Total Experience Records was a record label founded by

Lonnie Simmons Lonnie Simmons (December 12, 1944 - February 6, 2019) was an American record producer from Los Angeles, California. He was founder and president of the now-defunct Total Experience Records. As a composer, he co-wrote several #1 R&B songs for his ...

. Its two major acts were

The Gap Band The Gap Band was an American R&B and funk band that rose to fame during the 1970s and 1980s. The band consisted of three brothers: Charlie, Ronnie, and Robert Wilson, along with other members; it was named after streets (Greenwood, Archer, and ...

and Yarbrough & Peoples. It originally began in 1977 as a production company whose albums were released by

Mercury Records Mercury Records is an American record label owned by Universal Music Group. It had significant success as an independent operation in the 1940s and 1950s. Smash Records and Fontana Records were sub labels of Mercury. In the United States, it i ...

before becoming a label in 1981. From its inception in 1981 to late 1983, Total Experience was a subsidiary label of Mercury's parent company, PolyGram. In 1984, the label changed its distribution from PolyGram to RCA Records.

History

In the

1970s File:1970s decade montage.jpg, Clockwise from top left: U.S. President Richard Nixon doing the V for Victory sign after his resignation from office following the Watergate scandal in 1974; The United States was still involved in the Vietnam War ...

operated a club on Crenshaw Boulvevard in South Central Los Angeles called ''The Total Experience'', similar to the West-Hollywood Roxy Theatre. Eventually he invested in a recording studio by purchasing the property previously occupied by Sound Recorders Studios on the corner of Yucca St. and Argyle Ave. in Hollywood. Simmons then launched his production company, and met the Gap Band through a friend, singer D. J. Rogers. He then had the idea to reduce the official lineup of the group from twelve members to its sibling trio of Ronnie, Charlie and Robert Wilson. After signing the Gap Band to Total Experience Productions, and securing the production company a label deal with Mercury Records in late 1978, Simmons himself personally produced the Gap Band's albums during their tenure, and co-wrote their breakthrough song, "

Oops Up Side Your Head "I Don't Believe You Want to Get Up and Dance (Oops!)" (re-titled "Oops Up Side Your Head" on the single as well as being known by other titles such as "Oops Upside Your Head") is a 1979 song recorded by the R&B group the Gap Band. Released off the ...

". While in Texas in 1977, Gap Band leader Charlie Wilson discovered Alisa Peoples & Calvin Yarbrough, who were performing as part of the band, Grand Theft. Charlie convinced Lonnie to give the couple a chance, which paid off in 1980, when they released the song " Don't Stop the Music", which topped the R&B charts. This was immediately following the Gap Band #1 R&B song "

Burn Rubber on Me (Why You Wanna Hurt Me) "Burn Rubber on Me (Why You Wanna Hurt Me)" is a song originally performed by The Gap Band in 1980 and written by member Charlie Wilson, Rudy Taylor, and producer Lonnie Simmons. Background The song's lyrics refer to abandonment by a lover. The ...

". Both of those albums went

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, and two of the Gap Band's albums went

platinum Platinum is a chemical element with the symbol Pt and atomic number 78. It is a dense, malleable, ductile, highly unreactive, precious, silverish-white transition metal. Its name originates from Spanish , a diminutive of "silver". Pla ...

. The first three Simmons-produced Gap Band albums, as well as Yarbrough and Peoples debut album ''

The Two of Us ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...

'' were successful enough to give Simmons credibility to establish the production company as a full label, and he officially launched Total Experience Records in 1981.

Gap Band IV ''Gap Band IV'' is the sixth album (contrary to the title) by The Gap Band, released in 1982 on Total Experience Records. The album reached #1 on the Black Albums chart and #14 on the Pop Albums chart, achieved platinum status, and is consider ...

, released in early 1982, was the first Total Experience album release. The success of Gap Band IV, Robert "Goodie" Whitfield's debut album '' Call Me Goodie'' (also released in 1982), 1983's '' Gap Band V: Jammin''' and Yarbrough and Peoples' ''Heartbeats'' resulted in a lucrative distribution deal with

RCA Records RCA Records is an American record label currently owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America. It is one of Sony Music's four flagship labels, alongside RCA's former long-time rival Columbia Records; also A ...

in early 1984. At the tail-end of 1984, ''A Total Experience Christmas'' was released, featuring songs by five of the label's acts, as well as two of the label's writers.''A Total Experience Christmas'' a
Discogs
/ref> Even though the Gap Band and Yarbrough & Peoples still had high charting records through the mid-80s, the successes were ephemeral and they resulted in far fewer sales. Lonnie signed a plethora of new acts in 1984-85 and two established acts:

Switch In electrical engineering, a switch is an electrical component that can disconnect or connect the conducting path in an electrical circuit, interrupting the electric current or diverting it from one conductor to another. The most common type of ...

and

Billy Paul Paul Williams (December 1, 1934 – April 24, 2016), known professionally as Billy Paul, was a Grammy Award-winning American soul singer, known for his 1972 No. 1 single "Me and Mrs. Jones", as well as the 1973 album and single '' War of the Go ...

. None of these acts managed to have any success with Total Experience. The Gap Band released 4 albums: '' Gap Band VI'', '' Gap Band VII'', '' Gap Band 8'', and '' Straight from the Heart'' before moving on to Capitol Records in 1989. Yarbrough and Peoples left the label in 1986, and moved back to Texas, where they married in 1987. In 1987 Total Experience ended its distribution deal with RCA and carried on as an independent label, faltering soon after. The label's post 1984 holdings now belong to Minder Music, while its PolyGram-distributed holdings, and the complete catalogues of Yarbrough & Peoples and the Gap Band belong to

Universal Music Enterprises Universal Music Enterprises (UME, stylized as UMe) is the catalogue division of Universal Music Group. It includes Hip-O Records, Universal Chronicles, and UM3 or UMC (which is the international division of the company). Under various divisions, ...

Personnel

ActsDiscogs Page
/ref>

* Bernie Hamilton & the Inculcation Band (1985) s * Billy & Baby Gap (1985) s *

s * Eddie "E.T." Towns (1985) s *

(1977–1988) m * Robert "Goodie" Whitfield (1982–1985) m * Pattie Howard (1985) s * Pennye Ford (1984) s * Prime Time (1984) m *

Prophet In religion, a prophet or prophetess is an individual who is regarded as being in contact with a divine being and is said to speak on behalf of that being, serving as an intermediary with humanity by delivering messages or teachings from the s ...

(1985) s * Sparkle s *

(1984) s * Will King (1985) s *

Yarbrough and Peoples Yarbrough and Peoples were an American urban contemporary duo from Dallas, Texas, United States. The duo’s biggest-selling release was " Don't Stop the Music," a US '' Billboard'' R&B chart topper in 1981. Career Cavin Leon Yarbrough (bo ...

(1980–1985) m An m indicates the group released multiple full-length albums on Total Experience.
An s indicates the performer either only released one full-length album on Total Experience, or released multiple singles and no album at all. Alisa Peoples 1983

Key Producers

*Jonah Ellis p *

*Oliver Scott p *Suha Gur

Key Writers

* Charlie Wilson p *Jonah Ellis p *Lonnie Simmons *Malvin Vice *Oliver Scott p *Raymond Calhoun *Robert Wilson p *Ronnie Wilson p *Rudolph Taylor *Greg C Jackson p A p indicates a writer/producer who also performed at least one song on the label.

References

{{Authority control American record labels Soul music record labels Rhythm and blues record labels Record labels established in 1977