Pye Records
British record label

Pye Records is an independent British record label. It was first established in 1955 and played a major role in shaping rock 'n' roll and pop music history, with artists including Lonnie Donegan (1956–1969), Petula Clark (1955–1972), the Searchers (1963–1967), the Kinks (1964–1971), Sandie Shaw (1964–1971), Status Quo (1968–1971) and Brotherhood of Man (1975–1979). In 1980, the Pye name was dropped due to trademark issues, and the label changed its name to PRT Records (distributing as Precision Records & Tapes). In 2006, the label was briefly reactivated as Pye Records.
In September 2024, the Pye company name and trademark was acquired by the Scottish broadcaster and music producer Tony Currie, who relaunched the label with vinyl records pressed at Sea Bass Vinyl's wind-powered pressing plant in Tranent, Scotland.
History
The Pye Company originally manufactured televisions and radios with its main plant situated off what used to be Haig Road, in Cambridge. The company entered the record business when it bought Nixa Records in 1953. In 1955, the company acquired Polygon Records, a label that had been established by Leslie Clark and Alan A. Freeman to control distribution of the recordings of the former's daughter, Petula Clark. Pye merged it with Nixa Records to form Pye Nixa Records.
Pye International
In 1958, Pye International Records was established.
The public source identifies “Pye Records” as british record label. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Records, British and label.
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The citation trail is more important than the brevity of the summary: it shows where individual claims can be examined in context. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 29, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q2117397. VIAF identifies the subject as 145569113. 1 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 1 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1955, 1956, 1969 and 1972.
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This entry incorporates text from “Pye Records” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.