Original Sound is a
Los Angeles, California
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 worl ...
-based
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 prod ...
. It was founded in the early 1950s by
KPOP deejay
A disc jockey, more commonly abbreviated as DJ, is a person who plays recorded music for an audience. Types of DJs include radio DJs (who host programs on music radio stations), club DJs (who work at a nightclub or music festival), mobile D ...
Art Laboe
Art Laboe (born Arthur Egnoian; August 7, 1925 – October 7, 2022) was an American disc jockey, songwriter, record producer, and radio station owner. He was generally credited with coining the term "Oldies but Goodies".
Early life and educatio ...
. It began as a small label that specialized in compiling and re-releasing "
oldies
Oldies is a term for musical genres such as pop music, rock and roll, doo-wop, surf music (broadly characterized as classic rock and pop rock) from the second half of the 20th century, specifically from around the mid-1950s to the 1980s, as we ...
"
R&B and
rock 'n' roll
Rock and roll (often written as rock & roll, rock 'n' roll, or rock 'n roll) is a genre of popular music that evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s. It originated from African-American music such as jazz, rhyth ...
songs.
History
The label pioneered the concept of reissuing older pop and rock hits, and sold millions of records on his ''Oldies But Goodies'' compilation albums, several of which made the national ''
Billboard
A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...
'' album charts. All 15 volumes of this series were later reissued on a best-selling
CD series in the 1980s and 1990s, although track listings on each CD volume varied widely from the original LP issues with identical numbers, and some volumes contained none of the same songs as their original issues. Later on, the Double Shot Records catalog got bought out by Original Sound
in ca. 1972.
The label's biggest self-recorded hit as a single was "Teen Beat" by drummer
Sandy Nelson
Sander Lloyd Nelson (December 1, 1938 – February 14, 2022) was an American drummer. Nelson, one of the best-known rock and modern jazz drummers of the late 1950s and early 1960s, had several solo instrumental Top 40 hits and released over 30 ...
, reaching number four on ''Billboard'' in 1959. Other successful Original Sound artists included:
*
Preston Epps ("Bongo Rock" and "Bongo, Bongo, Bongo")
*
The Music Machine
The Music Machine was an American rock band formed in Los Angeles, California in 1966. Fronted by chief songwriter and lead vocalist Sean Bonniwell, the band cultivated a characteristically dark and rebellious image reflected in an untamed mu ...
("
Talk Talk
Talk Talk were an English band formed in 1981, led by Mark Hollis (vocals, guitar, piano), Lee Harris (drums), and Paul Webb (bass). The group achieved early chart success with the synth-pop singles " Talk Talk" (1982), " It's My Life", and ...
" and "
The People In Me")
*
Dyke & the Blazers
Dyke and the Blazers was an American funk band led by Arlester Christian. The band was formed in 1965, and recorded up until Christian's death in 1971. Among their most successful records were the original version of "Funky Broadway" (1966) and " ...
("Funky Broadway")
*
Bobby Mac ("Walkin' Together" b/w "Keep On", OS-68)
The first few "Oldies But Goodies" LPs were hugely successful (Volume 1 reached #12 on the Billboard Album charts and stayed on the chart for 183 weeks). Their success influenced other labels to put out compilations of their hits and near-hits, as well as helped validate the standing of songs like
The Five Satins
The Five Satins are an American doo-wop group, best known for their 1956 million-selling song, " In the Still of the Night." They were formed in 1954 and continued performing until 1994. When it was formed, the group consisted of six members, wh ...
' "In the Still of the Night", which only reached #24 on the pop charts in 1956.
See also
*
List of record labels
File:Alvinoreyguitarboogie.jpg
File:AmMusicBunk78.jpg
File:Bingola1011b.jpg
Lists of record labels cover record labels, brands or trademarks associated with marketing of music recordings and music videos. The lists are organized alphabetically, b ...
*
Doo wop
Doo-wop (also spelled doowop and doo wop) is a genre of rhythm and blues music that originated in African-American communities during the 1940s, mainly in the large cities of the United States, including New York, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Chic ...
*
Rockabilly
Rockabilly is one of the earliest styles of rock and roll music. It dates back to the early 1950s in the United States, especially the South. As a genre it blends the sound of Western musical styles such as country with that of rhythm and blu ...
References
External Links
*
American record labels
Rhythm and blues record labels
Reissue record labels
{{US-record-label-stub