Derby Records was a short-lived, mid-20th century United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 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,...

. The label's logo featured a Derby hat. First headquartered in New York City

New York City

New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...

, it moved to Los Angeles California shortly before going out of business in 1964.

The label offered selections in various styles of pop music

Pop music

Pop music is usually understood to be commercially recorded music, often oriented toward a youth market, usually consisting of relatively short, simple songs utilizing technological innovations to produce new variations on existing themes.- Definitions :David Hatch and Stephen Millward define pop...

 of the era, including Rhythm and Blues

Rhythm and blues

Rhythm and blues, often abbreviated to R&B, is a genre of popular African American music that originated in the 1940s. The term was originally used by record companies to describe recordings marketed predominantly to urban African Americans, at a time when "urbane, rocking, jazz based music with a...

 and Western swing

Western swing

Western swing music is a subgenre of American country music that originated in the late 1920s in the West and South among the region's Western string bands...

.

Derby recording artists included singer Mel Carter

Mel Carter

Mel Carter is an American singer and actor. He is best known for his 1965 million selling recording, "Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me".-Biography:Carter recorded for Sam Cooke's SAR record label in the early 1960s...

, saxophonist Freddie Mitchell

Freddie Mitchell

Freddie Lee Mitchell, Jr. is a former American football wide receiver who played for the Philadelphia Eagles in the National Football League for four seasons. A four-sport athlete at Kathleen High School, Mitchell committed to the University of California, Los Angeles to play football for the Bruins...

, singer and session artist Billy Preston

Billy Preston

William Everett "Billy" Preston was a musician who gained notoriety and fame, first as a session musician for the likes of Sam Cooke, Ray Charles and The Beatles, and later finding fame as a solo artist with hits such as "Space Race", "Will It Go Round in Circles" and "Nothing from...

, and Van "Piano Man" Walls. Sunny Gale had in 1952 a small hit for Derby with "Wheel of Fortune", which reached # 13 and sold about 50 000 copies.