Quality Records Ltd.

Quality Records Ltd.

Quality Records Ltd. Independent Canadian-owned record and tape manufacturing company active1950-85 in Toronto, initially under the direction of George Keane as vice-president and general manager, and latterly, 1975-85, of George Struth as president. It pressed and distributed various US lines in Canada, entering into a partnership (terminated in 1973) with the US company MGM and handling Buddah, Groove Merchant, Kama Sutra, and Mercury, among other labels. The company was the first in Canada to manufacture cassette and eight-track tapes. It also distributed such Canadian lines as its own Quality, Birchmount, and Celebration labels and the independent Broadland, Kanata, MWC (Music World Creations), and Reo labels. The company operated a New York office briefly in the mid-1970s.

Canadian artists to record for Quality included the Young Canada Singers (who made the hit version of 'CA-NA-DA'), the Beaumarks (whose 'Clap Your Hands' was an early Canadian rock hit in the USA in 1960), Andy de Jarlis, the early Guess Who, Albert Hall, Harmonium, the Haunted, the King Beezz, Jury, Ronn Metcalfe, Skip Prokop, Hank Smith, and Sweet Blindness, all in the pop field. Quality Records Ltd ceased operations in 1985, at which time its special products division was acquired by R-Tek Corp of Winnipeg. Among its myriad non-musical activities, Quality Special Products ('a division of Dino Music Ltd') has packaged compilations of pop recordings by Canadians (eg, Carroll Baker, the Spitfire Band) and international artists for TV sales. Quality was revived as a label for new recordings with the release in 1991 of an album by Dan Hill.