Quinton Mavis Claunch (December 3, 1921 – April 10, 2021) was an American musician, songwriter, record producer and record label owner, who was responsible with others for setting up Hi Records in the 1950s and

Goldwax Records Goldwax Records was an American record label founded in Memphis, Tennessee, United States, in 1964 by Quinton Claunch and Rudolph V. "Doc" Russell. History Claunch was a hardware store owner who had previously worked as a country music guitarist, a ...

in the 1960s.

Biography

He was born in Tishomingo, Mississippi, and moved in the early 1940s to

Muscle Shoals, Alabama Muscle Shoals is the largest city in Colbert County, Alabama, Colbert County, Alabama, United States. It is located along the Tennessee River in the northern part of the state and, as of the 2010 United States Census, 2010 census, the populati ...

. He played guitar in local

country music Country (also called country and western) is a genre of popular music that originated in the Southern and Southwestern United States in the early 1920s. It primarily derives from blues, church music such as Southern gospel and spirituals, ...

groups and in 1943 formed a band, the Blue Seal Pals, with Edgar Clayton; one of the other band members was Bill Cantrell. The group had a regular slot on

radio station Radio broadcasting is transmission of audio (sound), sometimes with related metadata, by radio waves to radio receivers belonging to a public audience. In terrestrial radio broadcasting the radio waves are broadcast by a land-based radio ...

WLAY in Muscle Shoals before moving to station

WJOI WJOI (1340 AM) is a commercial radio station in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. It is known on-air as "Joy 1340/98.7". WJOI is owned by the Milwaukee Radio Group subsidiary of Saga Communications, with radio studios and offices on Milwaukee's West Side ...

Florence Florence ( ; it, Firenze ) is a city in Central Italy and the capital city of the Tuscany region. It is the most populated city in Tuscany, with 383,083 inhabitants in 2016, and over 1,520,000 in its metropolitan area.Bilancio demografico an ...

and then to WSM in

Nashville Nashville is the capital city of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the seat of Davidson County. With a population of 689,447 at the 2020 U.S. census, Nashville is the most populous city in the state, 21st most-populous city in the U.S., and the ...

where they became a staple of the ''

Grand Ole Opry The ''Grand Ole Opry'' is a weekly American country music stage concert in Nashville, Tennessee, founded on November 28, 1925, by George D. Hay as a one-hour radio "barn dance" on WSM. Currently owned and operated by Opry Entertainment (a divis ...

''. After he married in 1948, Claunch moved to

Memphis, Tennessee Memphis is a city in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is the seat of Shelby County in the southwest part of the state; it is situated along the Mississippi River. With a population of 633,104 at the 2020 U.S. census, Memphis is the second-mos ...

, where he met up with old friend and former WLAY

disc jockey A disc jockey, more commonly abbreviated as DJ, is a person who plays recorded music for an audience. Types of DJs include Radio personality, radio DJs (who host programs on music radio stations), club DJs (who work at a nightclub or music f ...

Sam Phillips. Claunch played guitar on some early Sun recordings, by

Carl Perkins Carl Lee Perkins (April 9, 1932 – January 19, 1998)#nytimesobit, Pareles. was an American guitarist, singer and songwriter. A rockabilly great and pioneer of rock and roll, he began his recording career at the Sun Studio, in Memphis, Tennes ...

Charlie Feathers Charles Arthur Feathers (June 12, 1932 – August 29, 1998) was an American musician most associated with the rockabilly scene of the 1950s. Although not initially recognized for his contributions to rockabilly, over time his presence would bec ...

, Wanda Jackson and others, as well as establishing a hardware company. In 1954, with Cantrell, he wrote the song "Daydreamin'" for singer Bud Deckelman; the song became a national

country A country is a distinct part of the world, such as a state, nation, or other political entity. It may be a sovereign state or make up one part of a larger state. For example, the country of Japan is an independent, sovereign state, while the ...

hit for

Jimmy Newman Jimmy Yves Newman (August 29, 1927 – June 21, 2014), better known as Jimmy C. Newman (the C stands for Cajun), was an American country music and cajun singer-songwriter and long-time star of the Grand Ole Opry. Early life Newman was born ...

. John Broven, ''Record Makers and Breakers: Voices of the Independent Rock 'n' Roll Pioneers'', University of Illinois Press, 2009, p.159
/ref> He and Cantrell then decided to form their own record label, Hi Records, in 1957, with Ray Harris and Joe Cuoghi.Broven, 2009, p.520 Claunch was also responsible for record production, and for songwriting; in total, he is credited with over 200 original compositions at BMI, mostly in conjunction with other writers including George Jackson. After establishing Hi as a moderately successful local label, Claunch sold his interest in the company in 1959 and left the music industry, so as to develop his hardware business.Biography by Steve Kurutz at Allmusic.com
Retrieved 26 April 2013
Retrieved 26 April 2013 In 1964, he returned to the music business to establish, with partner Rudolph V. "Doc" Russell,

, a label specialising in Southern soul and

gospel music Gospel music is a traditional genre of Christian music, and a cornerstone of Christian media. The creation, performance, significance, and even the definition of gospel music varies according to culture and social context. Gospel music is com ...

. The company had a series of R&B hits, by James Carr,

The Ovations The Ovations were an American rhythm and blues vocal group who recorded in the 1960s and 1970s. Their biggest hit, a remake of Sam Cooke's "Having a Party", reached no.7 on the ''Billboard'' R&B chart in 1973. Biography The group was formed by M ...

Spencer Wiggins Spencer Wiggins (born January 8, 1942) is an American soul and gospel singer. He is an exponent of so-called "deep soul" and is considered one of the best kept secrets of soul music. Life Wiggins was born in Memphis, Tennessee, where he grew ...

and others. The label folded in 1969, due to differences between Claunch and Russell as well as Carr's erratic behaviour. In the mid 1980s, the company was re-launched by Memphis businessman Elliott Clark, and Claunch became its President, but he left again in the 1990s. Claunch died in Memphis, Tennessee, in April 2021 at the age of 99.Tony Burke, "Obituary: Quinton Claunch", ''Blues & Rhythm'', No.360, June 2021, p.13

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Claunch, Quinton 1921 births 2021 deaths American music industry executives People from Tishomingo County, Mississippi Record producers from Mississippi