By the end of the 1960s, Epic earned its first gold records and had evolved into a formidable hit-making force in rock and roll, R&B and country music.
Among its many acts, it included Roy Hamilton, Bobby Vinton, the Dave Clark Five, the Hollies, Tammy Wynette, Donovan, the Yardbirds, Lulu, July, Helen Shapiro, Cliff Richard, and Jeff Beck.
It began splitting European operations into two separate labels, Epic and Columbia, in 1992, and in 1997, Sony Music Australia and New Zealand followed suit.
Notable releases included soundtrack albums for Honeymoon in Vegas, Singles, Sleepless in Seattle, Forrest Gump, Philadelphia, and Judgment Night.
[9][10] In 1999, Jennifer Lopez released her debut album On the 6 (as part of WORK Group), which was a critical and commercial success, going-on to sell over 8 million copies worldwide.
[11] Lopez's sophomore album, J.Lo (2001), experienced similar—if not greater—success, initially selling over 8 million copies worldwide, and gaining multi-platinum status under Epic Records.
[15] Lopez's third studio album, released in late 2002, was also a success, titled This is me... Then; the record sold 6 million copies worldwide and peaked at the second spot of the Billboard 200.
[17] In February 2009, Sony Music Group chairman Rob Stringer appointed singer-songwriter Amanda Ghost as president of Epic.
[18] Ghost, who had successfully promoted James Blunt to Grammy Award-winning status,[19] was an unconventional and controversial choice for president because she had no corporate executive experience.
She was fired in October 2010, with Stringer apologizing for his mistake: "I owe the people at Epic..."[19] In July 2011, L.A. Reid became the CEO of Epic Records, signing artists such as TLC, Toni Braxton, Cher Lloyd, Avril Lavigne, Outkast, Future, Yo Gotti, Ciara, Meghan Trainor, DJ Khaled, and Travis Scott.
[24] In February 2012, Epic Records signed experimental hip-hop/punk rap trio, Death Grips, under the recommendation of, then executive vice president of marketing, Angelica Cob-Baehler.
[25][26][27] In November 2014, Mosley Music Group created a joint venture with Sony Music- with marketing, publicity, distribution and overall label services provided by Epic.
The joint venture was created due to Timbaland's previous co-collaboration with Reid on Michael Jackson's posthumous album, Xscape.
[34] In 2016, Jennifer Lopez returned to Sony Music, six years after leaving in favor of Island Def Jam and Capitol Records.