American. Cotillion was a subsidiary of Atlantic Records; it started life in the USA in 1969. In Britain its records came out on Atlantic (q.v.) during the 1970s, except for a comparatively short period, 1976-77, when the actual Cotillion label itself was used. A final Cotillion single, Slave's 'Stellar Fungk' b/w 'You And Me' (K-11252; 2/79), came out at the start of 1979 after a gap of around a year-and-a-half. 'Music Week' of the 22nd of May 1976 revealed that WEA was going to introduce Cotillion here under its own identity, following its reactivation in the USA the previous month. The article added that a new black-and-white logo was going to be introduced, replacing a multicoloured one.
Cotillion singles shared a catalogue sequence with those of Atlantic over here, and were distributed initially by CBS and later by WEA after WEA opened its own distribution facility. Manufacture was by CBS, as it was for most of the WEA labels for much of the decade. Cotillion's British releases appear to be typical late '70s American Disco records. Only one of them, 'Welcome To Our World' b/w 'Magic' by Mass Production (K-10898; 1977), made any kind of impact on the Charts, and that stalled at No.44. From the spring of 1979 Cotillion was reduced to a logo on the Atlantic label (2), as far as the British Isles were concerned. It was during this merely-a-logo period that the company enjoyed its biggest successes, with Sister Sledge breaking into the UK Singles Chart four times during 1979-80. 'He's The Greatest Dancer' b/w 'Somebody Loves Me' (K-11257; 2/79). was the most successful of the quartet, peaking at No.6.
Copyright 2006 Robert Lyons.