ATCO Records

Lore & Background

During the 1970s, Atlantic Records broadened its own roster, causing ATCO to become deemphasized. The label was increasingly used for hard rock acts and British/European bands, issuing early albums from AC/DC. In 1980, ATCO's visibility rose with Pete Townshend's Empty Glass album and Gary Numan's "Cars." The 1990s saw the label's last number one hit, "If Wishes Came True" by Sweet Sensation in 1990, followed by a merger with EastWest Records America. The ATCO name was dropped by 1994, and the label became dormant. It was briefly revived in 2005–2009 under Rhino Entertainment, releasing soundtracks and albums by Scarlett Johansson, Keith Sweat, Art Garfunkel, Queensrÿche, and the New York Dolls, before becoming dormant again. In 2020, ATCO returned to Atlantic Records and was relaunched with Pete Ganbarg as president; its first signing was Philadelphia-based alternative act Zero 9:36.

Reader's Guide

ATCO Records holds significance as a versatile imprint that launched or distributed a wide range of influential acts across pop, rock, jazz, and hard rock. Its early role as an outlet for Atlantic co-founder Herb Abramson and for artists outside Atlantic's core genres allowed it to release landmark recordings by Bobby Darin, the Coasters, Cream, Buffalo Springfield, and Iron Butterfly. The label also served as a distribution partner for notable independent labels such as RSO, Volt, Island, and Rolling Stones Records. ATCO's history reflects the shifting strategies of its parent company, Warner Music Group, with periods of prominence followed by dormancy and revival. Its 2020 relaunch under Atlantic Records signals a renewed commitment to the imprint, now focused on discovering new talent like Zero 9:36. The label's legacy includes introducing American audiences to key British acts and providing a home for artists who later became iconic.

Did You Know?

• The planned name for the label was Atlas, but it was changed to ATCO when it was discovered there was already an Atlas Records.
• ATCO released the Beatles' single 'Ain't She Sweet' in the US in 1964, which reached No. 19 on the Billboard Hot 100; new drums were overdubbed by session drummer Bernard Purdie.
• The Who's 'Substitute' was released on ATCO in 1966 due to a dispute with their producer and contract issues; it featured a different structure and a substitute lyric compared to the UK release.
• ATCO's last number one hit was 'If Wishes Came True' by Sweet Sensation in 1990.

From Atlas to ATCO: A Label Born from Necessity

ATCO Records traces its roots to 1955, when Herb Abramson, one of the original co-founders of Atlantic Records, returned to the company after serving in the military. The new imprint was conceived as a creative outlet for Abramson's own productions and as a catch-all home for artists whose sound did not align with Atlantic's core identity of blues, jazz, rhythm and blues, and soul. The label was originally slated to be called Atlas, but that name was already taken by an existing record company, so the team settled on ATCO, a contraction of Atlantic Corporation. In those formative years the catalog leaned surprisingly toward jazz, with sessions by Harry Arnold, Betty Carter, King Curtis, Herb Geller, Roland Hanna, and Helen Merrill. Beyond its own releases, ATCO also served as a distribution partner for a string of other imprints, including RSO, Volt, Island, Modern, Ruthless, Hansa, and Rolling Stones Records. The label's rock-and-roll identity would not fully crystallize until Bobby Darin and The Coasters arrived, signaling a shift that would define ATCO for the decades to come.

Hamburg Echoes and Rock Royalty

By the mid-1960s, ATCO had firmly planted itself in the rock-and-roll landscape. The roster swelled with names like Sonny and Cher, Buffalo Springfield, Vanilla Fudge, Iron Butterfly, and Cream, the latter arriving through a licensing deal with British label Polydor. Two releases stand out as particularly unusual. In 1964, ATCO issued a US single of the Beatles' "Ain't She Sweet," a track recorded during the band's 1961 Hamburg residency with John Lennon on lead vocals. The song climbed to No. 19 on the Billboard Hot 100 and featured new drum overdubs by session musician Bernard Purdie. A companion album paired the remaining Hamburg tracks with eight covers performed by The Swallows. Then in 1966, amid a contract dispute involving producer Shel Talmy and the band's US and UK labels, ATCO released The Who's "Substitute" through an arrangement with Polydor. This would remain the only Who recording on the imprint, though Pete Townshend and John Entwistle later signed as solo artists, and Roger Daltrey eventually landed a US solo deal with Atlantic itself. The US version of "Substitute" carried a different edit and an altered lyric compared to the UK pressing.

Fading Spotlight: The 1970s and 1980s

The 1970s brought a quiet erosion of ATCO's independent identity. As Atlantic Records expanded its own roster to encompass a wider range of genres, many acts previously housed on ATCO gradually migrated to the main Atlantic brand, leaving the imprint increasingly sidelined. The mid-1970s saw ATCO pivot toward hard rock and European acts, issuing early albums from AC/DC before those releases shifted to Atlantic in 1978. A brief resurgence came in 1980, when Pete Townshend's Empty Glass album and Gary Numan's "Cars" both posted strong chart results. Through the rest of the decade the label maintained modest success with artists like Sweet Sensation, JJ Fad, and Michel'le, the latter signed in partnership with Ruthless Records. Yet the momentum was already fading. Sweet Sensation's 1990 single "If Wishes Came True" would prove to be ATCO's final number-one hit. The following year, Atlantic senior vice president Sylvia Rhone brokered a merger between ATCO and the fledgling EastWest Records America, briefly operating the combined entity as Atco/EastWest. By 1994 the ATCO name was quietly retired, the catalog absorbed into EastWest, and that imprint in turn folded under Elektra Records. For the rest of the decade the ATCO logo appeared only sporadically on reissues while the imprint itself lay dormant.

Two Resurrections: Rhino and the Atlantic Return

ATCO's first revival came in 2005, when a joint venture with Rhino Records produced the soundtrack to Beyond the Sea, a Bobby Darin biopic starring Kevin Spacey that featured his renditions of Darin's classic songs. That project prompted Warner Music Group to formally reactivate the label in 2006 alongside Rhino. The renewed roster included Art Garfunkel, who released Some Enchanted Evening in January 2007, and Scarlett Johansson, whose Anywhere I Lay My Head arrived in May 2008. Keith Sweat also signed during this window. The imprint saw further activity in 2009 with Queensrÿche's American Soldier and the New York Dolls' Cause I Sez So, after which ATCO slipped back into dormancy. The second and most recent relaunch arrived in early 2020, when Atlantic Records brought ATCO back under its own umbrella as a subsidiary imprint. On February 14 of that year, Billboard reported that Pete Ganbarg, then serving as Atlantic's president of A&R, had been named president of the relaunched label. His first signing was Zero 9:36, a Philadelphia-based alternative act, marking the beginning of a new chapter for an imprint that has now survived six decades of reinvention.