From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia

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Scepter Records is a record company founded in 1959 by Florence Greenberg. She had just sold Tiara Records with The Shirelles for $4000 to Decca Records. When The Shirelles didn't produce any hits for Decca, they were given back to Greenberg, who promptly signed them. By 1961 Greenberg launched a subsidiary Wand Records. In 1976 Florence Greenberg decided to retire from the business and sold her record labels to Springboard International. When Springboard went bankrupt, Gusto Records acquired the catalog.

Scepter Records was one of the earliest record labels to release 12-inch singles intended for the nascent disco market. (Vince Aletti, 1975)

Scepter Studios

In 1965, Scepter moved its offices to 254 West 54th Street at Manhattan (a building now famous for housing the legendary Studio 54 disco). The building included warehouse space and its own recording studio. Though few albums of note were recorded at Scepter Studios, one was the influential, avant-garde rock and roll album The Velvet Underground and Nico, recorded in 1966.

Ed Kushins, Mel Cheren and Marvin Schlachter worked at Scepter in the early seventies.

Scepter & subsidiary label artists

• B.T. Express
• Beverly Bremers
• The Buoys
• Scott English (Spokane)
• The Esquires (Bunky)
• The Guess Who (Chad Allan & The Expressions)
• Roy Head (The Story of Roy Head and The Traits)
• Tommy Hunt
• The Kingsmen (Wand)
• Rocky Fellers
• Merrilee Rush
• The Shirelles
• B.J. Thomas
• Dionne Warwick