East West Records

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East West Records is an American record label, and subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

History

Upon its creation in 1955 by Atlantic Records, the label had one hit with The Kingsmen and went into hibernation until 1990, when Atlantic revamped the imprint as EastWest Records America. Atlantic senior VP Sylvia Rhone was appointed Chairman/CEO of the fledgling label.

Under Rhone's leadership, EastWest shot to mega success with a slew of multiplatinum acts, such as: Simply Red, En Vogue, Pantera, Yo-Yo, Das EFX, Snow, Gerald Levert, AC/DC, Missy Elliot and MC Lyte.

EastWest also distributed other imprints, such as: Interscope Records, Motor Jams Records, Mecca Don Records and The Goldmind Inc.

logo used from 1990-2000

In 1991, EastWest merged with its Atlantic sister label Atco Records, briefly calling itself “Atco/Eastwest Records”. The following year, Atco's name was dropped and the company continued to operate under the EastWest name once more. Whilst in the United Kingdom, the brand was applied to many of the WEA artists such as Simply Red, Chris Rea and The Beloved.

In 1994, Rhone was appointed CEO and Chairman of Atlantic's sister label Elektra Records. At the time, EastWest (along with most of its roster) also broke away from the Atlantic umbrella to continue to operate under Rhone at Elektra.

By the new millennium, budget cuts at Warner Music Group forced Elektra to deactivate EastWest Records, dropping some of its acts while others were shifted over to Elektra itself. In 2004, Time Warner sold Warner Music Group to private investors. Subsequently, more budget cuts were made, this time resulting in Elektra Records to be absorbed into Atlantic.

In 2005, WMG reactived the East West imprint as an in-house "indie" rock label.

East West Records

History

See also