to a product or service. Advertising aims to put a product or service in the spotlight in hopes of drawing it attention from consumers. It is typically used to promote a ...

their ''

Dreamboat Annie ''Dreamboat Annie'' is the debut studio album by American rock band Heart. At the time, the band was based in Vancouver, British Columbia; the album was recorded in Vancouver and first released in Canada by the local label Mushroom Records in S ...

'' album. The print ads led some fans to think that the sisters

Ann Anne, alternatively spelled Ann, is a form of the Latin female given name Anna. This in turn is a representation of the Hebrew Hannah, which means 'favour' or 'grace'. Related names include Annie. Anne is sometimes used as a male name in the ...

and Nancy Wilson were

lesbian A lesbian is a Homosexuality, homosexual woman.Zimmerman, p. 453. The word is also used for women in relation to their sexual identity or sexual behavior, regardless of sexual orientation, or as an adjective to characterize or associate n ...

s. Portrait snatched the group up quickly, releasing the single "

Barracuda A barracuda, or cuda for short, is a large, predatory, ray-finned fish known for its fearsome appearance and ferocious behaviour. The barracuda is a saltwater fish of the genus ''Sphyraena'', the only genus in the family Sphyraenidae, which was ...

" before ''

Little Queen ''Little Queen'' is the third studio album by American rock band Heart, released on May 14, 1977, by Portrait Records. The album was recorded and mixed at Kaye-Smith Studios in Seattle, Washington, from February to April 1977. On June 29, 20 ...

'' was to hit the shelves. The McCrarys also scored big with "You". By 1979, however, Epic was looking to consolidate some of its low-end producing labels and, for a short time, Portrait and Epic had both names on the same label. In 1980, only

was picked up from Portrait; releasing ''

Bébé le Strange ''Bébé le Strange'' is the fifth studio album by American rock band Heart, released on February 14, 1980, by Epic Records. It was the first album without founding member Roger Fisher on lead guitar, who had left the band months prior along ...

'', after which they took a two-year hiatus, releasing ''

Private Audition ''Private Audition'' is the sixth studio album by American rock band Heart, released on May 20, 1982, by Epic Records. The album reached number 25 on the US ''Billboard'' 200, spending 14 weeks on the chart. It spawned the single " This Man ...

'' in 1982. Baez left the label after the release of her 1979 ''

Honest Lullaby ''Honest Lullaby'' is the nineteenth studio album (and twenty-first overall) by Joan Baez, released in 1979. It would be her final album on CBS Records' Portrait imprint; it also stood as her last studio album issued in the U.S. until the release ...

'' album; she later admitted in her 1987 memoir, ''And a Voice to Sing With'', that she regretted signing with the label, describing her having left her previous label ( A&M) for Portrait as "the stupidest career move I ever made". In 1982, the label was relaunched again tapping into the new wave scene and other music not gaining any airplay. It signed artists such as

Altered Images Altered Images are a Scottish new wave/post-punk band who found success in the early 1980s. Fronted by singer Clare Grogan, the group branched into mainstream pop music, having six UK top-40 hit singles and three top-30 albums from 1981 to 1 ...

Aldo Nova Aldo Nova (born Aldo Caporuscio on November 13, 1956) is a Canadian guitarist, keyboardist, vocalist, and producer. He initially gained fame and popularity with the release of his 1982 debut album ''Aldo Nova'' which peaked to ''Billboards n ...

Accept Accept may refer to: * Acceptance, a person's assent to the reality of a situation etc. * Accept (band), a German heavy metal band ** ''Accept'' (Accept album), their debut album from 1979 * ''Accept'' (Chicken Shack album), 1970 * ACCEPT (or ...

, Arc Angel,

Hawaiian Pups The Hawaiian Pups were a new wave/synthpop music group from the 1980s which formed in the New York Metropolitan Area. Portrait Records signed them onto their record label A record label, or record company, is a brand or trademark of music re ...

The Elvis Brothers The Elvis Brothers were a Rock music, rock/Pop music, pop trio (and sometimes quartet) that got its start in Champaign, Illinois in 1981, and were "staples of midwest clubs and theaters from the early 80s through the early 90s". The members were R ...

Eddy Grant Edmond Montague Grant (born 5 March 1948) is a Guyanese-British singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist, known for his genre-blending sound; his music has blended elements of pop, British rock, soul, funk, reggae, electronic music, Afr ...

, Orion the Hunter, The Producers,

Saga is a series of science fantasy role-playing video games by Square Enix. The series originated on the Game Boy in 1989 as the creation of Akitoshi Kawazu at Square (video game company), Square. It has since continued across multiple platforms, ...

, and

Peter Baumann Peter Baumann (born 29 January 1953) is a German musician. He formed the core line-up of the pioneering German electronic group Tangerine Dream with Edgar Froese and Christopher Franke in 1971. Baumann composed his first solo album in 1976, whi ...

(formerly of

Tangerine Dream Tangerine Dream is a German electronic music band founded in 1967 by Edgar Froese. The group has seen many personnel changes over the years, with Froese having been the only constant member until his death in January 2015. The best-known lineup ...

). The label was completely black but the red logo stayed intact. Portrait struck gold again with the signings of

and

, both in 1983. Americans wouldn't get Sade until a year later. Aldo Nova did make some headway with the songs "Fantasy" and "Monkey on Your Back" from his '' Subject...Aldo Nova'' album. Saga also found success with the songs "On the Loose" and "Wind Him Up", which would gain the band gold and platinum albums worldwide. In 1985, British singer Toyah released her album ''

Minx Minx, MinX or MINX may refer to: Music * MINX (band), dissolved South Korean girl group replaced by Dreamcatcher * MINX (musician) (born 1983), Australian DJ and producer * ''Minx'' (Leatherface album), 1993 * ''Minx'' (Toyah album), 1985 Pr ...

'' on Portrait. In 1986, British guitarist and songwriter

Bill Nelson Clarence William Nelson II (born September 29, 1942) is an American politician and attorney serving as the administrator of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). Nelson previously served as a United States Senator from Flor ...

released (US title: on the label. By the end of 1986, the only act making money on this label was Lauper. Her album '' True Colors'' went

platinum Platinum is a chemical element with the symbol Pt and atomic number 78. It is a dense, malleable, ductile, highly unreactive, precious, silverish-white transition metal. Its name originates from Spanish , a diminutive of "silver". Platinu ...

, but it wasn't enough to keep the label afloat. At the end of 1986, Portrait was shuttered again. In 1988, the label re-emerged once more but as a contemporary

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a major ...

outfit, with signings as diverse as

Stanley Clarke Stanley Clarke (born June 30, 1951) is an American bassist, film composer and founding member of Return to Forever, one of the first jazz fusion bands. Clarke gave the bass guitar a prominence it lacked in jazz-related music. He is the first jaz ...

Ornette Coleman Randolph Denard Ornette Coleman (March 9, 1930 – June 11, 2015) was an American jazz saxophonist, violinist, trumpeter, and composer known as a principal founder of the free jazz genre, a term derived from his 1960 album '' Free Jazz: A Colle ...

, Prime Time and Japanese import

T-Square A T-square is a technical drawing instrument used by draftsmen primarily as a guide for drawing horizontal lines on a drafting table. The instrument is named after its resemblance to the letter T, with a long shaft called the "blade" and a sh ...

. The logo changed dramatically. This time the label had two: the primary one was a painted P with the word "portrait" in a red block, while the secondary one was an outline drawing of a woman. This one was gone by 1990. Epic did try to make the label work two more times: in 1988, it was trying to do jazz collections, and, in 1999, it was relaunched through

as a hard-rock/metal label, signing

Ratt Ratt is an American glam metal band formed in San Diego, California, in the 1970s, that had significant commercial success in the 1980s, with their albums having been certified as gold, platinum, and multi-platinum by the RIAA. The group is bes ...

Cinderella "Cinderella",; french: link=no, Cendrillon; german: link=no, Aschenputtel) or "The Little Glass Slipper", is a folk tale with thousands of variants throughout the world.Dundes, Alan. Cinderella, a Casebook. Madison, Wis: University of Wisconsi ...

, Great White,

the Union Underground The Union Underground is an American nu metal band based out of San Antonio, Texas. Original band members included Bryan Scott, Patrick Kennison, John Moyer and Josh Memolo. They released one major label album, '' ...An Education in Rebellion'' ...

, and Mars Electric. In 2000,

Iron Maiden Iron Maiden are an English heavy metal band formed in Leyton, East London, in 1975 by bassist and primary songwriter Steve Harris. While fluid in the early years of the band, the lineup for most of the band's history has consisted of Harri ...

signed with Portrait in conjunction with

in the US. Finally, after trying so hard to keep it afloat, Portrait dissolved in 2002 after the US release of Iron Maiden's ''

Rock in Rio ''Rock in Rio'' is a recurring music festival originating in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. It later branched into other locations such as Lisbon, Madrid and Las Vegas. Nine incarnations of the festival have been held in Rio de Janeiro, in 1985, 1991, ...

'' album. In late 2012,

Sony Masterworks Sony Music Masterworks (Sony Masterworks) is a record label, the result of a restructuring of Sony Music's classical music division. Before the acquisition of Bertelsmann's shares in the former Sony BMG, the label was known as Sony BMG Masterwor ...

reactivated the label as a classical music imprint with its first artists

The Piano Guys The Piano Guys is an American musical group consisting of pianist Jon Schmidt, cellist Steven Sharp Nelson, videographer Paul Anderson, and music producer Al van der Beek. Originating in Utah, they gained popularity through YouTube, where in ...

on the newly relaunched imprint, and subsequently transferring

Jackie Evancho Jacqueline Marie Evancho ( ; born April 9, 2000) is an American crossover music#Classical crossover, classical crossover singer who gained wide recognition at an early age. Since 2009, she has issued a platinum-selling extended play, EP and nine ...

to Portrait from the Columbia label.

Artists

Through Epic

* Burton Cummings *

* ToyahToyah "Minx" (1985) at Discogs.com
/ref>

Through Columbia

* Great White *

The Union Underground The Union Underground is an American nu metal band based out of San Antonio, Texas. Original band members included Bryan Scott, Patrick Kennison, John Moyer and Josh Memolo. They released one major label album, '' ...An Education in Rebellion'' ...

Through Sony Masterworks

Natalie Imbruglia Natalie Jane Imbruglia ( , ; born 4 February 1975) is an Australian singer and actress. In the early 1990s, she played Beth Brennan in the Australian soap opera '' Neighbours''. Three years after leaving the programme, she began a singing car ...

Yanni Yiannis Chryssomallis ( el, Γιάννης Χρυσομάλλης; born November 14, 1954), known professionally as Yanni ( ), is a Greek-American composer, keyboardist, pianist, and music producer. Yanni continues to use the musical shorthand ...

References