Artists helped by a label change

R.E.M. was already a national act by 1988, but they did pretty well when they went from IRS to Warner.

 

Frank Sinatra going from Columbia to Capitol.

 

David Bowie was on Decca for one 45, then Pye. Went on to Decca where he recorded an album and the famous loughing Gnome. The real break came when DB moved to Philips and Space Oditty was his hit. Then, of course, RCA and the rest is history.
Marc Bolan was on Decca who dumped him, Fly picked him up and cashed nicely.

 

I thought Aretha was the obvious choice but this wins.
In the Jazz world tons of great players on cheapskate labels like Prstige suddenly made far better albums when moving to Blue Note who gave paid rehearsal time. Coltrane’s one album and Jackie Mclean’s peerless run are obvious but there are others.
Tina Turner did ok out of her move to EMI for Private Dancer

 

The Beach Boys from Capitol to WB. They were taken seriously as artists by Mo Austin.

 

I know there were other factors involved, but in the US, the Beatles exploded only after moving from VJ and Swan to Capitol.

 

You forgot Charlie's Groove Records period pre the label being shut down, and him finishing that contract on RCA Victor, and Hi Records following that.

 

Talk Talk

Legal issue with EMI and creative problems, manager did it but they only got one more done before it was curtains.

 

Neil Young going back to Reprise after the Geffen debacle.

 

It's easy to forget how unexpected the Pistols' move to Virgin was. They were nothing like what people thought of as a "Virgin band". And in turn they totally changed the label's image and made it a leader in signing up-to-the-minute acts.

 

Graham Parker and the Rumor was originally on Mercury which was no good for them. He wrote a song about it called "Mercury Poisoning"!

 

Roy Orbison - Monument
The Staple Singers - Stax
The O'Jays - Philadelphia International

 

Miles Davis kicked up another notch from Prestige to Columbia.

 

People may not like this, but, REM.

 

Lou Reed RCA > Arista > RCA.

 

Scorpions

RCA to Mercury

They became international rock legends after that