Liberty's early releases focused on film and orchestral music. Its first single was Lionel Newman's "The Girl Upstairs." Its first big hit, in 1955, was by Julie London singing her version of the torch song, "Cry Me a River", which climbed to No. 9 in the Billboard Hot 100. It helped Liberty sell her first album, Julie Is Her Name. She was to record 32 albums in her career. In 1956 Liberty signed Henry Mancini and released two singles and several albums by him. He left in 1958, signing with the RCA Victor label, when he became more popular. Billy Rose and Lee David's song "Tonight You Belong to Me" reached number 4 and number 28 when it was performed by teen sisters Patience and Prudence, selling over a million copies. It was first recorded in 1927 and revived by Frankie Laine in 1952. Liberty also scored a Top 10 hit with Margie Rayburn's "I'm Available" and the singer went on to recorded two dozen singles for them. The label's biggest rock singer was Eddie Cochran who starred in his second film, Untamed Youth. His first hit for the label was John D. Loudermilk's "Sittin' in the Balcony" in 1957, then came "Summertime Blues" and "C'mon Everybody". The roster included R&B act Billy Ward and His Dominoes after Jackie Wilson quit, replacing him with ex-Lark Eugene Mumford. Their version of Hoagy Carmichael's 1927 song "Stardust" reached No. 13 in the Hot 100 at Billboard and 13 on the UK Singles Chart in October 1957. It was only million seller. By 1958, Liberty was close to bankruptcy when singer-songwriter David Seville had a number one hit with his novelty song "Witch Doctor". Later that year he combined multi-track recording with the altered speed technique he had used in "Witch Doctor" and introduced the Chipmunks in "The Chipmunk Song In the months leading to Christmas of 1958, the record went to number one and became the only Christmas record to reach number 1 on the pop chart, selling 4.5 million copies. Also in 1958, Liberty formed a sublabel called Freedom which lasted through 1959, when Liberty moved to its long-time address at 6920 Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood.
1960s and 1970s
Liberty's most successful signing of the early 1960s was Bobby Vee, picking up "Suzie Baby", a single he recorded with the Shadows for Soma. He covered the Clovers' 1955 doo-wop ballad "Devil or Angel" in mid-1960 and later that year recorded Gene Pitney's "Rubber Ball", which made him an international star. In the summer of 1961 Vee had a hit with "Take Good Care of My Baby", which peaked at number one and number 3. He had hits until 1970. Other acts on the roster were Willie Nelson, Jan and Dean, Johnny Burnette, Gene McDaniels, Del Shannon, Ralph Williams/The Marauders, Gary Lewis and the Playboys, Timi Yuro, and Vikki Carr. Snuff Garrett produced easy listening albums credited to "The 50 Guitars of Tommy Garrett." The name of the group was sold to Sony before being acquired by Tom Ficara and Combined Artists in 1997. Liberty sent an annual report for the fiscal year ended January 31, 1962 that included a limited edition 33-1/3 vinyl record with songs by Bobby Vee, Timi Yuro, Gene McDaniels, Si Zentner, and Tommy Garrett. A welcome message recorded by Simon Waronker was also included. In 1963 Liberty was sold to electronics corporation Avnet for $12 million. Avnet also bought Blue Note, Imperial, Dolton, Aladdin, and Minit. After two years of losses, Avnet sold the labels back to Al Bennett for $8 million. Liberty earlier acquired Pacific Jazz, founded in 1952. In 1966 Sunset was started to reissue records from the acquired labels. Sunset's catalog included Eddie Harris, Jimmy Reed, Les McCann, Teddy Buckner, Wild Bill Davis, Lester Young, and Chet Baker. Liberty recordings were distributed in the UK by the Decca group on London Records, then by EMI on Liberty. Liberty established a branch office in London, which signed the Bonzo Dog Band, Idle Race, and the Aynsley Dunbar Retaliation. After moving distribution to Philips in 1967, they returned to EMI in 1970. Liberty also signed the Searchers. In 1967, Liberty issued the first single by Family. Ron Kass, onetime president of Liberty, became the head of Apple, the label of the Beatles. Ron Bledsoe, assistant to Al Bennett, was picked by Clive Davis to run the Nashville branch of Columbia. In 1966 singer Johnny Rivers started another Liberty subsidiary, Soul City. The following year, Liberty discontinued the Dolton label and moved its catalog to the parent label. In 1967, Liberty signed Canned Heat, which had three hit singles for the label. In 1968, Liberty was bought for $24 million by Transamerica Corporation, an insurance company, and combined with United Artists. Two years later Imperial and Minit were shut down and transferred its catalog and artists to Liberty and United Artists. In 1970 Sugarloaf scored a top 10 hit in the United States with "Green-Eyed Lady", which reached number 3 on the Billboardchart. Sugarloaf would score again in 1975 with "Don't Call Us, We'll Call You". In 1971, Liberty and its remaining labels were shifted to United Artists, and Liberty was no more. In 1978 Artie Mogull and Jerry Rubinstein acquired United Artists and Liberty with money they borrowed from Capitol. In February 1979, Capitol's parent company EMI foreclosed on them and took over Liberty.
1980s and 1990s
In 1980, EMI dropped the United Artists name and revived the Liberty name. EMI used Liberty to reissue the catalogs of United Artists, Liberty, and Imperial. From 1980 to 1984, Capitol used Liberty as a country music label for Kenny Rogers and Dottie West and heavy metal bandManowar. In 1991, EMI renamed its Capitol Nashville label to Liberty before returning to the Capitol Nashville name four years later. In 1994, Liberty president Jimmy Bowen founded a sister label called Patriot Records, whose roster included Bryan Austin, Lisa Brokop, John Berry, Deana Carter, John Bunzow, and Noah Gordon. After the label closed in 1995, Berry, Brokop, and Carter transferred to Capitol Nashville.
2000s to 2010s
After releasing many late-1990s Europop acts like the Hermes House Band, EMI reformatted the label in 2001 to focus on 'heritage acts'. The label, operating in a similar sphere to that of rival and one-time sister label Sanctuary, signed the Alarm MMVI, the Stranglers, VBirds, and Prefab Sprout. Liberty distributed the Bangles' 2003 album Doll Revolution in Canada and some European countries alongside the United Kingdom. The label later went into abeyance, never bringing out newer releases again.
