A Christian Music label, American in origin. Word was founded in 1951 by Jarrell McCracken from Waco, Texas. Its first issues were Spoken Word albums, but it soon broadened its catalogue to include first Gospel and then Contemporary Christian material. The company flourished like the green bay tree, brought singer Amy Grant - among others - to the attention of the public, and continues on to this day as part of Warner Music. Britain not being so enthusiastically Christian, Word has enjoyed a lower profile in these islands, but it has still been a major player in the Christian Music industry. It seems to have taken its bow over here as Word (U.K.) in 1967, when it took over the Herald label from Livingston Records, which had gone into liquidation; Herald's Bill Hamilton remained in charge. Its headquarters were in North Watford to begin with, but by 1971 it had moved to Hemel Hempstead, where it remained throughout the decade. 'Music Week' of the 27th of April 1974 described Word (U.K.) as a subsidiary of the American Word, "The largest producer of religious records in the world."
Word (U.K.) usually sold its records either through Christian outlets or by mail order, but in 1977 it gained a mainstream outlet for some of its products: 'MW' of the 15th of January revealed that a licensing deal had been signed with DJM, and that Shirley Barton was to act as label manager. In the event there weren't many releases; they appear to have amounted to just a trio of albums by Andraé Crouch & The Disciples, Wanda Jackson and Pat Boone, and a couple of singles taken from the first two, Jackson's 'I'll Still Love You' b/w 'Where Do I Put His Memory' (DJS-10719; 10/76) and Crouch's 'You Gave To Me' b/w 'Polynesian Praise Song' (DJS-10736; 1/77). All came out on the DJM label rather than on Word. The Wanda Jackson records were the result of an earlier licensing deal between the two companies ('Billboard', 16th October 1976). Again in 1977, 'MW' of the 23rd of July reported that independent company Peerless Records had issued a supplement of albums from the Word catalogue, including Andraé Crouch's 'Take Me Back' (Light, LSX-7025; 1975).
Word concentrated on albums over here in the '60s and '70s but it did put the occasional single out. Vonda Van Dyke's 'Day By Day' b/w 'It's Our World' (W-730; 1971) was mentioned in 'Record Retailer' of the 11th of December 1971 as featuring two tracks from the musical 'Godspell' and as being available from H.R. Taylor and Clyde Factors as well as from Word themselves. It was destined to remain Word's sole single until nearly the end of the decade. Then, towards the end of 1979, Word picked a couple of songs from a Christmas album by The English Chorale, 'Star Peace' and 'A Dream Of Christmas' and issued them as WS-101. WS-102, 'I'll Be Thinking Of You' b/w 'I've Got The Best', by Andraé Crouch, followed close on its heels but came out on the Light label (q.v.), which was another of Word's outlets. That particular single received 'major airplay' in early 1980, according to 'MW' of the 29th of March, and was available via distributors Spartan at the time; it was repackaged and reissued in July 1981, with the new labels mentioning the presence of Stevie Wonder on the 'A' side. Word made a more concentrated effort at cracking the singles market from 1984 onwards, continuing the WS-100 series from WS-105. 'MW' of the 17th of March 1979 noted that Bill Hamilton was currently the chairman of Word (U.K.), and it listed several labels that were linked to Word, namely Myrrh, Sparrow, Banners & Bonnets, Birdswing, Light and Lamb & Lion, but only two of them, Light and Myrrh (q.v. both) released any singles over here in the '70s. Thanks to Robert Bowes for the first scan and for drawing the Word label to my attention; the second scan appears by courtesy of Nicholas Hough.
Copyright 2008 Robert Lyons.