PRODIGAL
American,
based in Detroit. 'Billboard' of the 16th of November 1974 broke the
news that Barney Ales,
formerly executive vice-president of Motown, was returning to the music business
with his own label some thirty months after leaving that company. The
new label, Prodigal, was to be based in the birthplace of
Motown, and would have independent distribution. The first Prodigal single, Shirley's
'I Hear Those Church Bells Ringing / Chapel Of Love',
duly appeared, on the 2nd of December. In the event, Prodigal was to
remain independent for just under a year. Ales returned to Motown in late 1975
as president of Motown Records, and Motown acquired his Prodigal label in
the process. At that point the label design changed from a red-on-yellow one
featuring a pair of bulls to one with a
multicoloured arch. Prodigal went on to operate as a replacement for Motown's Rare Earth label,
a repository for product that didn't fit on the main labels; it was described
in 'BB' of the 9th of April 1977 as 'Motown's Pop
subsidiary'. Ales left Motown again early in 1979 ('BB'; 6th January), and Prodigal, which had
been running out of steam, ground to a halt later
that same year.
With regard to Britain, the 'Gossip' column of 'Music Week' of the 16th
of November 1974 gave Prodigal its first UK mention, describing it as
a new label formed by Ales and saying that it would probably be handled by
Decca in this country. An article in 'MW' of the 18th of January 1975
said that a licensing deal was 'still in the offing' and that the company had
issued its first single in the USA just before Christmas. A couple of
weeks later 'MW' of the 1st of February was able to confirm that an agreement had
been signed with Decca; Prodigal records were to appear on the London label
with the company's name and its 'twin bulls' logo added (1,
3). The Decca deal was to yield only five singles and one album before
Ales's return to the Motown fold late in 1975. As a result of
the reunion, when Prodigal's licensing agreement with Decca in the UK expired the label joined Motown at EMI.
There was a slight delay between Prodigal's leaving Decca
and getting into its stride with EMI. 'MW' of the 19th of June 1976 said that Prodigal would be
given its own label identity but that as yet no date had been fixed for it
to make its debut; and it was not until November of that year that its first
single hit the shops. 'MW' of the 5th of that month confirmed that Prodigal was
to be used for Rock and Pop as
opposed to Motown's usual material. The singles were given a PROD-0 numerical series, but sadly there weren't destined
to be many of them. There were half a dozen releases in 1977, but
the first half of 1978 saw only a couple of additions to the catalogue, and in the
spring of 1979, following the reissue of an old Stoney &
Meatloaf single, the UK Prodigal label was discontinued, at much the
same time as its American counterpart.
The design of the British Prodigal label
was the same as that of the American one (2), and
demo singles were marked in the usual EMI manner
(4). There were no company sleeves as such, but singles were generally sent out in
black sleeves (5). Prodigal never troubled the compilers
of the British Singles Chart, though Charlene's 'I've Never
Been To Me' b/w 'Freddie' (PROD-4; 1977)
was a hit when it was reissued on Motown (TMG-1260) in 1982,
with a new 'B' side. Prodigal records were of course manufactured and distributed by EMI, and in 1978 the
label came under the umbrella of EMI's Licensed Repertoire
Division.
Copyright 2006 Robert Lyons.