American, out of Detroit, Michigan. Hot Wax was one of a pair of labels started by Eddie Holland of the legendary songwriting team Holland, Dozier and Holland in 1969, after they left Motown, the other being Invictus (q.v.). 'Billboard' of the 10th of May reported that Hot Wax had signed with Buddah for the States and that its first single was due out immediately. A couple of weeks later 'BB' of the 24th of May announced that Holland, who had 'got into' production, had also placed his Invictus label, but with Capitol. 'BB' of the 9th of August was able to list the artists that Holland had signed for Hot Wax: The Honey Cone, The Politicians, The Flaming Ember and Silent Majority. The following week 'BB' of the 16th referred to The Honey Cone as Hot Wax's 'hit group', so they must have got the new label off to a decent start.
Comparing the two labels when they had been in business for a year or so, 'BB' of the 30th of May 1970 was of the opinion that while both had enjoyed success Invictus had done the better, with Hot Wax 'lagging'. Hot Wax was to pick the pace up: 'Somebody's Been Sleeping' by 100 Proof was certified gold towards the end of 1970 ('BB', 12th December), and a review in 'BB' of the 12th of June 1971 stated that The Honey Cone were 'one of the hottest bands around'. The review appears to have been accurate, as 'BB' of the 9th of October said that the group had qualified for gold status with their singles 'Want Ads' and 'Stick Up', with the former reaching the No.1 spot in the Hot 100. 'BB' of the 6th of November admired the way in which both Hot Wax and Invictus managed to produce 'cleverly conceived' records with 'both radio and mass appeal'. For some reason, however, Hot Wax's fortunes seem to have dipped in 1972. Subsequent singles by their most successful artists failed to reach the heights of the early ones, and the label put out its final single in August 1973. Singer Laurie Lee was moved across to Invictus, but Honey Cone and 100 Proof disappeared from the scene temporarily. They did however make a brief comeback in 1976-77, along with Hot Wax itself, the former contributing two singles, the latter one.
Hot Wax and Invictus were stablemates in the UK. 'Record Retailer' of the 4th of July 1970 announced that both labels would be launched here through EMI under their own logos 'within the next few weeks'. Invictus got off to a fine start when its first two singles charted here, but Hot Wax was unable to get any of its records into the Charts. April 1973 saw Invictus part company with Capitol in the USA and move to Columbia / Epic, and on the 22nd of September 'Music Week' reported that similarly Invictus had signed a deal with CBS for Britain. Hot Wax as a label doesn't appear to have been included in the deal, for although it continued for a while in the USA its final British single came out in October 1973. Laura Lee was transferred to Invictus here but none of the other Hot Wax artists appear to have any more new records released here. A number of Hot Wax sides were however reissued here in the mid '80s on the H-D-H label.
The Hot Wax label came in one design but two different colour schemes: black-on-white (1) till August 1971 and silver-on-black (2) from then on. The design was similar to that of the first American label, except that the American one was multicoloured rather than monochrome. A complete change of design in America, which took place in or around June 1971, wasn't copied in the UK, which settled a touch belatedly for the switch in colours. Demo copies were usually marked after the standard EMI manner, with a medium-sized 'A' and the appropriate text (3) but there were exceptions (4). Singles came in a company sleeve (5). The years on the labels seem to apply to the American releases, the British ones coming out later.
Copyright 2006 Robert Lyons.