Oriole American

Part of John Schroeder's deal on joining Oriole from EMI in 1962 was that the label should expand to license American material. He had noted that six or seven of the American Top 100 singles were always Tamla Motown releases (without having heard any of them), and that Tamla had been badly-served by its earlier British connections to London-American, then Philips. He persuaded the label owner, Maurice Levy to let him invite Berry Gordy to London, where Gordy was wined and dined and presented with the concept of Oriole-American. Oriole-American issued Tamla-Motown singles and LPs