Dolton Records was a

record label 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 produ ...

based in

Seattle Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest regio ...

that was originally known as Dolphin Records. It was initially owned by Bob Reisdorff and

Bonnie Guitar Bonnie Buckingham (March 25, 1923 – January 13, 2019), better known as Bonnie Guitar, was an American singer, musician, producer, and businesswoman. She was best known for her 1957 country-pop crossover hit "Dark Moon". She became one of th ...

. Success for the label came early with "

Come Softly to Me "Come Softly to Me" is a popular song recorded by The Fleetwoods, composed of Gretchen Christopher, Barbara Ellis, and Gary Troxel, who also wrote it. The original title was "Come Softly", but was changed en route to its becoming a hit. Bob Reisdo ...

" by

the Fleetwoods The Fleetwoods were an American vocal group from Olympia, Washington whose members were Gary Troxel (born November 28, 1939), Gretchen Christopher (born February 29, 1940), and Barbara Ellis (born February 20, 1940). Early history The band mem ...

, the first single to be released on that label. Reisdorf was soon informed that there was another Dolphin Records in circulation (which was a subsidiary of

Laurie Records Laurie Records was a record label established in New York City in 1958 by brothers Robert and Gene Schwartz, and Allan I. Sussel. Among the recording artists on Laurie's roster were Dion and the Belmonts (both together and as separate acts), T ...

), so he changed the name to Dolton after the first release, the second release being an instrumental by the Frantics called "Straight Flush" b/w "Young Blues" (Dolton 2). The new label retained the fish symbols on the logo and the fonts associated with the Dolphin name. The first major hit on the newer Dolton label was the Fleetwood's " Mr. Blue", a number one hit, and the fifth single released by that company. Other major Dolton artists included

the Ventures The Ventures are an American instrumental rock band formed in Tacoma, Washington, in 1958, by Don Wilson and Bob Bogle. The band, which was a quartet for most of its existence, helped to popularize the electric guitar across the world during the ...

Vic Dana Samuel Mendola (born August 26, 1942, Buffalo, New York, United States), known professionally as Vic Dana, is an American dancer and singer. Biography Discovered by Sammy Davis Jr., Dana was an excellent male dancer, particularly in tap, and w ...

, and the Frantics. It was acquired in 1963 by

Avnet Avnet, Inc. is a distributor of electronic components headquartered in Phoenix, Arizona, named after Charles Avnet, who founded the company in 1921. After its start on Manhattan's Radio Row, the company became incorporated in 1955 and began tr ...

and merged with its

Liberty Records Liberty Records was a record label founded in the United States by chairman Simon Waronker in 1955 with Al Bennett as president and Theodore Keep as chief engineer. It was reactivated in 2001 in the United Kingdom and had two previous revival ...

parent label in 1966. Liberty had distributed Dolton releases when "Come Softly to Me" became a hit.

also recorded for the label, recording singles like "Candy Apple Red" (Dolton 10) in 1959. She had a country-pop crossover hit, "Dark Moon", in February

1957 1957 ( MCMLVII) was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar, the 1957th year of the Common Era (CE) and ''Anno Domini'' (AD) designations, the 957th year of the 2nd millennium, the 57th year of the 20th century, and the 8th y ...

, which had been released on Dot Records (45-15550). Liberty discontinued the Dolton label in 1967, transferring its artists to the parent label. The label's final single released was "Theme From ''

The Wild Angels ''The Wild Angels'' is a 1966 American outlaw biker film produced and directed by Roger Corman. Made on location in Southern California, ''The Wild Angels'' was the first film to associate actor Peter Fonda with Harley-Davidson motorcycles and 1 ...

''"/"Kickstand" (DOR-327) by the Ventures; theirs was also the final album released on Dolton, "Guitar Freakout" (BLP-2050/BST-8050). Liberty and with it, Dolton, were absorbed into

United Artists Records United Artists Records was an American record label founded by Max E. Youngstein of United Artists in 1957 to issue movie soundtracks. The label expanded into other genres, such as easy listening, jazz, pop, and R&B. History Genres In 1959, ...

in 1971, which in turn was sold to

EMI EMI Group Limited (originally an initialism for Electric and Musical Industries, also referred to as EMI Records Ltd. or simply EMI) was a British transnational conglomerate founded in March 1931 in London. At the time of its break-up in 201 ...

in 1979 and deactivated the next year. In the early 1990s, EMI USA briefly reactivated the Dolton label by releasing a couple of CD compilations by the Ventures, using the early light-blue Dolton labels for the discs. The Dolton catalog is managed at present by

Capitol Records Capitol Records, LLC (known legally as Capitol Records, Inc. until 2007) is an American record label distributed by Universal Music Group through its Capitol Music Group imprint. It was founded as the first West Coast-based record label of note ...

under

Universal Music Group Universal Music Group N.V. (often abbreviated as UMG and referred to as just Universal Music) is a Dutch– American multinational music corporation under Dutch law. UMG's corporate headquarters are located in Hilversum, Netherlands and its ...

after buying most of Capitol's former owner EMI in 2012.

Label variations

*1958—Light blue label with fish symbols at top of label, DOLPHIN shown vertically on left side (this variation was used only on the first release, Dolphin 1). *1958-1960—Same as above, DOLPHIN changed to DOLTON *1961-1963—Same light blue color with large fish symbols at top of label, DOLTON shown in center of largest fish symbol. *1962-1965—Dark blue label with new logo on left side, DOLTON shown in various colors *1965-1966—Black and dark blue label with "D" logo on left side, DOLTON shown under logo, "A PRODUCT OF LIBERTY RECORDS" shown under DOLTON Promotional records for radio stations, etc. were white labels with varieties two and three until Dolton 40. At Dolton 41 (1961), the promo labels were beige-colored and used varieties three and four. Most of the promotional records state "not for sale" or "audition record", but in some cases the promo copies did not state this, and are identified by the label color change alone.

Label variations

See also