Parlophone is a record label that was founded in Germany in 1896 by the Carl Lindström Company as Parlophon. The British branch was formed in 1923 as "Parlophone" which developed a reputation in the 1920s as a leading jazz label. It was acquired in 1927 by the Columbia Graphophone Company which later became EMI. George Martin joined in 1950 as assistant label manager, taking over as manager in 1955. Martin produced and released a mix of product including comedy recordings of The Goons, the pianist Mrs Mills, and teen idol Adam Faith. In 1962 Martin signed rising new Liverpool band The Beatles. With Cilla Black, Billy J. Kramer, the Fourmost, and contemporary Mancunian band The Hollies also signed to the label, Parlophone in the 1960s became one of the world's most famous and prestigious record labels.

For a long time Parlophone claimed the best selling UK single "She Loves You", and the best selling UK album Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. The label also achieved placement of seven singles at #1 during 1964, when it also claimed top spot in the album charts for 40 of the 52 weeks during that year.

Pete Best (born 24 November 1941) is a British musician, principally known as the original drummer in The Beatles. He was born in the city of Madras, which was then part of British India. After his mother moved to Liverpool in 1945, Best's mother, Mona Best (1924–1988), opened The Casbah Coffee Club, in the cellar of the Bests' large house in Liverpool, which became very popular, having a membership of over 1,000. The Beatles (at the time known as The Quarrymen) played some of their earliest concerts at the club. Best played there with his first band, The Black Jacks, and later with The Beatles.

Best was invited to join The Beatles on 12 August 1960, on the eve of the group's first Hamburg season of club dates. He was eventually replaced by Ringo Starr on 16 August 1962, when The Beatles manager, Brian Epstein, dismissed Best under the direction of John Lennon, Paul McCartney, and George Harrison, following The Beatles' first recording session at Abbey Road Studios. After working in a number of commercially unsuccessful groups he gave up the music industry to work as a civil servant for twenty years, before starting The Pete Best Band. He has been married for over 45 years to Kathy Best; they have two daughters and four grandchildren. Best is sometimes referred to as the "Fifth Beatle".

Miles Leonard is a British music industry executive and is currently president of Parlophone and Virgin A&R labels at EMI Music UK. He has previously worked for Roadrunner Records and been credited as signing and breaking artists including Gorillaz, Coldplay, Tinie Tempah, The Verve and for reviving the career of Kylie Minogue.

Leonard started his career in the music industry as an A&R scout at Virgin Records in 1991. Within his first year at Virgin he signed the band The Verve. He then worked for Roadrunner Records before joining Parlophone in 1996.

When Kylie Minogue signed to Parlophone in 1999, Leonard played a major role in reviving a career that lost direction and had reached a relatively low ebb in the UK while the artist was signed to Deconstruction Records. According to Leonard: "There was something there that hadn't been achieved by her last label, and I didn't think it really had anything to do with her. She was still very strong vocally, and still definitely a star. I believed in her as an artist and I knew that with the right project, the right songwriters, the right producers, the right team, she would still have a fanbase out there." Minogue's first single with Parlophone, "Spinning Around", saw the artist achieve her first UK #1 in ten years and heralded the start of a major career revival.

Patrick Chukwuemeka Okogwu (born 7 November 1988), better known by his stage name Tinie Tempah, is an English rapper. He made his first mixtape in 2007; his first album, Disc-Overy, debuted at number one in October 2010 and was preceded by two number-one singles.

Patrick Chukwuemeka Okogwu, was born in London, England on 7 November 1988, and is of Ibusa, Delta State, Nigerian origin. He lived on the Aylesbury Estate in South East London until he was 12 with his parents and three younger siblings. He attended St. Paul's Catholic School in Abbey Wood, London SE2, (now known as St. Paul's Academy). He went on to study A Levels at St Francis Xavier Sixth Form College, SW12. Of his London upbringing, Tempah states: “London is one of the only places in the world where you can live in a council block and see a beautiful semi-detached house across the street. Growing up around that was inspirational, it kept me motivated".

In 2006, Tempah gained a great deal of airplay on British music TV channel, Channel AKA, for his song "Tears" He made his first mixtape in 2007 with 28 songs, freestyles and remixes, featuring Mz Bratt, Chipmunk and G-Unit.^{[citation needed]} His first album, Disc-Overy, debuted at number one in October 2010 and was preceded by the number-one singles "Pass Out" and "Written in the Stars" and the UK Top 5 hits "Frisky" and "Miami 2 Ibiza". In late 2007, he collaborated on a track ("Perfect GCD Hood Economics Room 147") with grime artist Ultra and producers/songwriters Agent X.

Gabrielle Ann Aplin (born 10 October 1992) is an English singer-songwriter from Bath, Somerset. Aplin first became recognised on Youtube over 3 years ago when she covered a song by the American rock band Paramore, called My Heart. She received a large amount of recognition when she posted a cover of the You Me At Six song "The Liar and the Lighter." As of August 2011, this cover has over 450,000 views. Gabrielle first recorded a version of this song when she was 13, and then rerecorded it 4 years later for her debut EP entitled 'Acoustic EP'. Her most successful, and recent EP, Home was released in early January 2012.

Gabrielle was born and brought up near Bath, the first of two children, and grew up listening to Joni Mitchell and Bruce Springsteen. She self taught herself and began playing piano around aged 12 and the guitar at around 14. She attended Sheldon School in Chippenham and then in September 2009 decided to go to City of Bath College to gain a diploma in popular music.

Gabrielle used Youtube to gain a following, and as of December 2011 she has over 40,000 subscribers. Her most viewed videos include The Liar and the Lighter originally by You Me At Six, Teenage Dream originally by Katy Perry and Forget You by Cee Lo Green. At some point in 2009, Gabrielle uploaded her original songs to BBC Introducing. In 2010, Gabrielle set up her own website.