A subsidiary of the Trident television group, which was responsible for Yorkshire Television. York entered the album market a few months earlier than it did the singles one: 'Record Retailer' of the 24th of October 1970 revealed that Yorkshire Television was to start its own label on the 6th of November, and that its first batch of releases would consist of six LPs of material from the 'Stars On Sunday' programme. An advert in 'RR' of the 7th of November provided the information that distribution was by EMI. It wasn't until 1971 that the company's first single was issued: 'RR' of the 23th of January said that it would be out at the end of the month, again through EMI, but there seems to have been a slight delay as the first two singles weren't listed on the 'RR' 'Releases' pages until the 12th of March. 'RR' of the 17th of July reported that York was planning a new Progressive label, as yet unnamed, for later in the year, and that it was going to feature Wooden Horse and Jacky Flavelle on it; the plans must have been abandoned, however, for the new label never appeared and Wooden Horse's records came out on the common-or-garden York label.
The deal with EMI lasted for only a year: 'RR' of the 18th of September 1971 noted that York had signed a three-year licensing deal with Decca. SYK-506 was to be the first release under the new agreement, but Decca was to take over all of York's existing product. A year later the company moved to a new address at 52-55 Carnaby Street, London W1 ('Music Week'; 30th September 1972). In the event York stayed with Decca for two years before moving again, this time to CBS ('MW'; 22nd September 1973). By that time it has released a reasonably large number of singles and had enjoyed only an occasional success; the article which reported the move also said that the label had been 'streamlined' and the artist roster trimmed to six acts. At that time Deke Arlon was in charge. Decca appears to have still been handling some York products after the move - it advertised a Various Artists album called 'We Believe In Rock 'N' Roll' in 'MW' of the 17th of November 1973 - so perhaps it retained the rights to back catalogue under the original three-year deal.
December 1973 saw a brief legal spat with a small independent company called Yorkshire Records (q.v.), whose logo bore a resemblance to that of York: York gained an undertaking that Yorkshire would stop selling its (sole) single and would only use its registered name, Yorkshire Recording Company ('MW'; 8th December). 'MW' of the 16th of March 1974 confirmed that the Yorkshire Recording Company had been forbidden to use its controversial logo. Out of court, however, York was in trouble. 'MW' of the 29th of June 1974 described it as 'flagging'; it added that Ann Bishop of Magnet was joining the company because it was small and it had links with CBS, where she had enjoyed success. According to the article she was now effectively the head of the company, alongside managing director David Jefferson. Attempts were in hand to boost the careers of some of the artists: Lovelace Watkins was to have a change of style, and the New Settlers were to be pushed as a replacement for the New Seekers. Sadly, despite these moves, the end was nigh. 'MW' (14th of September) reported that York had deleted all its back catalogue apart from a couple of singles by Ian Page and Max Wall; then on the 5th of October it broke the news that York and its associated publishing company Chevron Music had closed their London office, and that most of the staff had been made redundant. The staff who remained would continue to work on current and pending releases, but the company was being wound down. Billboard magazine of the 12th of October 1974 added that David Jefferson was to administer the company from the YTV centre in Leeds, while label manager Ann Bishop, who had joined only four months earlier, had been given the task of promoting York products and certain artists - Lovelace Watkins, Glyn Poole, and the Settlers - from her home. The final York single, 'She Didn't Forget Her Shoes ' b/w 'Lifelight' by The (New) Settlers, came out on the 8th of November 1974.
York's catalogue offered a variety of styles including novelty items, Singer / Songwriter records, Folk and Glam Rock, though it tended to display a leaning towards MOR material. Unsurprisingly spin-offs from the TV company's output appeared, including the 'Theme from Emmerdale', by The Themeweavers (SYK-548); the label also featured local Yorkshire artists, such as the Folk duo Foggy. Despite issuing more than seventy singles in a wide variety of styles, however, York only hit the Singles Chart twice: The Settlers took 'The Lightning Tree' (SYK-505) to No.36 in 1971, and Glyn Poole went one better in 1973 with 'Milly Molly Mandy' (SYK-565). Catalogue numbers were in an SYK-500 series during the EMI and Decca years; they changed to the YR-200s with the move to CBS. The label design remained basically the same at the time of the changeover from EMI (1) to Decca, the only visible difference being was that a reference to Decca appeared under the logo afterwards (2). In addition the dinking perforations, which were either narrow or absent during the EMI era, became wide and omnipresent; while the straight-topped EMI company sleeves (8) became wavy (9), and a reference to EMI at the rear changed to a reference to Decca. 'The Lightning Tree' can be found in both EMI and Decca forms. The move to CBS was marked by a change to a completely different, pastoral / psychedelic, sort of label design (3), which, while attractive, didn't particularly reflect the often MOR Pop content of the records. Demo copies were marked with a small 'A' around 3 o'clock during the EMI period (4); the 'A' grew slightly and gained the appropriate text after the move to Decca (5); while CBS demos had a hollow central 'A', usually (7) but not always (6) accompanied by text. One of the artists on York's books went on to become a frequent visitor to the Charts: Noosha Fox, the vocalist with Wooden Horse, went on to enjoy success both solo and with the band Fox.
Copyright 2006 Robert Lyons.