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Ranwood
Ranwood Records was an American record label started in 1968 by Randy Wood (after he left Dot Records) and Lawrence Welk. Lawrence Welk owned all of the recordings that he released on Dot as they were produced and manufactured by Teleklew Productions and leased to Dot. These were repackaged for reissue on Ranwood. Welk did not own or buy those recordings he made for Coral and they continue to be owned by Universal Music. Most of Welk's later recordings were released on Ranwood. The label released albums by ''The Lawrence Welk Shows cast members, including Jo Ann Castle, Guy & Ralna, Clay Hart, Tom Netherton, and Ava Barber. Welk acquired Wood's interest in the label in 1979. Ranwood's releases were mostly albums and 45 rpm singles. Musicians who recorded for Ranwood but were unrelated to Welk's TV show included The Mills Brothers, Jim Nabors, Sounds of Sunshine, The Exotic Guitars, The Charles Randolph Grean Sounde and Damita Jo. During the mid-1980s, the label was folded ...
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The Mills Brothers
The Mills Brothers, sometimes billed the Four Mills Brothers, and originally known as the Four Kings of Harmony, were an American jazz and traditional pop vocal quartet who made more than 2,000 recordings that sold more than 50 million copies and garnered at least three dozen gold records. The Mills Brothers were the first African-American artists to have their own show on national network radio (on CBS in 1930); they made appearances in film; and were the first to have a No. 1 hit on the ''Billboard'' singles chart, with "Paper Doll" in 1943. They were inducted into the Vocal Group Hall of Fame in 1998. Early years The Mills Brothers were born into a family of nine in Piqua, Ohio, United States. The quartet consisted of Donald (lead tenor vocals, April 29, 1915 – November 13, 1999), Herbert (tenor vocals, April 2, 1912 – April 12, 1989), Harry (baritone vocals, August 9, 1913 – June 28, 1982), and John Jr. (guitar, double bass, vocals; October 19, 1910 – January 23, ...
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Lawrence Welk
Lawrence Welk (March 11, 1903 – May 17, 1992) was an American accordionist, bandleader, and television impresario, who hosted the ''The Lawrence Welk Show'' from 1951 to 1982. His style came to be known as "champagne music" to his radio, television, and live-performance audiences. Early life Welk was born in the German-speaking community of Strasburg, North Dakota. He was sixth of the eight children of Ludwig and Christiana (née Schwahn) Welk, Roman Catholic ethnic Germans who emigrated in 1892 from Odessa, Russian Empire (now Ukraine). Welk was a first cousin, once removed, of former Montana governor Brian Schweitzer (Welk's mother and Schweitzer's paternal grandmother were siblings). Welk's paternal great-great-grandparents, Moritz and Magdalena Welk, emigrated in 1808 from Germanophone Alsace-Lorraine to the Ukraine. The family lived on a homestead that is now a tourist attraction. They spent the cold North Dakota winter of their first year inside an upturned wagon cov ...
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Clay Hart
Clay Hart (born July 1, 1942) is an American country music singer and guitarist who was a member of ''The Lawrence Welk Show'' television program from 1969 to 1975. Biography Born Henry Clay Hart, III, and reared in Providence, Rhode Island; he attended Amherst College in Amherst, Massachusetts as a theater arts major. Although his passion was in music, he worked as a salesman in a record shop in New York City after graduation and later as a foreign credit analyst on Wall Street but those jobs were brief, for he proceeded to pursue a music career, often performing in small clubs. While performing in West Virginia, Hart was discovered by Lawrence Welk who was there for a luncheon on behalf of the Cancer Crusade. Impressed with his talent, the maestro signed him as a member of the Champagne Music Makers, where he made his first network television appearance in July 1969. Hart replaced Lynn Anderson as the show's resident country singer and remained on the show in that capacity unti ...
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Dot Records
Dot Records was an American record label founded by Randy Wood (record producer), Randy Wood and Gene Nobles that was active between 1950 and 1978. The original headquarters of Dot Records were in Gallatin, Tennessee. In 1956, the company moved to Hollywood, California. In its early years, Dot specialized in artists from Tennessee. Then it branched out to include musicians from across the U.S. It recorded country music, rhythm and blues, polkas, waltzes, Gospel music, gospel, rockabilly, pop music, pop, and early rock and roll. After moving to Hollywood, Dot Records bought many recordings by small local independent labels and issued them nationally. In 1957, Wood sold the label to Paramount Pictures, but remained in charge until 1967, when he departed to join Lawrence Welk in the formation of Ranwood Records. In 1968, the label was acquired as part of the acquisition of Paramount by Gulf and Western Industries, Gulf+Western, which transitioned it to exclusively recording country ...
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Welk Music Group
Welk Music Group is an American record company comprising Ranwood Records. It was founded by Lawrence Welk and is still owned by the Welk Family. The company evolved from when Welk's Teleklew Productions acquired Harry Von Tilzer Music in 1957. Welk Music sold its music publishing business to PolyGram International Music Publishing in 1988. This included T. B. Harms, Hall- Clement, and Harry Von Tilzer Music. On April 1, 2015, Concord Records acquired both Vanguard Records and Sugar Hill Records from Welk Music Group. See also * List of record labels * Ranwood Records Ranwood Records was an American record label started in 1968 by Randy Wood (after he left Dot Records) and Lawrence Welk. Lawrence Welk owned all of the recordings that he released on Dot as they were produced and manufactured by Teleklew Produc ... References External links Official Site American record labels IFPI members Lawrence Welk {{US-record-label-stub ...
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Randy Wood (producer)
Randolph Clay Wood (March 30, 1917 – April 9, 2011) was an American record producer and the founder of Nashville-based Dot Records, one of the most successful independent record labels of the 1950s and 1960s. Early life He was born in McMinnville, Tennessee, the only son of two teachers, and began constructing radio sets as a child. He graduated from Middle Tennessee State University in 1941, and served in the US Army Air Forces as a radio engineer during World War II. In 1945, he opened a store in Gallatin, Tennessee selling electrical appliances and some records. After noticing that many teenagers were seeking rhythm and blues records by musicians such as Joe Liggins and Cecil Gant, he started a mail order business for hard-to-find records, in collaboration with Nashville radio DJs Gene Nobles and Bill "Hoss" Allen. He began stocking R&B records for sale to a white audience, and by 1950, the store had become Randy's Record Shop. He also started small local labels wit ...
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Guy & Ralna
Guy & Ralna are an American singing duo who appeared as regulars on television's ''The Lawrence Welk Show'' from 1970 to 1982. Musical career The act consists of Guy Hovis and Ralna English, who married in early 1969 and made their Welk debut on his Christmas show the same year. English had been a solo performer on the show for a few months, having already joined in mid-1969. They specialize in country, gospel, big band and popular music. The couple has released a number of albums, including ''Hymns We Love To Sing'', which was nominated for a Dove Award in 1972. ''Country Songs We Love to Sing'', released in 1973, peaked at No. 21 on the Billboard Country Albums chart. Their popularity peaked in the 1970s, at which time they had their own fan club and made numerous appearances on other television shows and commercials. When the Welk show ended in 1982, and later when the couple divorced in 1984, the act disbanded for a while. They have since reunited professionally and hav ...
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Sugar Hill Records
Sugar Hill Records is an American bluegrass and Americana record label. It was founded in Durham, North Carolina in 1978 by Barry Poss and David Freeman, the owner of County Records and Rebel Records. Poss acquired full control of Sugar Hill in 1980 and owned the label until 1998, when he sold it to the Welk Music Group, owner of Vanguard Records. Poss stayed on as president, and in 2002 was promoted to chairman. Sugar Hill remained in Durham until 2007, when Poss moved the label to Nashville, Tennessee. Among the many notable artists who have released albums on the label are Nickel Creek, Doc Watson, Townes Van Zandt, Ricky Skaggs, Guy Clark, Robert Earl Keen, Sam Bush and Dolly Parton. One of Parton's albums for Sugar Hill, ''Halos & Horns'' (2002), included a song called "Sugar Hill", which she wrote as a tribute to the label. In 2008, Welk Music Group appointed EMI as distributor of its labels including Sugar Hill. In 2006, Sugar Hill executive Barry Poss won a Lifetime ...
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Sugar Hill Records (bluegrass)
Sugar Hill Records is an American bluegrass and Americana record label. It was founded in Durham, North Carolina in 1978 by Barry Poss and David Freeman, the owner of County Records and Rebel Records. Poss acquired full control of Sugar Hill in 1980 and owned the label until 1998, when he sold it to the Welk Music Group, owner of Vanguard Records. Poss stayed on as president, and in 2002 was promoted to chairman. Sugar Hill remained in Durham until 2007, when Poss moved the label to Nashville, Tennessee. Among the many notable artists who have released albums on the label are Nickel Creek, Doc Watson, Townes Van Zandt, Ricky Skaggs, Guy Clark, Robert Earl Keen, Sam Bush and Dolly Parton. One of Parton's albums for Sugar Hill, ''Halos & Horns'' (2002), included a song called "Sugar Hill", which she wrote as a tribute to the label. In 2008, Welk Music Group appointed EMI as distributor of its labels including Sugar Hill. In 2006, Sugar Hill executive Barry Poss won a Lifetime ...
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Vanguard Records
Vanguard Recording Society is an American record label set up in 1950 by brothers Maynard and Seymour Solomon in New York City. It was a primarily classical label at its peak in the 1950s and 1960s, but also has a catalogue of recordings by a number of pivotal jazz, folk, and blues musicians. The Bach Guild was a subsidiary label. The label was acquired by Concord Bicycle Music in April 2015. History The newly founded venture's first record was of J.S. Bach's 21st cantata, ''Ich hatte viel Bekümmernis'', BWV 21 ("I had much grief"), with Jonathan Sternberg conducting the tenor Hugues Cuénod and other soloists, chorus and orchestra. "What speaks for the Solomons' steadfastness in their taste and their task", wrote a ''Billboard'' journalist in November 1966, "is that this record is still alive in the catalogue (SC-501). As Seymour says, it was a good performance, not easy to top. Of the whole Vanguard/Bach Guild catalogue, numbering about 480 issues, 30 are Bach records..." ...
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Damita Jo DeBlanc
Damita Jo DeBlanc (August 5, 1930 – December 25, 1998), known professionally as Damita Jo, was an American actress, comedian, and singer. Her second marriage was to her manager James "Biddy" Wood in 1961. Biography DeBlanc was born in Austin, Texas, United States. She was the featured vocalist on albums by Steve Gibson and the Red Caps during the 1950s. She later married Gibson, but they parted ways professionally and personally in 1959. The couple had a daughter, Stephanie Latrelle Gibson born April 12, 1955, who carried on the family's musical tradition as a singer and pianist. Her lessons began at the age of 4. She married Nathan Fred Shelton of West Virginia, and had twin boys, Bruce Thomas Shelton and Brian Stephen Shelton in Montclair, New Jersey. Credited as Damita Jo, DeBlanc had some chart success in the early 1960s with two answer songs: 1960's "I'll Save the Last Dance for You" (an answer to " Save the Last Dance for Me") and 1961's "I'll Be There" (an answer to " ...
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Sounds Of Sunshine
Sounds of Sunshine were an American sunshine pop group from Los Angeles, California consisting of three brothers. The group released one album on Ranwood Records in 1971, which peaked on the ''Billboard'' 200 at #187. Its title track, "Love Means (You Never Have to Say You're Sorry)", was a minor U.S. hit, peaking at #39 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 chart. The song found a much wider audience among adults, reaching #5 on Billboard's Easy Listening survey. In Canada, the song reached #45 on the Pop chart and #33 Adult Contemporary. The title of the song was taken from a line from the 1970 film '' Love Story''. On the back cover of Dead Kennedys' ''Fresh Fruit for Rotting Vegetables'' album, a press shot of the group found by bassist Klaus Flouride at a garage saleOgg, Alex. (2014). ''Dead Kennedys: Fresh Fruit for Rotting Vegetables: The Early Years''. p. 119. . (without anything identifying the people in the photo as the members of the group) was used without their permission; ...
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