Pama was started in 1967 by brothers Harry and Jeff Palmer. It grew to become one of the main competitors to Trojan in the Reggae field, and boasted several subsidiaries, including Gas, Nu-Beat / New Beat, Escort, Unity, Crab, Camel and Punch (q.v. all). Pama issued around one-hundred-and-eighty singles on its own label, in a PM-700 series, and seems to have disappeared some time in 1973. A short series of singles in a PM-4000 series was issued in 1975, presumably in an attempt to revive the brand (3); it underwent at least one more further revival in the 1980s but enjoyed more success during that decade as a distributor under the name of Jetstar. Pama labels shared the same basic design but used different colour schemes, including silver-on-red in addition to those shown above. Distribution c.1971 was shared by Pama itself and occasionally by Pye. Thanks to Robert Bowes for the third, fourth, fifth and seventh scans. The discography below only covers the 1970s.
Copyright 2006 Robert Lyons.