Dunhill Records was started in 1964 by Lou Adler, Jay Lasker,

Pierre Cossette Pierre Maurice Joseph Cossette (December 15, 1923 – September 11, 2009) was a television executive producer and Broadway producer. Cossette produced the first television broadcast of the Grammy Awards in 1971. Cossette was inducted into Cana ...

and Bobby Roberts as Dunhill Productions to release the music of Johnny Rivers on Imperial Records. It became a record label the following year and was distributed by

ABC Records ABC Records was an American record label founded in New York City in 1955. It originated as the main popular music label operated by the Am-Par Record Corporation. Am-Par also created the Impulse! jazz label in 1960. It acquired many labels bef ...

. The first Dunhill single was "My Prayer/Pretty Please" (catalog #D-4001) by

Shelley Fabares Michele Ann Marie "Shelley" Fabares (; born January 19, 1944) is an American actress and singer. She is best known for her television roles as Mary Stone on the sitcom '' The Donna Reed Show'' (1958–1963) and as Christine Armstrong on the sitco ...

, who was married to Adler at the time. In the summer of 1967 Adler sold his shares to ABC Records, creating ABC-Dunhill Records, after which he started yet another label Ode Records (which was first distributed by CBS and later by A&M Records). Until 1975, ABC continued to release records on the Dunhill label, after which all remaining artists were absorbed into the ABC Records roster before

MCA Records MCA Records was an American record label owned by MCA Inc., which later became part of Universal Music Group. Pre-history MCA Inc., a powerful talent agency and a television production company, entered the recorded music business in 1962 w ...

bought the label outright in 1979. Buluu Dunhill Records was an offshoot of the ABC/Dunhill days using catalog series #B-73001 (45 RPM singles) and #B-60001 (LP). Today, the Dunhill catalog is managed by Geffen Records. A later independent reissue label called Dunhill Compact Classics was formed in 1986 to reissue recordings on the new CD format.

British American Tobacco British American Tobacco plc (BAT) is a British multinational company that manufactures and sells cigarettes, tobacco and other nicotine products. The company, established in 1902, is headquartered in London, England. As of 2019, it is the lar ...

, a UK tobacco company, sued the company because of the use of the " Dunhill" name, forcing the company to rename itself DCC Compact Classics.

Dunhill label variations

*1965-1968—Black label with DUNHILL in white outline letters inside yellow frame *1968—Same as above, but with the "abc" logo added in front of the DUNHILL logo *1968-1969—Black label with 3-compartment multi-color box consisting of smaller DUNHILL logo (now in white letters inside white frame) in the left hand box and the white circular "abc" logo and "RECORDS" in the right hand boxes *1969-1973—Same as above, but with the multicolor "DUNHILL" and "abc RECORDS" boxes separated *1973-1974—Black label with DUNHILL spelled out in children's blocks (followed by a block with the "abc" logo) in white box (This variation only lasted a few months before the label was changed back to the multi-color box logo in which both the "one box" and "two box" variations were used) *1974-1975—Yellow, orange, red and purple label with "abc Dunhill" ("abc" circle logo in black) in between two black lines *White labels were used for most promotional issues.

Dunhill (ABC/Dunhill) Records artists

Ranji Colonel H. H. Shri Sir Ranjitsinhji Vibhaji II, Jam Saheb of Nawanagar, (10 September 1872 – 2 April 1933), often known as Ranji or K. S. Ranjitsinhji, was the ruler of the Indian princely state of Nawanagar from 1907 to 1933, as M ...

* Steve Allen *

Andwella Andwella were a Northern Irish psychedelic rock band formed in 1968, originally as The Method and later renamed Andwellas Dream. The trio were fronted by Dave Lewis (Guitar/keyboard/vocals), with Nigel Smith (bass/vocals) and Gordon Barton (drum ...

Attlee Clement Richard Attlee, 1st Earl Attlee, (3 January 18838 October 1967) was a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1945 to 1951 and Leader of the Labour Party (UK), Leader of the Labour Party from 1935 t ...

* Bangor Flying Circus * Birtha * Hal Blaine * Bobby Bland * The Brass Ring * Jimmy Buffett *The Bully Boys Band * Solomon Burke * Bush * Eddie Cano and His Quintet *

Carmen ''Carmen'' () is an opera in four acts by the French composer Georges Bizet. The libretto was written by Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy, based on the novella of the same title by Prosper Mérimée. The opera was first performed by the ...

Cashman & West Terry Cashman (born Dennis Minogue, July 5, 1941) is an American record producer and singer-songwriter, best known for his 1981 hit, " Talkin' Baseball". While the song is well recognized today and allowed Cashman the chance to meet the feature ...

Zach Clark Zachary Higgins Clark (born April 10, 1983) is an American former professional baseball player. He played in Major League Baseball for the Baltimore Orioles in 2013. Career Clark graduated from Newark High School in Newark, Delaware, in 2001. H ...

Colosseum The Colosseum ( ; it, Colosseo ) is an oval amphitheatre in the centre of the city of Rome, Italy, just east of the Roman Forum. It is the largest ancient amphitheatre ever built, and is still the largest standing amphitheatre in the world ...

* Danny Cox * Denny Doherty *

Cass Elliot Ellen Naomi Cohen (September 19, 1941 – July 29, 1974), known professionally as Mama Cass and later on as Cass Elliot, was an American singer and voice actress. She was a member of the singing group the Mamas & the Papas. After the group brok ...

*Mickie Finn * Four Tops * Ernie Freeman *Fresh Start * Giorgio *Gladstone *

Grapefruit The grapefruit (''Citrus'' × ''paradisi'') is a subtropical citrus tree known for its relatively large, sour to semi-sweet, somewhat bitter fruit. The interior flesh is segmented and varies in color from pale yellow to dark pink. Grapefruit ...

* The Grass Roots *

Hamilton, Joe Frank & Reynolds Hamilton, Joe Frank & Reynolds were a 1970s soft rock trio from Los Angeles. The original members were Dan Hamilton (guitar/lead vocal), Joe Frank Carollo (bass/vocal), and Tommy Reynolds (multi-instrumentalist/vocal), all of whom had previou ...

*The Happy Day Choir * Richard Harris * Roy Head *Headstone * The Hello People * Thelma Houston *Jamme * John Kay *

Thomas Jefferson Kaye Thomas Jefferson Kontos (1940 – September 16, 1994), better known as Thomas Jefferson Kaye, was an American record producer, singer-songwriter and musician. He collaborated with The Shirelles, Loudon Wainwright III, and Gene Clark, and also rec ...

* Andy Kim *

B. B. King Riley B. King (September 16, 1925 – May 14, 2015), known professionally as B.B. King, was an American blues singer-songwriter, guitarist, and record producer. He introduced a sophisticated style of soloing based on fluid string bending, shimm ...

& Bobby Bland * The Artie Kornfeld Tree *

Kracker Kracker were an American rock band active in the 1970s. Biography The band was originally formed in South Florida in 1970, but moved to Chicago in April 1971, where they were introduced to producer Jimmy Miller. With Miller, they recorded their ...

* Dennis Lambert *

The Lamp of Childhood The Lamp of Childhood was a short-lived American folk rock band formed in Los Angeles, California in 1966. The band released three singles which failed to chart and disbanded in 1967, but had several notable members. History The band was founded b ...

* Richard Landis * Locomotiv GT *

Magna Carta (Medieval Latin for "Great Charter of Freedoms"), commonly called (also ''Magna Charta''; "Great Charter"), is a royal charter of rights agreed to by King John of England at Runnymede, near Windsor, on 15 June 1215. First drafted by t ...

* The Mamas & the Papas * Kenneth Mars * Tony Martin *

Gayle McCormick Gayle McCormick (November 26, 1948 – March 1, 2016) was an American singer, best known for her work with the rock band Smith. She attended Pattonville High School in Maryland Heights, Missouri and sang high soprano with the Suburb Choir, a 150- ...

* Barry McGuire *

Mighty Clouds of Joy The Mighty Clouds of Joy are an American traditional gospel music quartet. Joe Ligon Bio: Willie Joe Ligon was born on October 11, 1936, and died on December 11, 2016 (80 years, 2 months). He dedicated his life to Jesus making many hit songs ...

* Mrs. Miller * Daniel Moore *Murphy's Law *Lady Nelson and the Lords *Noah *

Michael Omartian Michael Omartian (born November 26, 1945) is an American singer-songwriter, arranger, keyboardist, and music producer. He produced number-one records in three consecutive decades. He has earned 11 Grammy Awards nominations and won three. He spe ...

Pacific Gas & Electric The Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) is an American investor-owned utility (IOU). The company is headquartered in the Pacific Gas & Electric Building, in San Francisco, California. PG&E provides natural gas and electricity to 5.2 milli ...

* Freda Payne * John Phillips * Pratt & McClain * Jim Price *Pure Love & Pleasure * Genya Ravan *Rejoice! *Rincon Surfside Band * Emitt Rhodes *The Road Home *The Rock & Roll Revival *William St. James * Shango * Del Shannon *

P. F. Sloan Philip Gary "Flip" Sloan (born Philip Gary Schlein; September 18, 1945 – November 15, 2015), known professionally as P. F. Sloan, was an American singer and songwriter. During the mid-1960s, he wrote, performed, and produced many ''Billboar ...

* Smith *Sonoma (band) * Dusty Springfield *The Stapleton-Morley Expression * Steppenwolf * Alex Taylor * Three Dog Night * Three's a Crowd *

Tribe The term tribe is used in many different contexts to refer to a category of human social group. The predominant worldwide usage of the term in English is in the discipline of anthropology. This definition is contested, in part due to confl ...

*The Trousdale Strings and the Dawn Chorale * Van der Graaf Generator * The John Verity Band *Bengt Arne Wallin * Joe Walsh * Bobby Whitlock * Wings (1968 band) * Charles Wright

References

External links

The Dunhill Records Story

Profile of Dunhill Records at Discogs
{{Authority control American record labels Pop record labels Record labels based in California Defunct record labels of the United States Record labels established in 1964 Record labels disestablished in 1975 1975 disestablishments in California