Argo Records was started in December of 1955

1955 in music

-Events:*January 1 – RCA Victor announces a marketing plan called "Operation TNT." The label drops the list price on LPs from $5.95 to $3.98, EPs from $4.95 to $2.98, 45 EPs from $1.58 to $1.49 and 45's from $1.16 to $.89...

 to accommodate some of the rapidly growing recording activity at Chess Records

Chess Records

Chess Records was an American record label based in Chicago, Illinois. It specialized in blues, R&B, soul, gospel music, early rock and roll, and occasional jazz releases....

. Originally the label was called Marterry, but bandleader Ralph Marterie

Ralph Marterie

Ralph Marterie was a big-band leader born in Acerra , Italy.In the 1940s, he played trumpet for various bands. His highest success in the U.S. charts was a cover of "Skokiaan" in 1954. In 1953 he recorded a version of Bill Haley's "Crazy, Man, Crazy", which is generally regarded as the first...

 objected, and within a couple of months the imprint was renamed Argo.
Initially, Argo offered a variety of music, including pop, blues, and even Calypso. Argo's first big hit was by New Orleans performer Clarence "Frogman" Henry, whose classic "Ain't Got No Home" came out in 1956.