Outside of The Beatles "She Loves You", Swan's most remembered hit was Palisades Park in 1962, written by Chuck Barris, and performed by the most successful artist on the label, Freddy Cannon, who also scored hits with "Tallahassee Lassie" and "Way Down Yonder In New Orleans" before moving to Warner Brothers in 1964. Another hit for Swan was a release of The Rockin' Rebels's lone hit, the instrumental "Wild Weekend" (which in fact was written as a radio jingle for a Buffalo disc jockey). Link Wray, best remembered for his classic instrumental "Rumble", had a modest hit at Swan with "Jack The Ripper".
Swan was co-owned by Bernie Binnick and Tony Mammarella, with Dick Clark reported to having a financial investment in it. When the payola scandals of the early 1960s broke, Clark divested himself of all of his outside interests to avoid conflict of interest. The label was distributed by Cameo-Parkway, which at the time was the hottest label for teenage dance crazes ("The Twist", "Limbo Rock", "(Do) The Bird", "Wah-Watusi", "Mashed Potato Time", "Gravy (For My Mashed Potatoes)", "Hully Gully Baby", "Bristol Stomp", "(Do the) New Continental").
The first hit for the Swan label was "Click Clack" by Dickie Doo and the Don'ts, a studio recording produced by Gerry Granahan under the pseudonym that was actually the nickname Dick Clark called his infant son, Dick Clark, Jr.
The Three Degrees had a moderate hit with a remake of the Five Keys' "Close Your Eyes", but scored better on Roulette with their remake of the Chantel's "Maybe" and "When Will I See You Again" on Kenny Gamble and Leon Huff's Philadelphia International Records.
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