Riviera-LM Records was a French record label.

History

Riviera-LM was founded in 1951 by French record producer Eddie Barclay. The label produced new singers and bands. Riviera-LM production facilities in

Milan Milan ( , , Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 million, while its metropolitan city h ...

produced Italian editions of foreign artists, including Nino Ferrer and

Peter Holm Peter Holm (born Peter Sjöholm; 16 June 1947) is a former pop singer and Swedish playboy who was married to actress Joan Collins between November 1985 and August 1987. He became her manager and co-produced two of her television mini-series wit ...

. Riviera was distributed in

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and

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of ...

. In September 1964 Barclay and Phillipe Loury, then president of Erato Records, founded Compagnie européenne du disque (CED) to distribute records. Riviera and

Erato In Greek mythology, Erato (; grc, Ἐρατώ) is one of the Greek Muses, which were inspirational goddesses of literature, science, and the arts. The name would mean "desired" or "lovely", if derived from the same root as Eros, as Apollonius o ...

were the first two labels used by the system. Riviera later became Riviera-LM, run by Leo Missir. Riviera was distributed in

and

. Riviera gained distribution rights for

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Atlantic The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the " Old World" of Africa, Europe an ...

and Stax. It compiled many recordings of these labels by initiating a system of direct imports from the US for distribution in France.

Partial sale of Disques Barclay

On November 16, 1978,

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 ...

acquired a 40% interest in Disques Barclay and Societe Generale also acquired 40%, leaving Barclay with 20% of the company. Barclay remained president and retained operating independence in terms of artistic, commercial and distribution activity.

Sale of Disques Barclaly

In 1979, hit by the music industry crisis, Barclay sold his company, which included the Riviera label, to Philips-owned conglomerate

. His labels survived as a unit of PolyGram and then

Universal Music Group Universal Music Group N.V. (often abbreviated as UMG and referred to as just Universal Music) is a Dutch– American multinational music corporation under Dutch law. UMG's corporate headquarters are located in Hilversum, Netherlands and its ...

Selected artists

The best-known singers who worked with the subsidiary of Barclay Records were Nino Ferrer, Guy Marchand, and Daniel Balavoine, including albums that came out under the Barclay / Riviera labels from 1978-1984. Others were

Raymond Lefèvre Raymond Lefèvre (20 November 1929 – 27 June 2008) was a French easy listening orchestra leader, arranger and composer. Biography and career Born on 20 November 1929 in Calais, France, Raymond Lefèvre is best known for his interpretation of ...

, Jean Musy (fr),

Nicoletta Nicoletta is a surname and feminine given name derived from the Greek ''Nikolaos'', most often used in Italy, Sweden, Denmark and Norway. Nicoletta is also a surname. Given name * Nicoletta (singer), full name Nicoletta Grisoni, French singer, ...

and

Michel Orso Orso Paolo Bertolucci (born December 12, 1936) is a French singer-songwriter. Known professionally as Michel Orso (pronunciation= Orso), he is best known in for his 1966 French hit song "Angélique". Early life Orso was born in Prunelli-di-Casa ...

Other labels named Riviera

The Riviera of this article should not be confused with Riviera Records, an

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 ...

label founded by Eddie Heller, who also founded Rainbow Records.

Selected discography

45 rpm

References

{{Authority control Italian record labels Defunct record labels of Italy Italian independent record labels