Label Guide: Cameo

There were two different Cameo labels in the United States:

Cameo Records (Cameo Record Corporation, New York) was a budget-priced record label based in Manhattan. Cameo records were introduced in February 1922, selling for 50 cents each, and soon Cameo became one of the more popular budget labels. Cameo also owned the Lincoln Records and Romeo Records labels, as well as a subsidiary for making records for children, Cameo-Kid. Cameo was purchased by Pathé Records in 1928, which continued to use the brand until 1930.

Cameo Records was founded in December 1956 in Philadelphia by Bernie Lowe and Kal Mann, and it has no connection to the 1920s Cameo Records. Parkway, initially a subsidiary label, was formed in 1958. Mann and Lowe had been a successful songwriting team (Elvis Presley) before, and they continued to write hits for their Cameo label.

By the end of 1963, success was fading already, and the combined Cameo-Parkway went into a sharp decline from which it would never fully recover. In mid-1967 Cameo-Parkway became a subsidiary of MGM Records and released a few more albums before the company was sold to Allen Klein and became ABKCO Records, in late 1967.