Spring Records was an American

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 produ ...

established in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

in 1967. It was formed out of an artist and production management company set up earlier by Bill Spitalsky, Roy Rifkind and Julie Rifkind. The label name came from their surnames, "Sp" for Spitalsky and "ri" for Rifkind. "Record Industry Veteran Bill Spitalsky Dead At 73", ''Encore'', 17 July 2006
Retrieved 14 February 2014 It was associated with the

Polydor Polydor Records Ltd. is a German-British record label that operates as part of Universal Music Group. It has a close relationship with Universal's Interscope Geffen A&M Records label, which distributes Polydor's releases in the United States. ...

group. Spring Records at Seventies Sevens
Retrieved 14 February 2014 It primarily released

soul In many religious and philosophical traditions, there is a belief that a soul is "the immaterial aspect or essence of a human being". Etymology The Modern English noun ''soul'' is derived from Old English ''sāwol, sāwel''. The earliest attes ...

and

funk Funk is a music genre that originated in African American communities in the mid-1960s when musicians created a rhythmic, danceable new form of music through a mixture of various music genres that were popular among African Americans in the m ...

music, ''The Spring Story'', Ace Records
Retrieved 14 February 2014 and was described as "one of the most important soul labels of the 1970s". Initial recordings were distributed through MGM Records, but it was later associated with the

group, which handled distribution and marketing. The label released successful recordings once it got into its stride in 1970, mainly by

Millie Jackson Mildred Virginia Jackson (born July 15, 1944) is an American Rhythm and blues, R&B and Soul music, soul recording artist. Beginning her career in the early 1960s, three of Jackson's albums have been certified Music recording certification, gold ...

Joe Simon Joseph Henry Simon (October 11, 1913 – December 14, 2011) was an American comic book writer, artist, editor, and publisher. Simon created or co-created many important characters in the 1930s–1940s Golden Age of Comic Books and served as the ...

, and The Fatback Band, as well as

Jocelyn Brown Jocelyn Lorette Brown (born November 25, 1950), sometimes credited as Jocelyn Shaw, is an American R&B and dance singer. Although she has only one ''Billboard'' Hot 100 chart entry solely in her name, she has an extensive background in the musi ...

Garland Green Garland Green (born Garfield Green Jr., June 14, 1942) is an American soul singer and pianist. Biography Born in Dunleith, Mississippi, United States, Green was the tenth child of eleven in his family. He lived in Mississippi until 1958 when ...

, and Paul Evans. ''The Soul of Spring Vol.2'', Ace Records
Retrieved 14 February 2014 It also started two subsidiary labels, Event and Posse. Spring's in-house producer for a large part of the 1970s was Raeford Gerald, who worked with both Jackson and Simon, but the label also used other producers, such as Brad Shapiro (for Millie Jackson), John Richbourg (for Joe Simon) and The Fatback Band handled their own production. Spring ended its association with Polydor, by then known as

PolyGram PolyGram N.V. was a multinational entertainment company and major music record label formerly based in the Netherlands. It was founded in 1962 as the Grammophon-Philips Group by Dutch corporation Philips and German corporation Siemens, to be a ...

, in 1983, but continued as an independent label for some years, mainly releasing disco tracks. The major selling acts of the 1970s by then had left the label. The company was formally wound up in 1993. Jules Rifkind is the father of Steve Rifkind, founder of

Loud Records Loud Records, LLC. is a record label founded by Steve Rifkind and Rich Isaacson in 1991. Loud is a hip hop label that released material by acts such as Wu-Tang Clan, Big Pun, Mobb Deep, Krayzie Bone, The Beatnuts, M.O.P., Tha Alkaholiks, Pete ...

. Roy Rifkind is the father of Randy and Jaimison Roberts. Randy was the drummer and a founding member of the Buchanan Brothers, who briefly toured with

The Beach Boys The Beach Boys are an American Rock music, rock band that formed in Hawthorne, California, in 1961. The group's original lineup consisted of brothers Brian Wilson, Brian, Dennis Wilson, Dennis, and Carl Wilson, their cousin Mike Love, and frie ...

. Roberts went on to be a prominent music attorney.

References

External links

Spring Records discography

Dick Nusser, "Spring Flows On 3 Acts With Desire For Personal Services"
''

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 advertise ...

'', 25 March 1978, p. 18 Mass media companies based in New York City New York (state) record labels Soul music record labels {{US-record-label-stub