Creator / Mercury Records

Mercury's logo throughout most of The '50s and The '60s. In Colombia, it remained in use as late as 1982, and a few British releases used it for nostalgia's sake during The '80s.

Mercury's longest-lived logo; it lasted from 1968 to 1995, and versions of it are still used in some parts of the world.

Mercury's current American logo.

"America's First Family of Fine Recordings"

—Slogan of Mercury Records during The '60s

Mercury Records is one of America's foremost music labels.

Named after the Roman god (whose stylized portrait frequently appears on the logo), Mercury was founded in Chicago in 1945. It grew quickly, and by the mid-1950s it had become one of the "Big Six" that dominated the US record industry^note along with Columbia, RCA Victor, US Decca, Capitol and MGM. Mercury expanded even further in 1961, when it was acquired by the Dutch electronics/music conglomerate Philips, which had just lost the European distribution rights to Columbia Records and wanted direct access to American talent.^note A few years earlier, Philips' British competitor EMI had purchased Capitol for similar reasons. This deal worked both ways, as Mercury got to distribute Philips Records in America, as well as its sublabels such as Fontana and (eventually) Vertigo, giving them access to many international performers. Mercury also founded Smash, a sublabel focusing on popular music, that had a similar relationship to its parent label that Reprise Records did to Warner (Bros.) Records.

In 1972, Mercury became part of PolyGram, which consolidated the Philips family of labels (whose parent company had become known as Phonogram) with Polydor and Deutsche Grammophon (and also spun off PolyGram Filmed Entertainment). PolyGram lasted until 1998, when Universal added the company to its existing MCA Records label, creating the super-conglomerate Universal Music Group. UMG kept Mercury going for a while, then retired the imprint, then brought it back; since then, the Mercury name has disappeared and reappeared at sporadic intervals in America (it's active as of 2024). It's remained in use in Europe and Australia, and in 2017 it was revived in Japan.

Mercury Records performers, past and present, with TV Tropes pages:

• 10cc
• ABC*
• AJR
• Steve Allen
• The Allman Brothers Band^note reissues of their Capricorn Records catalog
• Alvin and the Chipmunks (UK and Europe only)
• Tori Amos
• Anastacia
• Aphrodite's Child
• Apocalyptica
• Arcade Fire
• Louis Armstrong
• Fred Astaire
• Charles Aznavour
• Babyface
• Bananarama (Canada only)
• The Band Perry
• Beastie Boys (Mexico only)
• The Beautiful South*
• Chuck Berry
• The Big Bopper
• The Black Crowes (Central and South America)
• Kurtis Blow
• Blue Cheer^note reissues of their Philips Records catalog
• The Bluetones
• Bon Jovi
• David Bowie
• Jake Bugg
• George Burns
• Can
• Captain Beefheart*
• The Cardigans*
• Johnny Cash
• Elvis Costello
• Billy Currington
• Billy Ray Cyrus
• Deep Purple*
• Def Leppard*
• Dexys Midnight Runners
• Fats Domino
• The Everly Brothers
• Fela and Afrika 70
• The Firesign Theatre
• Peter Gabriel*^note was solely responsible for initial US distribution of Melt after Gabriel was dropped from Atlantic Records due to concerns of commercial unviability; Gabriel signed onto Geffen Records for his next album, and they would gain the rights to Melt a year later
• Gang of Four
• The Gaslight Anthem
• Dizzy Gillespie
• Allen Ginsberg
• Barry Gordon
• Lesley Gore
• Merv Griffin
• Tom T. Hall
• Hanson
• Screamin' Jay Hawkins
• Hole
• Johnny Horton
• Jamiroquai
• George Jones
• Quincy Jones
• Tom Jones
• Wynonna Judd
• Boris Karloff
• Toby Keith
• The Kentucky Headhunters
• Sammy Kershaw
• Martin Luther King Jr.^note Via In Search of Freedom, a posthumous compilation of speeches
• Roland Kirk
• KISS^note transferred from Casablanca Records
• Kraftwerk* ^note Some late 70s US pressings of Autobahn are on Mercury
• Kris Kristofferson
• Jerry Lee Lewis
• Little Richard
• Maddie & Tae
• Manfred Mann*
• Johnny Mathis
• Kathy Mattea
• Reba McEntire
• Meat Loaf
• John Mellencamp
• Men Without Hats
• Freddie Mercury (outside North America)^note rereleases of his solo material; Mr. Bad Guy was previously on CBS and Columbia, while Barcelona was transferred from Polydor
• The Mighty Mighty Bosstones
• Arthur Miller ^note Mercury released Audio Play versions of After the Fall and A View from the Bridge in 1965
• Steve Miller Band (UK and Europe only)
• The Mission
• Morrissey*
• Van Morrison
• Motörhead*
• Kacey Musgraves
• New York Dolls
• Mike Nichols
  • Elaine May
• Harry Nilsson
• Mike Oldfield
• OMC (US only)
• Roy Orbison
• The Alan Parsons Project*^note reissues of their 20th Century Fox Records catalog
• Pere Ubu
• Regis Philbin
• Rainbow*
• Burt Reynolds
• The Runaways
  • Lita Ford
• Rush
• Scorpions*
• Jean Shepherd
• Chris Stapleton
• Ringo Starr
• The Statler Brothers
• Hailee Steinfeld
• Ray Stevens
• Rod Stewart
• Stereophonics (Keep Calm and Carry On only)
• Sugarland
• Donna Summer^note also transferred from Casablanca Records
• Tears for Fears
• Thin Lizzy*
• Shania Twain
• Ugly Kid Joe
• Uriah Heep*
• Van der Graaf Generator
• Sarah Vaughan
• The Velvet Underground
• Village People (UK only)
• The Wanted
• Andrew W.K.
• Roger Waters
• Barry White^note reissues of his 20th Century Fox Records catalog
• Hank Williams^note reissues of his MGM Records catalog
• Vanessa Williams
• The Yardbirds (A Live Album where they backed Sonny Boy Williamson)
• Yello

* US and Canada only (these acts are often on other PolyGram labels internationally)

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