 The Blue Beat label was founded in 1960, in London, as an imprint of Emil E. Shalit's Melodisc Records.Melodisc, which was founded in London in 1947, specialised in releasing calypso and mento and imported American jazz music.The Blue Beat label focused on American-influenced Jamaican blues and R&B, which later evolved into ska, and was launched following the positive response in the United Kingdom to Laurel Aitken's Melodisc release of "Lonesome Lover".