Liberty Records was a record label founded in the United States by chairman Simon Waronker in 1955 with Al Bennett as president and Theodore Keep as chief engineer. It was reactivated in 2001 in the United Kingdom and had two previous revivals. History 1950s Liberty's early releases focused on film and orchestral music. Its first single was Lionel Newman's "The Girl Upstairs". Its first big hit, in 1955, was by Julie London singing her version of the torch song, "Cry Me a River", which climbed to No. 9 in the Billboard Hot 100. It helped Liberty sell her first album, Julie Is Her Name. In 1956, Liberty signed Henry Mancini and released two singles and several albums by him. He left in 1958, signing with RCA Victor, where his record sales increased. Billy Rose and Lee David's song "Tonight You Belong to Me" reached number 4 (US) and number 28 (UK) when it was performed by teen sisters Patience and Prudence (McIntyre), selling over a million copies. Liberty also scored a Top 10 hit with Margie Rayburn's "I'm Available" and the singer went on to record two dozen singles for them. The label's biggest rock singer was Eddie Cochran who starred in his second film, Untamed Youth. His first hit for the label was John D. Loudermilk's "Sittin' in the Balcony" in 1957, then came "Summertime Blues" and "C'mon Everybody". The roster included R&B act Billy Ward and His Dominoes after Jackie Wilson quit, replacing him with ex-Lark Eugene Mumford. Their version of Hoagy Carmichael's 1927 song "Stardust" reached No. 13 in the Billboard Hot 100 and 13 on the UK Singles Chart in October 1957. It was the group's only million seller. By 1958, Liberty was close to bankruptcy when singer-songwriter Ross Bagdasarian, performing as David Seville, had a number one hit with his novelty song "Witch Doctor". Later that year, he combined multi-track recording with the altered speed technique he had used in "Witch Doctor" and introduced the Chipmunks (Alvin, Simon, and Theodore—named after Liberty executives Bennett, Waronker, and Keep, respectively.) in "The Chipmunk Song (Christmas Don't Be Late)". In the months leading to Christmas of 1958, the record went to number one on the Billboard Hot 100, becoming the first Christmas record to reach number 1 on that chart and selling 4.5 million copies. Also in 1958, Liberty formed a sublabel called Freedom which lasted through 1959,