For the American label, see Argo Records

Argo Records

Argo Records was started in December of 1955 to accommodate some of the rapidly growing recording activity at Chess Records. Originally the label was called Marterry, but bandleader Ralph Marterie objected, and within a couple of months the imprint was renamed Argo.Initially, Argo offered a...

Argo Records was a record label

Record label

In the music industry, a record label is a brand and a trademark associated with the marketing of music recordings and music videos. Most commonly, a record label is the company that manages such brands and trademarks, coordinates the production, manufacture, distribution, marketing and promotion,...

 founded in 1951 by Harley Usill (born c. 1925, died 1991), and musicologist Cyril Clarke with £500 capital, initially as a company specialising in "British music played by British artists" (Day, p.93), but it quickly became a company primarily specialising in spoken-word recordings and other esoteric (or commercially marginal) material.