Universal Digital Enterprises

Fausto Papetti is a brilliant Italian saxophonist who found his style in creating his own versions of famous hits, arranging them in a unique neo-classical manner. Discs of the artist are always popular among the romantically-minded public, as well as among all lovers of modern pop music. His arrangements are simple and not overloaded. His accents are precise and always underline the melody.

Burl Ives parlayed his talent as a folksinger into a wide-ranging career as a radio personality and stage and screen actor. He made his Broadway debut in the Rodgers & Hart musical The Boys from Syracuse in 1938, had his own radio show by 1940, and made his major-label recording debut in 1944. His first charting single was 1948's "Blue Tail Fly" with the Andrews Sisters, and he soon took traditional folk tunes like "Lavender's Blue (Dilly Dilly)" and "On Top of Old Smoky" to the U.S. Top 20.

Mauriat was born and grew up in Marseille, France. His father was a postal inspector who loved to play classical piano and violin. Mauriat began playing music at the age of four and enrolled in the Conservatoire in Marseille at the age of 10, but by the time he was 17, he had fallen in love with jazz and popular music. During World War II, Mauriat started his own dance band and toured concert halls throughout Europe. In the 1950s, he became musical director to at least two well-known French singers, Charles Aznavour and Maurice Chevalier, touring with them respectively.

One of the saddest stories in rock & roll history surrounds the Tornados, an instrumental group from Britain. Although there were other groups with the same name (see listing for their American surf-band counterparts), this batch of Tornados were the creation of British producer Joe Meek. Meek was England's first independent producer, being equal parts Thomas Edison, Phil Spector, and Ed Wood. An inveterate tinkerer, he designed his own compression units and microphone pre-amps, giving his productions their own distinct sound. Setting up a homemade studio in a three-story flat on Holloway Road in London, Meek pioneered such recording techniques as close miking of instruments, distortion, his aforementioned trademark compression, loud drums fortified by percussion from pocket combs, milk bottles, and stomping the floorboards himself.

Dion DiMucci had a career unlike any other in 20th century popular music, one that took him from harmonizing doo wop on the streets of the Bronx to baring his soul on a series of singer/songwriter albums in the '70s, spending his later years bringing his blues into the 21st century. First famous for the hits he had as a teen with the Belmonts, "The Wanderer" and "Ruby Baby" were covers that established Dion as a solo star in the late '50s, while "Runaround Sue" and "Lovers Who Wander," which he co-wrote, revealed a songwriting talent that would flourish over the years. DiMucci kept recording after the British Invasion changed the rock & roll landscape of the '60s, but he didn't have another big hit until the bittersweet "Abraham, Martin and John" in 1968, a single that introduced a period as an idiosyncratic singer/songwriter, an era encapsulated on the 1975 cult classic Born to Be with You.

LOS ANGELES, CA – May 24, 2024 – Capitol Records and Universal Music Enterprises (UMe), in conjunction with Peggy Lee Associates, today release Peggy Lee: From the Vaults (Vol. 2), the second installment in the new digital series that features rare tracks currently unavailable on streaming platforms. Recorded for Capitol between 1948 and 1951, the 12 selections on From the Vaults (Vol. 2) include songs from stage and screen by American songbook giants Irving Berlin and Yip Harburg; a song co-written by jazz great Benny Carter; another by classical-popular composer Alec Wilder; and one co-written by Lee herself.

LOS ANGELES, CA – MARCH 15, 2024 – Capitol Records and Universal Music Enterprises (UMe), in conjunction with Peggy Lee Associates, announce the release of Peggy Lee From the Vaults (Vol. 1), the first in a digital series that collects Peggy Lee’s performances not yet available on streaming platforms. With the launch of this series, her entire catalog of issued master recordings from the Universal family of labels — Capitol, Decca, A&M, and Polydor — will now be accessible via digital streaming.

In celebration of its 60th anniversary, Capitol Records and Universal Music Enterprises (UMe), in conjunction with Peggy Lee Associates, announce the release of a digital expanded edition of Peggy Lee’s I’m a Woman. Available at all digital service providers, the newly remastered expanded edition features the 12 original album tracks, including the Leiber and Stoller-penned title track, plus “Come Rain or Come Shine” and “I Left My Heart in San Francisco.” Culled from the Capitol vaults, five of the eight bonus tracks are previously unreleased alternate recordings and session outtakes. Liner notes for the 60th-anniversary release, written by archivist Iván Santiago, will be available at PeggyLee.com on the release date.

On April 21, Capitol/UMe will release a new career-spanning collection of top hits by one of music's most legendary and acclaimed groups, the Bee Gees. The Bee Gees' Timeless: The All-Time Greatest Hits features 21 tracks personally selected by Bee Gees co-founder Barry Gibb and sequenced in chronological order. The CD and digital collection spans decades of Bee Gees smash hits, from their first Australian chart-topper, 1966's "Spicks and Specks" to "How Deep Is Your Love," "Night Fever," and "Stayin' Alive" from Saturday Night Fever to 1987's UK Number One single "You Win Again."