Pye didn't enter the record market in the UK until 1953 when it acquired a small independent label called Nixa which dealt mainly with continental recordings. In 1955 the Polygon label was added to Pye's group, but it was the Pye Nixa imprint which was retained until 1959. Pye jumped on the bandwagon of signing beat groups in 1963 with the signing of Liverpool's second biggest act, The Searchers, and they, together with Petula Clark, Jackie Trent, The Kinks, The Foundations and Status Quo kept Pye in the charts for most of the 60s. The company also launched two subsidiaries - Golden Guinea, mainly a budget label, and Piccadilly which had among it's acts The Rockin Berries and Sounds Orchestral. Pye International was set up in 1958 to release product from American labels such as Chess, A&M, King and Buddah. In 1967 the label changed colour from pink to the blue design shown below. A deal struck with ATV in 1966 meant that the record label only held the rights to the Pye name until 1980, and the label then changed its name to Precision Records and Tapes (PRT). After years of changing hands the label was purchased by Castle Communications in 1989, and it's music is now one of the most frequently re-released of any label. Back To Labels Main Page Back To My Generation Homepage