Melodisc records was founded by
Austrian-born
American citizen Emil Edward Shalit (24 December 1909 – 23 April 1983) and his business partner Jack Chilkes. Melodisc began trading in
London, England, in August 1949 and soon became established as one of the first—and, at the time, the largest—independent record labels in the UK. Its offices were in Earlham Street,
Covent Garden. The company was founded in 1949 when Shalit was still living in
New York City, with the initial purpose of licensing American jazz for release in the UK. In London, Melodisc was managed by Jack Chilkes until a disagreement with Shalit led to his departure and a subsequent lawsuit in late 1952; In the early 1950s, Melodisc focused on licensing and releasing American
jazz and
folk records in the UK and had a production and distribution arrangement with
Decca Records. After Chilkes was replaced by
Trinidadian
Rupert Nurse, who became Melodisc's musical director, the label also released
rhythm and blues, West Indian, and African recordings.
Calypso and
mento music was also released to cater to the growing
Afro-Caribbean community in Britain. Early Melodisc releases in the UK included
78 rpm and later
45 rpm records,
EPs, and
LPs by artists such as
Big Bill Broonzy,
Louis Jordan,
Josh White,
Woody Guthrie,
Lead Belly, and
Charlie Parker. From the early 1950s, Melodisc started recording musicians in London, particularly at the Esquire studios in Bedford Court Mansions in Covent Garden. Melodisc was actively involved in exporting records from Britain to the emerging record-buying markets in
West Africa and the
Caribbean including Guyanese singer Terry Nelson (aka Halla Gala). It released
Laurel Aitken's "Lonesome Lover" in the UK in 1960. In 1966, Melodisc set up a new sub-label,
Fab Records, to release
rocksteady music. The Melodisc label continued to release LPs through the 1960s and into the early 1970s. Artists included
Prince Buster,
Ambrose Campbell,
Ginger Johnson,
Ravi Shankar, and Lord Kitchener. == Discography==