Mercury is one of the oldest labels of the Universal Music Group. It was launched in 1945 by Irving Green, Berle Adams and Arthur Talmadge in Chicago, Illinois. In the United States, the label now operates through Island Records; in the UK, it is distributed by Virgin EMI Records. Since the closure of the Island Def Jam Music Group in April 2014, the label has been mostly shuttered and phased out, merging operations with Island Records, though branches of Mercury Records- Mercury Classics and Mercury Nashville- still remain in operation.
