The Pye label was born around 1957 and it was first called PYE NIXA, they had many hit records with mainly pop artists. One or two records on Pye were picked up by Northern Soul fans, such as:

15886 Tony Colton I Stand Accused/Further On Down The Track
15922 Lorraine Silver Lost Summer Love/I Know You'll Be There
17042 Tammy St. John Nobody Knows What's Going On In My Mind/Stay Together

these were all issued in the mid sixties, were very rare and pricey. The CD Dance Like The Devil NEHCD 972 Chapter one, on Sequel records, has some of the above artists together with Geno Washington "She Shot A Hole in My Soul". It has an informative booklet that tells the story of Pye records in the sixties.

Pye International began in 1959, the original label colour was blue, in the sixties black artist's releases were on the classic red and yellow label, with "R & B" series on the center. Later, the colour used was red and black. Some Pye International releases are very valuable and are increasingly hard to find. Pye had managed to get licensing deals with many American record companies, in particular the Chess/Checker/Cadet/Argo labels. Early artist were in the R & B and Blues vain such as Clarence Henry, Etta James, Bo Diddley, Howlin Wolf, Sonny Boy Williamson  and John Lee Hooker. Chuck Berry had many singles issued on the label, some can be found on this CD.
 

One artist  that was a consistent hit maker was Dionne Warwick. She came from New Jersey and recorded for Scepter records. Her first hit was "Don't Make Me Over" 1962, during the sixties many other hits followed. "Walk On By", "Anyone Who Had A Heart","You'll Never Get To Heaven","Do You Know The Way To San Jose", "Aways Something There To Remind me". Much of her material was covered by UK artists.
 
 

 In the mid-sixties the labels out put moved towards Soul, many of the records were not picked up at the time, apart from artists like James Brown.  "I Got You", It's A Man's Man's Man's World, "Money Won't Change You" and "Cold Sweat".

It was not until the end of the sixties that the label achieved cult status among record collectores. Other new artists began to emerge, Chuck Jackson, Maxine Brown, Rosco Robinson, Bobby Freeman and the Righteous Brothers.

An outstanding and very collectable release was Ronnie Milsap with "Ain't No Soul"  who was in fact a blind white singer from North Carolina. Other one-offs that failed to chart was the instrumental by the Dynatones "The Fife Piper". It was not on the catalogue for long before it was deleted, it is now very rare and sort after by the Northern Soul scene. It is much easier to find on the USA HBR pressing. The Packers "Hole In The Wall" was first issued on Pye International before it was reissued on Soul City. Sugar Pie DeSanto with the classic "Soulful Dress". One of the biggest hits of the late sixties was "Color Him Father"  by the Winstons  in 1969.

The label continued into the seventies with the disco boom, without much success. The release by the girl group First Choice "This Is The House Where Love Died"  1973,  it is claimed that only promotional copies exist. The seventies saw new acts that became collectable, El Coco, D.C.Larue,  Jobell Orchestra and La Pamplemouse.

Pye International folded in the late seventies, it gave us some of the greatest R & B, Blues and Soul music ever released in this country, check out the  Pye International Singles  listing.