Portrait Records was a sister
label of
Epic Records
Epic Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America, the North American division of Japanese conglomerate Sony. The label was founded predominantly as a jazz and classical m ...
and later of
Columbia Records
Columbia Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America, the North American division of Japanese conglomerate Sony. It was founded on January 15, 1889, evolving from the A ...
. Notable artists
Cyndi Lauper and
Sade signed with Portrait, but their contracts were absorbed by Epic after that incarnation of the label was shuttered.
History & Overview
Portrait began in
1976 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
Burton Lorne Cummings (born December 31, 1947) is a Canadian musician, singer, and songwriter. He is best known for leading The Guess Who during that band's most successful period from 1965 to 1975, and for a lengthy solo career.
Cummings has ...
, 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 (biology), 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 ca ...
. 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 M ...
, 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 Se ...
'' 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 th ...
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 ...
" 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, 2004 ...
'' 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
Heart
The heart is a muscular Organ (biology), 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 ca ...
was picked up from Portrait; releasing ''
Bébé le Strange'', after which they took a two-year hiatus, releasing ''
Private Audition'' 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,
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 (org ...
,
Arc Angel,
Hawaiian Pups,
The Elvis Brothers,
Eddy Grant,
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. It has since continued across multiple platforms, from the Super NES to th ...
, 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, w ...
(formerly of
Tangerine Dream). The label was completely black but the red logo stayed intact. Portrait struck gold again with the signings of
Cyndi Lauper and
Sade, 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'' on Portrait. In 1986, British guitarist and songwriter
Bill Nelson 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".
Pla ...
, 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 m ...
outfit, with signings as diverse as
Stanley Clarke,
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 Coll ...
, Prime Time and Japanese import
T-Square. 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
Columbia Records
Columbia Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America, the North American division of Japanese conglomerate Sony. It was founded on January 15, 1889, evolving from the A ...
as a hard-rock/metal label, signing
Ratt,
Cinderella,
Great White
Great White is an American rock band formed in Los Angeles in 1977. The band peaked with several albums during the mid-to-late 1980s, including the platinum-selling records ''Once Bitten'' (1987) and '' ...Twice Shy'' (1989), and those albums ...
,
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
Mars Electric was an American rock band from Birmingham, Alabama.
History
Lead singer Jacob Bunton first formed the group under the name Wish in Birmingham in 1995. They signed with Atlantic Records in 1997 and recorded an album, but Atlantic dro ...
. 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 Harr ...
signed with Portrait in conjunction with
Columbia Records
Columbia Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America, the North American division of Japanese conglomerate Sony. It was founded on January 15, 1889, evolving from the A ...
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'' album.
In late 2012,
Sony Masterworks reactivated the label as a classical music imprint with its first artists
The Piano Guys on the newly relaunched imprint, and subsequently transferring
Jackie Evancho
Jacqueline Marie Evancho ( ; born April 9, 2000) is an American classical crossover singer who gained wide recognition at an early age. Since 2009, she has issued a platinum-selling EP and nine albums, including three ''Billboard'' 200 top 10 ...
to Portrait from the Columbia label.
Artists
Through Epic
*
Burton Cummings
Burton Lorne Cummings (born December 31, 1947) is a Canadian musician, singer, and songwriter. He is best known for leading The Guess Who during that band's most successful period from 1965 to 1975, and for a lengthy solo career.
Cummings has ...
*
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. It has since continued across multiple platforms, from the Super NES to th ...
*
Heart
The heart is a muscular Organ (biology), 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 ca ...
*
Cyndi Lauper
*
Eddy Grant
*
Bill Nelson
*
Sade
*
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 ...
*
ToyahToyah "Minx" (1985) at Discogs.com
/ref>
Through Columbia
* Cinderella
* Great White
Great White is an American rock band formed in Los Angeles in 1977. The band peaked with several albums during the mid-to-late 1980s, including the platinum-selling records ''Once Bitten'' (1987) and '' ...Twice Shy'' (1989), and those albums ...
* Ratt
* 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
* Jackie Evancho
Jacqueline Marie Evancho ( ; born April 9, 2000) is an American classical crossover singer who gained wide recognition at an early age. Since 2009, she has issued a platinum-selling EP and nine albums, including three ''Billboard'' 200 top 10 ...
* Natalie Imbruglia
* The Piano Guys
* Yanni
See also
* List of record labels
File:Alvinoreyguitarboogie.jpg
File:AmMusicBunk78.jpg
File:Bingola1011b.jpg
Lists of record labels cover record labels, brands or trademarks associated with marketing of music recordings and music videos. The lists are organized alphabetically, b ...
References
{{Authority control
American record labels
Record labels established in 1976
Record labels established in 2012
Record labels disestablished in 2002
Rock record labels
Pop record labels
Jazz record labels
Columbia Records
Epic Records
1976 establishments in the United States