American, a sister-label to Epic, and thus part of the CBS group. According to 'Music Week' of the 18th of September 1976 Portrait was the first new CBS-owned label to be introduced in 23 years, and the first of that company's labels to be based on the East Coast (Los Angeles). The issue of the 11th of December says that Portrait enjoyed complete autonomy within the CBS group. Despite enjoying success in the States with records by Burton Cummings, Heart and Joan Baez, it was put on hold in 1980. It made a comeback as a New Wave / Alternative Music label c.1983, and found new big-sellers in Cyndi Lauper and (for the USA only) Sade. By the end of 1986 Portrait was dormant again; it was to make several more comebacks over the years, as a vehicle for Contemporary Jazz (1988-90), Jazz collections (1992), and Hard Rock / Metal (1999-2002). It was always more prominent in the States than over here; it failed to make any impact at all on the British Singles Chart until Cyndi Lauper came along in 1984. In the '70s the label's British singles had a PRT prefix; they shared a numbering block with the other CBS-family singles. The multicoloured label (3), which appears by courtesy of Robert Bowes, appears to have been used just for that particular single.
Copyright 2006 Robert Lyons.