is an
American Record Label that operates as a wholly owned
Subsidiary of
Warner Music Group . It is internationally known as '''WEA International Inc.''' It is also affectionately known as the Bunny, based on the
Bugs Bunny cartoons put out by Warner Bros. in the 1940s through the 1960s. Bugs Bunny is also the label's mascot.
Warner Bros. Records opened for business on
March 19 ,
1958 , above the film studio's machine shop at 3701 Warner Blvd. in Burbank. Prompting the labels creation was when
Warner Bros. Pictures contract actor
Tab Hunter scored a #1 hit in
1957 with "Young Love" for
Dot Records . To Warners' chagrin, reporters were primarily asking about the hit record, instead of Hunter's latest Warner movie. The company quickly signed Hunter to the newly formed record division, and while his subsequent recordings for the label failed to duplicate the success he had had with Dot, the fledgling Warner Bros. Records thrived.
In
1960 , the company signed
The Everly Brothers (who were previously on
Cadence Records ) with the first ever million dollar contract in history. The same year they also released two albums by
Bob Newhart , which both won
Grammy Awards , including the
Album Of The Year . In
1963 , Warner Bros. Records purchased
Frank Sinatra's label,
Reprise Records —the acquisition proved very lucrative, as Reprise remains in the WBR fold to this day, and has become its strongest imprint.
In
1964 , the label negotiated with
Vogue Records for the right to distribute
Petula Clark 's recordings in the US, beginning with "
Downtown ." Eight years later, in
1972 ,
Dionne Warwick was brought to the label after leaving
Scepter Records in a deal that was the biggest contract at the time for a female artist. Warwick's five years at Warners would greatly pale in comparison to her tenure at
Scepter , both personally and professionally.
In
1967 , Warner Bros. (including WBR) was sold for $85 million to
Seven Arts Productions and renamed
Warner Bros.-Seven Arts . Two years later, the company was sold to
Kinney National Company (later renamed
Warner Communications ) and the label become Warner Bros. Records again, reviving the WB shield as its logo. In
1971 , Warner Communications established
WEA ; the pooling together of Warner Bros. Records,
Elektra , and
Atlantic , to form a larger umbrella for its music entities under which they could operate. In
1990 , Warner Communication merged with
Time Inc. to form
Time Warner . In
1991 , WEA became ''Warner Music Group''. In
2000 , Time Warner merged with
AOL creating
AOL Time Warner . Finally, in March
2004 , a group of private investors led by
Edgar Bronfman, Jr. bought the Warner Music Group from Time Warner. Today Warner Bros. Records remains one of Warner Music Group's most dominant labels, having exactly 121 artists on the label. However, Time Warner may still have some ownership in the label because the trademark is not licensed from its former parent.
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- Throughout the 1970s, Frank Zappa made a running gag out of his poor relationship with the label, often comparing being signed with WBR to various forms of torture.
- Warner Bros. Records donated the Second O of the Hollywood sign on the side of Mount Lee, Los Angeles
- Prince's infamous struggle with Warner Bros. prompted him to change his recording name to .
- From late 1992 to early 1998, WBR distributed UK label 4AD 's releases in the USA.
- All CDs manufactured by Warner Bros. Records have a logo ebossed into the lower right corner on the front of the jewel case. Likewise, on the black/transparent CD holder itself the words 'compact disc digital audio' are not present, as with most CD cases.
