An offshoot of the Delysé label, a London-based independent. Classical pianist Isabella Wallich registered a couple of firsts in the music business: in addition to being the first woman to produce Classical records she became the first woman to own and run a record company when she founded Delysé, in 1954. Rather than compete with mainstream companies in the usual fields she looked for niche markets, starting off with records of traditional Welsh material and mainly unfamiliar Classical pieces and expanding into Irish Folk, stories for children, sacred songs, and so forth. Several artists who later became famous made their first solo recordings for Delysé, among them Geraint Evans, Janet Baker and guitarist John Williams. Despite the limited appeal of much of its output the company enjoyed big sales every now and again: 'Billboard' of the 27th of July 1963 was able to report that an LP of massed Welsh choirs, 'A Nation Sings' (ECB-3167; 1963), had been licensed to companies in Canada, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand as well as in several European countries; 'BB' of the 21st of September was able to add America to that list, and a later 'BB' described the record as 'highly successful'. In addition a series of EPs of stories from the Thomas The Tank Engine books, read by Johnny Morris, proved particularly popular - according to a report in 'Billboard' of the 23rd of November 1963 they had sold 29,000 copies in a month.
Envoy seems to have been launched around 1956, and it appears to have generally served as the outlet for Delysé's more mainstream product. It began issuing 7" records, in the form of EPs, around 1958; mono recordings were numbered in an EVP-100 series, stereo ones in the EVS-700s. The EPs had the same label design as the albums (4). Envoy singles emerged some four years later: 'Billboard' of the 17th of March 1962 reported that the first of them, 'Penny Whistle Theme' b/w 'Transcontinental' by The Envoy Strings, was due out on the 30th of that month. A new label design was introduced for the singles (2), which were numbered in the ENV-000s. With minor variations (3) it was to serve throughout Envoy's life, though the early blue company sleeve (5) was later replaced by a shared green 'Delysé / Envoy' one (6). 'Whistlestop' b/w 'Blue Train' by Derek New (ENV-003; 1963) offered a slice of instrumental harpsichord-led 'Rock 'n' Roll', but 'BB' of the 11th of July 1964 signalled that Delysé was embarking on an intensive recording programme for Irish artists, centred around singer / accordionist Dermot O'Brien, and after that Envoy's singles output consisted of Irish or Welsh 'Pop / Traditional' material. Helen Wyn (later to find fame under the name Tammy Jones), Gillian Thomas and Brendan O'Reilly were each responsible for a couple of singles, but the label's mainstay was O'Brien. He gave Envoy its sole hit when he took 'The Merry Ploughboy' b/w 'Come Down The Mountain, Katie Daly' (ENV-016) to the No.46 spot in 1966. Several Envoy singles were also pressed and released in Ireland - more on that subject later.
Delysé / Envoy seems to have clung to its independence from its start to its finish, its only deals with major companies involving distribution rather than licensing. By 1957 Selecta was acting as one of its distributors; EMI was added in 1963, a move which 'Billboard' of the 23rd of November reckoned was mainly responsible for a reported 700% increase in the company's sales on the previous year. An advert for Delysé in 'BB' of the 28th of December of that year described it as 'The independent company with the international reputation' and added that its records were 'Handled by every major in the UK'. A second volume of 'A Nation Sings' (DS-6073; 1965) ran into unexpected difficulties when a television campaign promoting it had to be cancelled - the Independent Television Authority said that the songs on the album were hymns, and claimed that it fell foul of the rule that no religious advertizing was permitted in Britain ('BB', 10th July 1965). 'BB' of the 26th of March 1966 said that Delysé / Envoy was to switch to EMI for distribution from the 1st of April, and mentioned 'A Nation Sings' as the company's big seller. The stint with EMI lasted for less than two years: 'Record Retailer' of the 10th of February 1968 broke the news that the company was back with Selecta, this time on a seven-year deal, though the 'Pied Piper' label for Children's records was to remain with EMI - Pied Piper seems to have been run by the Meccano company, presumably in association with Delysé.
Despite the Selecta deal being for seven years, Delysé / Envoy was on the move in just over a year and a half: 'RR' of the 27th of September 1969 reported that Pye was to take over manufacture and distribution. In the event, however, Pye was to do those jobs for just a couple of years. 'RR' of the 9th of October 1971 revealed that both the Delysé and Envoy labels were to disappear. The agreement with Pye had ended 'a week ago'; Decca was to take over the back catalogue and reissue selected items from it on its own labels, possibly with an added Delysé logo. 'BB' of the 23rd of October quoted Wallich as saying "Today's economic conditions make it impossible to carry on as an independent." The first reissues from Delysé's catalogue of around 200 Classical items duly came out in 1972, on one or another of Decca's mid- and budget-price labels. Inevitably 'A Nation Sings' was among them; it was retitled 'The World Of Wales, Volume 2' and it came out on Decca, as SPA-214 ('BB', 13th May).
To return to the matter of the matter of Envoy issuing some singles both in Britain and Ireland. Sales of most Envoy singles appear to have been low: catalogue numbers reached at least ENV-031, but ten of them (002, 004, 007, 008, 010, 012, 018, 021, 022, and 023) don't come up in internet searches, neither in British nor Irish form - whether the records were unreleased or are just chronically obscure remains to be determined. The last Envoy single that I'm sure was pressed and sold in this country was ENV-029, 'The Ballad Of Brian Boru' b/w 'King Of The Fairies / Madam Bonaparte' by Dermot O'Brien, which came out in 1969. There are a few online references to ENVs 030, 'Orange Blossom Special' b/w 'The Laughing Accordion', and 031, 'In The Middle Of Nowhere' b/w 'The Road', both of which were by Dermot O'Brien & His Clubmen and were released in 1970; but the only pictures that I've been able to find - one of each! - were of Irish releases, with an ENV(I) prefix. The singles were definitely released in Ireland, as they were mentioned in 'Billboard': 030 in the issue of the 15th of August, 031 in that of the 5th of May. The metalwork for the example shown above (3) was done by Pye, but the narrow dinking perforations are indicative of an EMI pressing. As Pye cut the master, they may possibly have pressed some copies for release here as ENV-030 - the album from which the sides were taken was issued in this country. The same may well apply to 031. As yet, however, I haven't been able to confirm the existence of UK pressings. Strictly speaking, if Envoy's only two singles from the 1970s were released solely in Ireland that ought to disqualify the label from this site. That said, Delysé / Envoy was a British company, and it did issue singles in the '70s.... I haven't happened upon a case like this before, but on reflection I've decided to give Envoy the benefit of the doubt and include it here. If anybody has UK copies of ENV-030 or ENV-031 and can provide scans I would be interested to see them. The main Delysé label stopped issuing 7" records in or around 1968 and is therefore a definite non-qualifier.
Copyright 2021 Robert Lyons.