Cameo Parkway Records in Philadelphia, PA, USA was something of a powerhouse in the early 1960′s when I was getting my education in the world of rock and roll music. Some of the biggest hits on AM radio were coming from Cameo Parkway artists.

Bobby Rydell, a bona fide Teen Idol hit #2 on the charts with his hit Wild One in 1959. Chubby Checker hit the top #1 position twice in 1960, first with The Twist, then again with Pony Time. Over a period of about three or so years, you couldn’t turn on the radio without hearing Cameo Parkway music artists like those two, and The Orlons, Dee Dee Sharp, and The Dovells.

Cameo Parkway Records folded in 1967, unable to compete with both the British Invasion and Detroit’s Motown Records. Their last #1 charting hit was 96 Tears by a Flint, MI garage band calling themselves ? & The Mysterians in 1966. They were bought out by ABKCO, which counted The Rolling Stones among others on its artist list.

All the songs that had been released on the Cameo Parkway label(s) – they were actually two companies under one umbrella, Parkway being a subsidiary of Cameo Records – virtually disappeared from the market.

Read more about the story of Cameo Parkway and their hits and misses at The StereOldie Shop