Unique Records (2)

US pop music label & record company launched in 1955 in New York, NY.; also appears as "Unique" only. Associated to RKO Records from 1957 (consider adding both as labels then) and later known as RKO Unique Records. For unofficial releases, see Unique Records (30) After several small pop hits, such as "Man in the Raincoat" by fourteen-year-old Priscilla Wright, the label was acquired by RKO General in 1957. In an effort to create entertainment synergy, RKO also acquired the struggling Mutual Radio Network in an attempt to enhance the record company by creating a national audience for the product. Unfortunately, the concept behind the arrangement was that rock and roll music was a passing fad, and that the pop music of the 1920s through the early 1950s would endure. With that in mind, RKO signed former record superstars like Rudy Vallee, the Harmonicats and Ted Lewis in hopes of recapturing their glorious past. To this mix they added popular movie stars like Herb Jeffries, Edie Adams and Frances Langford, former vaudeville stars (and RKO movie regulars) like the Vagabonds, plus current popular TV stars such as George DeWitt, then the host of the top rated Name That Tune. RKO-Unique also issued the album "Music To Suffer By" by Leona Anderson. To cement this relationship, RKO created the radio program "Studio X" to carry the Unique Records product. The result was a disaster. Within three years, both the radio network and the record company were suffering huge financial losses and RKO divested both of them. In 1960, it vanished from the public view. Five years later, it was later acquired by Reach Entertainment, who revived the label, splitting the RKO Records and the Unique Jazz into two distinct labels.