SAM Records was a

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

-based independent

record company 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 produc ...

active between 1977–1983 and 1989–1991. The label was operated by Sam Weiss and

Daniel Glass Daniel Glass is an American music industry executive whose output has included work with artists Billy Idol, Wilson Phillips, Sinéad O'Connor, Jon Secada, Warren Zevon, Blur, Huey Lewis and the News, Goldfinger, Reel Big Fish, Erykah Badu ...

, who worked as a Vice President. In the late 1970s, Columbia, as a

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainmen ...

subsidiary, had a distribution deal with SAM for about 18 months. The most successful artists of SAM include

John Davis and the Monster Orchestra John Davis and the Monster Orchestra were an American disco band, noted for their lead member (John "the Monster" Davis), who lent his name to the band as well as producing all of their output. History The ensemble released its first album, ''N ...

, Glen Adams Affair,

Gary's Gang Gary's Gang was an American R&B/pop rock group best known for the U.S. hit " Keep on Dancin'", which reached #41 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 in 1978. The song also climbed to #8 in the UK Singles Chart, #14 on the Hot Soul Singles chart in 197 ...

and

Komiko Komiko was a short-lived electronic music studio group signed to SAM Records, an independent label in New York City. According to Allmusic, Carol Williams was once a member of this group but the vocals are attributed to unnamed female personnel, m ...

History

Founder's biography

SAM Records was founded in 1976 by Sam Weiss. He was born on September 19, 1926 in

Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern, and Southeast Europe, Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, S ...

and together with his brother

Hy Weiss Hyman Y. "Hy" Weiss (February 12, 1923 – March 20, 2007) was an American record producer of pop and rhythm and blues music in the 1950s and 1960s, and the founder of Old Town Records. Biography Born to a Jewish family in Cuca, Argeș County, ...

he became involved in record label business throughout the 1950s; the highlight of

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, Chica ...

and

rhythm and blues Rhythm and blues, frequently abbreviated as R&B or R'n'B, is a genre of popular music that originated in African-American communities in the 1940s. The term was originally used by record companies to describe recordings marketed predominantly ...

music. Somewhere around the year 1950, Weiss was accused of plagiarism over the parts of his song called " Sam's Song" he presumably copied from Elmer Albrecht's "Elmer's Tune". In the 1990s, Weiss helped his son, Mike Weiss, to found

Nervous Records Nervous Records is a UK rockabilly music independent record label. It was formed in 1979 by Roy Williams, a DJ on the UK rock'n'roll scene. Nervous Records is credited by many as the leading record label behind the emergence of the British neo ...

. SAM Records catalog was later brought into Nervous Records.

Description

In the late 1970s, Weiss jumped on the

disco Disco is a genre of dance music and a subculture that emerged in the 1970s from the United States' urban nightlife scene. Its sound is typified by four-on-the-floor beats, syncopated basslines, string sections, brass and horns, electric pia ...

bandwagon therefore SAM Records was born. Weiss hired his son-in-law

to run the label with him. Glass later joined

EMI Music 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 ...

and for record companies like

Chrysalis Records Chrysalis Records () is a British record label that was founded in 1968. The name is both a reference to the pupal stage of a butterfly and a combination of its founders' names, Chris Wright and Terry Ellis. It started as the Ellis-Wright Ag ...

and

EMI Records EMI Records (formerly EMI Records Ltd.) is a multinational record label owned by Universal Music Group. It originally founded as a British flagship label by the music company of the same name in 1972, and launched in January 1973 as the succ ...

. As of November 1980, the label mostly included dance music artists of different popular formats such as

, R&B and even

reggae Reggae () is a music genre that originated in Jamaica in the late 1960s. The term also denotes the modern popular music of Jamaica and its diaspora. A 1968 single by Toots and the Maytals, " Do the Reggay" was the first popular song to use ...

. Sam Records was technically a division of Win Records, Inc. which was headed by Sam Weiss.

Moderate success

During the late 1970s, SAM Records artists enjoyed some success especially on ''Billboard'' Disco charts. Artists that

crossed over ''Crossed Over'' is a 2002 Canadian television film directed by Bobby Roth, and starring Diane Keaton as Beverly Lowry and Jennifer Jason Leigh as Karla Faye Tucker. It is based on Lowry's memoir ''Crossed Over: A Murder, A Memoir''. Cast *Dia ...

to different charts mostly include

boogie Boogie is a repetitive, swung note or shuffle rhythm,Burrows, Terry (1995). ''Play Country Guitar'', p.42. Dorling Kindersley Limited, London. . "groove" or pattern used in blues which was originally played on the piano in boogie-woogie mus ...

dance Dance is a performing art form consisting of sequences of movement, either improvised or purposefully selected. This movement has aesthetic and often symbolic value. Dance can be categorized and described by its choreography, by its repertoir ...

compositions like "Don't Let Go of Me" (1982,

Mike & Brenda Sutton Mike & Brenda Sutton was an American musical duo composed of Michael B. Sutton and Brenda Sutton. The duo are best known for both their songwriting-production work at Motown and their own recordings in the early 1980s, including the dance song "Do ...

) peaked at #82 R&B, "Rock Shock" (1982, B.B.C.S. & A.) peaked at #82 R&B, and "Feel Alright" (1982,

) peaked at #83 R&B.

Selected discography

References

{{Authority control Defunct record labels of the United States Post-disco record labels House music record labels Record labels established in 1976 Record labels disestablished in 1991 1976 establishments in New York City