Pickwick Records was an American record label and British record distributor known for its budget album releases of sound-alike recordings, bargain bin reissues, and repackagings under the brands Design, Bravo (later changing its name to International Award), Hurrah, and Grand Prix, and children's records on the Cricket and Happy Time labels.[1]
The label is also known for distributing music by smaller labels such as Sonny Lester's Groove Merchant, Gene Redd's De-Lite Records, Chart Records, and the Swedish label Sonet Records (for which it distributed late-1960s recordings by Bill Haley & His Comets in Canada and the US). They also issued records from Britain's Hallmark Records label.
History
Pickwick Records (originally formed as Pickwick Sales Corporation, later Pickwick International) was founded in 1950 by Cy Leslie, whose first business was a recorded greeting-card service that in 1946 turned into Voco Records, a label of children's records. In 1957, after successfully marketing its Cricket children's label of 78 and 45 rpm records, Pickwick entered the LP market with low-priced records, beginning with its Design label.[2]