FiFo Records was an American record label established by singer-songwriters
Bob Markley and
Baker Knight
Thomas Baker Knight Jr. (July 4, 1933 – October 12, 2005) was an American songwriter and musician. His best known compositions were "Lonesome Town", "The Wonder of You", and " Don't the Girls All Get Prettier at Closing Time". His songs have ...
in Los Angeles, California, in 1961. Following Markley's unsuccessful stint with
Warner Bros. Records
Warner Records Inc. (formerly Warner Bros. Records Inc.) is an American record label. A subsidiary of the Warner Music Group, it is headquartered in Los Angeles, California. It was founded on March 19, 1958, as the recorded music division of the ...
as a solo artist, he teamed up with Knight, a co-writer on both of Markley's two singles, to found the label, which recorded a variety of pop,
R&B, and
folk
Folk or Folks may refer to:
Sociology
*Nation
*People
* Folklore
** Folk art
** Folk dance
** Folk hero
** Folk music
*** Folk metal
*** Folk punk
*** Folk rock
** Folk religion
* Folk taxonomy
Arts, entertainment, and media
* Folk Plus or Fo ...
musical acts. FiFo is best-known, however, as the label that released the debut album by the
psychedelic rock group
the West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band
The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band (WCPAEB) was an American psychedelic rock band formed in Los Angeles, California in 1965. The group created music that possessed an eerie, and at times sinister atmosphere, and contained material that was ...
(The WCPAEB) in 1966.
All the recordings issued on FiFo were licensed through RHM (Robert H. Markley) Publishing. Aside from the WCPAEB, another notable artist on the label was
Sonny Knight
Joseph Coleman Smith (May 17, 1934 – September 5, 1998), who performed and recorded under the name Sonny Knight, was an American singer, songwriter and author. His biggest hit was "Confidential", which reached the pop and R&B charts in 1956, a ...
, a seasoned musician who had a national hit in 1956 with "Confidential". Although not particularly successful, the
doo wop group the Triangles recorded the single "My Oh My", which has become a valuable collector's item that sells for as much as $700. Markley produced all the sessions, provided his "trademark"
bongos
Bongos ( es, bongó) are an Afro-Cuban percussion instrument consisting of a pair of small open bottomed hand drums of different sizes. They are struck with both hands, most commonly in an eight-stroke pattern called ''martillo'' (hammer). The ...
, and carries a writing credit for all the singles released (often in collaboration with Baker Knight).
The label is well-known among WCPAEB followers for distributing the band's debut album '' Volume One'' in 1966. Recorded mostly before Markley was a band member, the album consists of a handful of cover version
In popular music, a cover version, cover song, remake, revival, or simply cover, is a new performance or recording by a musician other than the original performer or composer of the song. Originally, it referred to a version of a song release ...
s of popular songs and some original material by the Laughing Wind, the group that developed into the WCPAEB. The "FiFo fan" imprinted on some of the releases was a caricature of Markley that was later revived for the compilation album ''The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band Companion
''The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band Companion'' (sometimes known simply as ''Companion'') is a compilation album by the American psychedelic rock band the West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band (WCPAEB), and was released on Sunbeam Records ...
'' in 2011.
References
{{Authority control
Record labels established in 1961
Record labels based in California