A Reggae / Soul label, and a subsidiary of Milton Samuels's, 'Beacon Records'. Up Front - it appears as such on the logo, though listings refer to it as 'Upfront' - issued six singles and two albums in 1969-70. It seems to have had another, shorter, lease of life in 1971, when it added at least three more singles. Joyce Bond, who was responsible for a single and an album on Up Front, had previously recorded for the Island label and was subsequently to record for Trojan; Sugar Simone, Black Velvet and Ram John Holder, who were fellow Up Front artists, also had records out on a variety of other labels, including the parent label Beacon; so there was talent there. Sadly, Up Front's records seem to have sold poorly; they're certainly not seen often nowadays. Singles were numbered in the UPF-0s, and the label came in three different colour schemes; pressing of UPF-2 was by EMI, and the issues after that one also look EMI-ish. I have yet to track down UPF-7 and UPF-8, if they exist. A yellow 'Upfront' label (q.v.), with a different logo and with catalogue numbering in a UP-0 series, came and went during 1972; it is probable that the two labels were related, as Upfront reissued a Beacon single from 1969 and the man behind Upfront, Colin Edwards, produced singles on Beacon. Distribution was probably by EMI, as it was for Beacon during the period in question. Thanks to Sam Mauger for the fourth scan.
Copyright 2006 Robert Lyons.