American, formed by songwriter / publisher Aaron Schroeder. Aurora was launched early in 1965 in its home country. 'Billboard' of the 6th of February was able to state that the new company had signed a distribution agreement with Bell-Amy-Mala and that its first single was ready to be pushed - according to the article several artists had been signed and more singles were being scheduled for release. It made its debut over here somewhat later, towards the end of the '60s. 'Record Retailer' of the 20th of March 1968 seems to have jumped the gun a little by saying that the label was to make its bow 'next month' with distribution by CBS. Nothing happened, and then 'RR' of the 27th of November indicated that plans for the launch could be finalized at the start of the new year. 'BB' of the 14th of December 1968 reported that Schroeder was expected to visit London in January to complete the introduction of Aurora to the UK market via CBS, and finally 'RR' of the 29th of January 1969 was able to announce that Aurora's first single was ready for release and would be available through CBS the following month.
When they at last emerged, Aurora's singles shared a numerical series with the other CBS labels, sometimes using an 'AU' prefix. There were only four of them: three from 1969 and a final one from 1971, which qualified the label for this site. None of them made any great impact. The last three were not released in America; in fact Aurora appears to have effectively bitten the dust there in 1969. All four, however, are now moderately collectable. One label design served throughout, and there was a company sleeve, which isn't seen very often. Thanks to Dr. Doom of the 45cat site for permission to use his demo scan here.
Copyright 2006 Robert Lyons.