"X"

RCA Victor Records announced the formation of label "X" on April 20, 1953. It was a wholly owned subsidiary label of RCA, but had its own independent distribution system. The head A&R man for the new label was Joe Carlton. The name was taken either from RCA Victor's mysterious "Project Madam X" which was the code name for the development of the 45 rpm record in the post-war 'forties, also used by trade press reporters concerning RCA's 'hush hush' approach to the new project. The rest of 1953 was spent by establishing the position of the new label with RCA Victor as the main pop and classical label, a new R&B oriented label (soon to be called Groove) and the RCA Camden label (named after the New Jersey location of RCA's manufacturing headquarters). In early 1954 RCA announced the creation of Groove (3) which originally was to use the "X" label's distribution system, later making the new label independent of label "X". In addition to historical Blues releases, the label found a niche in the mid fifties by providing covers of R&B hits and more popular sides such as those by the Three Chuckles, Eddie Fontaine and Louis Jordan, as a means of introducing the sound of R&B to mainstream America. By January 1956, RCA discontinued the label "X" name and replaced it with Vik which had its biggest hits with Mickey & Sylvia. There were also a number of LP albums released during the two years of the "X" label's existence.