American, out of Detroit, Michigan. Invictus was one of a pair of labels started by the legendary songwriting and production team of Brian Holland, Lamont Dozier and Eddie Holland in 1969 after they left Motown, the other being Hot Wax (q.v.). Invictus was described as 'Newly formed' in Billboard of the 24th of May 1969; the article said that it was owned by Eddie Holland and that it had signed an agreement with Capitol for pressing, distribution and marketing in the USA. 'BB' of the 7th of June added that in return for financially underwriting Invictus Capitol was to receive an 'unlimited' amount of material from the new label under a three-year deal signed with parent company Holland-Dozier-Holland Productions. For some reason Invictus's sister-label Hot Wax was placed with Buddah rather than Capitol. In Britain the two labels were launched the following year, and both joined the EMI stable; 'Record Retailer' of the 11th of July 1970 said that they would be launched under their own logos 'in the next few weeks'.
In the event Invictus charged out of the starting blocks here, hitting the Charts with its first two singles, 'Give Me Just A little More Time' b/w 'Since The Days Of Pigtails' by Chairmen Of The Board (INV-501; 8/70) and Freda Payne's 'Band Of Gold' b/w 'The Easiest Way to Fall' (INV-502; 8/70) - both had already been hits on the other side of the Atlantic. Things quietened down after that, although the Chairmen continued to have hits in Britain until 1973. In America in the spring of 1973 Invictus left Capitol and moved to CBS / Epic, as reported by 'BB' of the 7th of April; a couple of years later 'BB' of the 16th of August 1975 reported that Capitol had loaned Invictus between $1.5 million and $2 million in a deal that was described as only 'fairly successful', and that after 'personality conflicts' incoming Capitol president Bhaskar Menon had written off the remaining debt. Five months or so after the American switch Invictus signed a distribution deal with CBS for Britain ('Music Week', 22nd September 1973), but it was not until July of the following year that the first records appeared under the deal, as reported in 'MW' of the 27th of that month.
All was not well at Invictus. There were serious internal wranglings: 'BB' of the 29th of June 1974 broke the news that Lamont Dozier was suing the Hollands, claiming that they had used fraudulent misrepresentation in order to persuade him to enter into a contract with Holland-Dozier-Holland Productions in May 1969. According to him he had received neither accounts nor the money that was owing to him. Perhaps as a result there were only two Invictus singles issued in the States in 1975 and none at all in the UK. When releases started coming out again they were few and far between, and there were none after the summer of 1977. According to Billboard of the 2nd October 1982 the company remained involved in legal wrangles into the early '80s. In 1984 the Holland brothers set up a new company, H-D-H Records, which began to reissue material from the Invictus and Hot Wax catalogues.
One basic label design served Invictus throughout. EMI issues had mid-blue labels (1); the level of contrast between the dark and light areas dropped in the middle of 1972 (2). The colour became grey-blue with the move to CBS; in addition the size and position of the credits changed (3) and a new company sleeve was introduced (8). EMI demos were marked in the usual EMI fashion (4); CBS ones usually had a large hollow 'A' either in red (5) or in black, but one single had a medium-sized 'A' instead (6). Catalogue numbers were in an INV-500 series during the company's time at EMI; after the move to CBS the 'INV' prefix gained an 'S' at the front of it and the numerical parts were taken from the main CBS series. Thanks to Bob Mayhead for discographical information.
Copyright 2006 Robert Lyons.