Nixa Record Company Ltd. was founded in
1950 by
F.
H. B.
Nixon. Nixa was the second company,
after
Decca, in Britain to release
LP records. At the time,
EMI was attempting to promote 45 rpm records over 33 LP
records. The record label, which traded as
Nixa Records,
was acquired by
Pye in 1953.
Nixon's stepson, John M Reid (then also known as Nixon) was manager
from 1950 until the company was sold to Pye in 1953. Nixa Records
was set up principally to market the catalogue of Compagnie
Générale du Disque, Paris, in
Commonwealth of Nations countries.
The artists included Dany Dauberson, André Claveau, and other
continental cabaret and jazz artists. The shellac records were
pressed for Nixa by the Decca Record Company. Later, Nixa made
licensing arrangements with a number of US classical music record
companies, including
Period Records,
Concert Hall Records,
Haydn Society, and
Vanguard Records to manufacture and market
their catalogues in the UK and British Commonwealth. Nixa also made
original recordings in England at the
Walthamstow Assembly Hall of Sir
Adrian Boult conducting
Holst's
The Planets Suite,
Vaughan Williams English
Folksongs Suite, and others.
Their primary artist was
Petula Clark,
who recorded for the label in both English and French from 1955 to
1962.
Many
of her releases for the label were Top Ten hits in both the
UK
and France
, with three
of them charting at #1.
In 1987, the Nixa name was reintroduced as a classical imprint by
PRT Records.
See also