Derby Records was an independent record label founded by

Larry Newton Larry Newton ''(né'' Louis I. Nutinsky 7 May 1920, in Philadelphia – 30 January 2005, in Pompano Beach, Florida) was an American record company entrepreneur who, earlier in his career, worked with several independent labels. He then became sales ...

in 1949. The label's logo featured a Derby hat. First headquartered in New York City, it moved to

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

shortly before going out of business in 1964. The label offered selections in various styles of

pop music Pop music is a genre of popular music that originated in its modern form during the mid-1950s in the United States and the United Kingdom. The terms ''popular music'' and ''pop music'' are often used interchangeably, although the former describe ...

of the era, including

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a major ...

rhythm and blues Rhythm and blues, frequently abbreviated as R&B or R'n'B, is a genre of popular music that originated in African-American communities in the 1940s. The term was originally used by record companies to describe recordings marketed predominantly ...

, and

Western swing Western swing music is a subgenre of American country music that originated in the late 1920s in the Western United States, West and Southern United States, South among the region's Western music (North America), Western string bands. It is dan ...

. Derby recording artists included singer

Mel Carter Mel Carter (born April 22, 1939, Cincinnati, Ohio) is an American singer and actor. He is best known for his 1965 million-selling recording, "Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me". Biography At age 16 Carter studied singing with vocalist Little Jimmy Sc ...

, saxophonist Freddie Mitchell, singer and session artist

Billy Preston William Everett Preston (September 2, 1946 – June 6, 2006) was an American keyboardist, singer and songwriter whose work encompassed R&B, rock, soul, funk, and gospel. Preston was a top session keyboardist in the 1960s, during which he ba ...

, and

Vann "Piano Man" Walls Vann "Piano Man" Walls (born Harry Eugene Vann, 24 August 1918 – 24 February 1999) was an American rhythm and blues piano player, songwriter, studio musician and professional recording artist. He was a long-standing session player for Atlantic R ...

. Singer

Jaye P. Morgan Jaye P. Morgan (born Mary Margaret Morgan) is a retired American popular music singer, actress, and game show panelist. Early life Morgan was born in Mancos in Montezuma County in far southwestern Colorado. Her family moved to California by t ...

made her recording debut for Derby in 1950.

Sunny Gale Sunny Gale (born Selma Segal, February 20, 1927) is a retired American pop singer who was popular in the 1950s. Gale reached the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 several times throughout the earlier half of the decade, scoring her biggest R&B hit with "Wh ...

had a hit for Derby in 1952 with "Wheel of Fortune", which reached No. 13 and sold c. 50,000 copies.

References

External links

Derby Records
on the Internet Archive'
Great 78 Project
Defunct record labels of the United States Record labels established in 1963 Record labels disestablished in 1964 Jazz record labels {{US-record-label-stub

See also

References

External links