Parrot Records: Everyone's Gone To The Moon

In 1929, The Decca Gramophone Co., Ltd. was formed in England and its American arm was established in 1934. During World War II, the companies separated and American Decca eventually was purchased by Music Corporation of America (MCA).

Because of the separation of the two Deccas, British Decca could not use the trademark in the US; therefore, they set up London Records in 1947 to be British Decca’s American arm. To diversify the popular music licensed by British Decca to London Records, London set up several subsidiary labels including Parrot Records for American and Canadian distribution.

I decided on Parrot Records because of a recent event.  On trip with a couple of coworkers, Tom Jones and Engelbert Humperdinck came up in the conversation. Besides being British, I asked my friends if they could tell me two things the singers had in common. They couldn't, so I provided the answers. In addition to both changing their names (Thomas Woodward to Tom Jones and Arnold Dorsey to Engelbert Humperdinck), they recorded in the US on Parrot Records; therefore, I decided on Parrot Records as our Fourth Week Label Feature for this month. Parrot was established by London during 1964.

In 1965, Parrot released the first single by Jonathan King – “Everyone’s Gone to the Moon.” While it was #3 hit on British Decca for King, the single charted at #17 in US on Parrot. The song, both written and sung by King, helped establish his career in the music business, which included being an artist, songwriter, producer, record label owner, concert promoter, and much more. At the time of the recording, King was a student at Cambridge University