American, founded by Sonny Burke. Daybreak appears to have specialised in Jazz / Big Band material, of the the more middle-of-the-road kind: its artists included Bing Crosby, Duke Ellington, Frank Sinatra Jr, and Nelson Riddle, and it operated from early 1971 to around 1974. In Britain, Daybreak's vice president and general manager Bobby Weiss signed a three-year licensing deal with Polydor in September 1971 ('Record Retailer', 25th September) which led to the label making its first appearance here (1). The deal seems to have been brought to a premature end, as 'Music Week' (the renamed 'Record Retailer') of the 14th of April 1973 reported that Daybreak was to be launched through Pye, again with its own label. The change of manufacturer / distributor was accompanied by a change of label colour (2). Daybreak concentrated mainly on albums, and released only four singles over here: there were two in the Polydor era, numbered in the 2111-000s, and there were a couple more in the Pye days. The Pye issues both featured Bing Crosby, and had catalogue numbers in the DAS-400s. John Laws's 'Comin' After Jinny' (2111-002; 1972) was a kind of Country and Western song, with a twist in the lyrics.
Copyright 2006 Robert Lyons.