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Vivian Carter
Vivian Carter (March 25, 1921 – June 12, 1989) was an American record company executive who was a founder of Vee-Jay Records with her future husband, Jimmy Bracken. Carter was also a Gary, Indiana, and Chicago, Illinois, radio disc jockey. Vee Jay, an independent record label, became the first successful black-owned recording company in the United States. It released original music from artists of the 1950s and 1960s in a variety of genres, including rhythm and blues, doo-wop, pop, and gospel. Early life and education Carter was born in Tunica, Mississippi, United States, and moved with her parents to Gary, Indiana, when she was a child. She graduated from Gary's Roosevelt High School in 1939. Carter excelled at public speaking, theater, and chorus. A classmate and longtime friend described her as a fun-loving extrovert with "a rich alto voice." After graduation, Carter took classes at a business college before becoming a clerical worker for the U.S. Army's Quartermaster ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Record Company
A record label, or record company, is a brand or trademark of music recordings and music videos, or the company that owns it. Sometimes, a record label is also a publishing company that manages such brands and trademarks, coordinates the production, manufacture, distribution, marketing, promotion, and enforcement of copyright for sound recordings and music videos, while also conducting talent scouting and development of new artists, and maintaining contracts with recording artists and their managers. The term "record label", derives from the circular label in the center of a vinyl record which prominently displays the manufacturer's name, along with other information. Within the mainstream music industry, recording artists have traditionally been reliant upon record labels to broaden their consumer base, market their albums, and promote their singles on streaming services, radio, and television. Record labels also provide publicists, who assist performers in gaining positive ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Al Benson
Arthur Bernard Leaner (June 30, 1908 – September 6, 1978), who was known professionally as Al Benson, was an American radio DJ, music promoter and record label owner in Chicago between the 1940s and 1960s. He was particularly significant for his promotion of rhythm and blues music and black involvement in the recording industry in Chicago. "He was the first black radio personality to have a six figure salary... ndwas referred to as the Godfather of Black Radio."Legendaries of Radio: Al Benson . Legendariesofradio.wix.com, Retrieved 18 May 2014 He was also an ordained minister, and became an important figure in the in Chicago. In 2017 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gene Chandler
Gene Chandler (born Eugene Drake Dixon; July 6, 1937) is an American singer, songwriter, music producer, and record-label executive. Chandler is nicknamed "the Duke of Earl" or, simply, "the Duke." He is best known for his most successful songs, "Duke of Earl" and " Groovy Situation", and his association with the Dukays, the Impressions, and Curtis Mayfield. Chandler is a Grammy Hall of Fame inductee and a recipient of the Rhythm and Blues Foundation's Pioneer Award. He is one of the few singers to achieve chart success spanning the doo-wop, rhythm and blues, soul and disco musical eras, with some top-40 pop and R&B chart hits between 1961 and 1986. Chandler was inducted as a performer into the Rhythm and Blues Music Hall of Fame on August 24, 2014. In 2016, he became a double inductee in the R&B Music Hall of Fame with his induction as an R&B music pioneer. Early years Chandler was born Eugene Drake Dixon in Chicago on July 6, 1937. He attended Englewood High School on ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
John Lee Hooker
John Lee Hooker (August 22, 1912 or 1917 – June 21, 2001) was an American blues singer, songwriter, and guitarist. The son of a sharecropper, he rose to prominence performing an electric guitar-style adaptation of Delta blues. Hooker often incorporated other elements, including talking blues and early North Mississippi hill country blues. He developed his own driving-rhythm boogie style, distinct from the 1930s–1940s piano-derived boogie-woogie. Hooker was ranked 35 in ''Rolling Stone''s 2015 list of 100 greatest guitarists. Some of his best known songs include "Boogie Chillen'" (1948), "Crawling King Snake" (1949), "Dimples" (1956), " Boom Boom" (1962), and "One Bourbon, One Scotch, One Beer" (1966). Several of his later albums, including '' The Healer'' (1989), '' Mr. Lucky'' (1991), ''Chill Out'' (1995), and '' Don't Look Back'' (1997), were album chart successes in the U.S. and UK. ''The Healer'' (for the song "I'm In The Mood") and ''Chill Out'' (for the album) both e ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The El Dorados
The El Dorados were an American doo-wop group, who achieved their greatest success with the song " At My Front Door", a no. 1 hit on the US '' Billboard'' R&B chart in 1955. History The group formed in Chicago, Illinois, United States, in 1952, originally as "Pirkle Lee and the Five Stars". It comprised Pirkle Lee Moses Jr. (lead vocals), Louis Bradley and Arthur Basset (tenors), Jewel Jones (second tenor/baritone), James Maddox and Richard Nickens (both baritone/bass). When Moses Jr. got out of the United States Air Force in 1954, they changed their name to The El Dorados. Vivian Carter heard them and signed them to her Vee-Jay Records label, making their first recordings in mid 1954. After a string of unsuccessful singles, they recorded " At My Front Door" (also known as "Crazy Little Mama") in 1955, and it rose to No. 1 on the US '' Billboard'' R&B chart, and No. 17 on the US pop chart. Their follow-up, "I’ll Be Forever Loving You", also made the R&B top ten in ear ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jimmy Reed
Mathis James Reed (September 6, 1925 – August 29, 1976) was an American blues musician and songwriter. His particular style of electric blues was popular with blues as well as non-blues audiences. Reed's songs such as "Honest I Do" (1957), "Baby What You Want Me to Do" (1960), " Big Boss Man" (1961), and " Bright Lights, Big City" (1961) appeared on both ''Billboard'' magazine's rhythm and blues and Hot 100 singles charts. Reed influenced other musicians, such as Elvis Presley, Hank Williams Jr., and the Rolling Stones, who recorded his songs. Music critic Cub Koda describes him as "perhaps the most influential bluesman of all," due to his easily accessible style. Biography Reed was born in Dunleith, Mississippi, United States. He learned the harmonica and guitar from his friend Eddie Taylor. After several years of busking and performing there, he moved to Chicago, Illinois, in 1943. He was then drafted into the U.S. Navy and served in World War II. He was discharged in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Calvin Carter
Calvin T. Carter (May 27, 1925 – July 9, 1986) was an American record producer, record label manager and songwriter of jazz and pop songs. Calvin Carter was born in Gary, Indiana, in 1925. He joined Vee-Jay Records, founded by his sister Vivian Carter and her husband James Bracken, in 1953 and became its principal A&R man and producer, in charge of recording sessions. According to Allmusic, he was responsible for giving "direction and vision" to the company, which mainly recorded R&B acts such as Elmore James, John Lee Hooker, Billy Emerson and Jimmy Reed. In the 1960s, Vee Jay Records was the first American company to sign The Beatles and helped to establish The Four Seasons as a major-selling group. After Vee Jay was forced to close by financial problems, Calvin Carter worked at Liberty Records, running their soul subsidiary, Minit Records, for a while and working with Canned Heat. He produced leading blues artist, Little Milton for Chess Records in the late 1960s ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ewart Abner
Ewart Gladstone Abner, Jr. (May 11, 1923 – December 27, 1997) was a major American record company executive who was President of Motown Records from 1973 to 1975 and was personal and business manager for Stevie Wonder for 10 years. In his executive roles at Motown, he helped direct careers for Marvin Gaye, Smokey Robinson and the Miracles, The Temptations, and the Jackson 5. Career Ewart Abner, the son of a minister, was born in Chicago and graduated from Englewood High School in 1939. He went to Howard University and studied pharmacy but dropped out and served in the military. After the war, he got a degree in accounting from DePaul University in 1949. Between 1950 and 1954, he served at the Chance label as the owner Art Sheridan's right-hand man handling the finances of the business. Vee-Jay Records In 1954, Abner became part owner and general manager of Vee-Jay Records. He was appointed president of Vee-Jay in 1961 and with the addition of artists such as Jerry Butler, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Billboard (magazine)
''Billboard'' (stylized as ''billboard'') is an American music and entertainment magazine published weekly by Penske Media Corporation. The magazine provides music charts, news, video, opinion, reviews, events, and style related to the music industry. Its music charts include the Hot 100, the 200, and the Global 200, tracking the most popular albums and songs in different genres of music. It also hosts events, owns a publishing firm, and operates several TV shows. ''Billboard'' was founded in 1894 by William Donaldson and James Hennegan as a trade publication for bill posters. Donaldson later acquired Hennegan's interest in 1900 for $500. In the early years of the 20th century, it covered the entertainment industry, such as circuses, fairs, and burlesque shows, and also created a mail service for travelling entertainers. ''Billboard'' began focusing more on the music industry as the jukebox, phonograph, and radio became commonplace. Many topics it covered were spun-off ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Chance Records
Chance Records was a Chicago-based label founded in 1950 by Art Sheridan. It specialized in blues, jazz, doo-wop, and gospel. Among the acts who recorded for Chance were The Flamingos, The Moonglows, Homesick James, J. B. Hutto, Brother John Sellers, and Schoolboy Porter. In addition, Chance released three singles by John Lee Hooker and made a coordinated issue of the first singles by Jimmy Reed and The Spaniels with the brand-new and still tiny Vee-Jay Records. The company closed down at the end of 1954. Sheridan became one of the financial backers of Vee-Jay. History Chance Records opened for business in September 1950. Initially the company was housed at Sheridan's American Record Distributors, 2011 South Michigan Avenue in Chicago.Pruter, Robert (1997). ''Doowop: The Chicago Scene.'' Urbana: University of Illinois Press, pp. 21–39 Among the first artists to record for the company were the Al Sims Trio, an uptown blues group, and a combo led by tenor saxophonist Joh ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Spaniels
The Spaniels were an American R&B and doo-wop group, best known for the hit " Goodnite, Sweetheart, Goodnite". They have been called the first successful Midwestern R&B group. Some historians of vocal groups consider Pookie Hudson to be the first frontman of a vocal group because the Spaniels pioneered the technique of having the main singer solo at his microphone while the rest of the group shared a second microphone. Original members The original members included: *Thornton James "Pookie" Hudson (June 11, 1934 – January 16, 2007) *Ernest Warren (December 2, 1933 – May 7, 2012) *Willie C. Jackson (April 22, 1935 - February 18, 2015; aged 79) *Opal Courtney Jr. (November 22, 1936 – September 18, 2008) *Gerald Gregory (June 10, 1934 - February 12, 1999) Career The group debuted in late 1952 at Roosevelt High School in Gary, Indiana as Pookie Hudson & The Hudsonaires.Betts, Graham (2014). Motown Encyclopedia', AC Publishing. Retrieved April 29, 2018. They changed their name ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Midtown (Gary)
Midtown, also called Central, is a neighborhood in central Gary, Indiana. For many decades it was the only African-American neighborhood in the city. It is located south of Downtown West and north of Glen Park along Broadway, Gary's principal thoroughfare. It adjoins the neighborhoods of Tolleston to the west and Pulaski to the east. As of 2000, Midtown had a population of 12,056. The Midtown neighborhood began as a community of poor white ethnic millworkers, who were excluded from the more upscale neighborhoods close to the Gary Works. Significant African American immigration began after World War I; the neighborhood remained integrated for a time, but gradually the whites moved out as housing became available elsewhere, while the blacks were kept in Midtown by segregationist city ordinances. The neighborhood's white population dropped from 25% in 1940 to 4% in 1950. In the 1950 census, Midtown accounted for 97% of Gary's black population. Prior to desegregation, Midtown ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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