Total Experience Records was a record label founded by Lonnie Simmons. Its two major acts were The Gap Band and Yarbrough & Peoples. It originally began in 1977 as a production company whose albums were released by Mercury Records 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 i ...

, Lonnie Simmons operated a club on Crenshaw Boulvevard in South Central Los Angeles called ''The Total Experience'', similar to the West-Hollywood

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. 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 DeWayne Julius Rogers (May 9, 1948 – August 22, 2020) was an American singer, songwriter, record producer, and multi-instrumentalist. He was best known for the tender acoustic piano-based ballad "Say You Love Me", a charting single from his 19 ...

. 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". While in Texas in 1977, Gap Band leader

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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)". Both of those albums went gold, and two of the Gap Band's albums went platinum. The first three Simmons-produced Gap Band albums, as well as Yarbrough and Peoples debut album ''

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'' 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, 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 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 and Billy Paul. None of these acts managed to have any success with Total Experience. The Gap Band released 4 albums: ''

Gap Band VI ''Gap Band VI'' is the eighth album (contrary to the title) by the Gap Band, released in 1984 on Total Experience Records. It was originally intended to be lead singer Charlie Wilson's first solo album, and the first Gap Band album released unde ...

'', ''

Gap Band VII ''Gap Band VII'' is the ninth album by the Gap Band, released in 1985 on Total Experience Records. The album includes the single from original Jerry Peters's song " Going in Circles". As AllMusic's Amy Hanson said in her review of the album, ...

'', ''

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'', and '' Straight from the Heart'' before moving on to

Capitol Records Capitol Records, LLC (known legally as Capitol Records, Inc. until 2007) is an American record label distributed by Universal Music Group through its Capitol Music Group imprint. It was founded as the first West Coast-based record label of note ...

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.

Personnel

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& the Inculcation Band (1985) s * Billy & Baby Gap (1985) s * Billy Paul s * Eddie "E.T." Towns (1985) s * The Gap Band (1977–1988) m * Robert "Goodie" Whitfield (1982–1985) m * Pattie Howard (1985) s * Pennye Ford (1984) s *

Prime Time Prime time or the peak time is the block of broadcast programming taking place during the middle of the evening for a television show. It is mostly targeted towards adults (and sometimes families). It is used by the major television networks to ...

(1984) m * Prophet (1985) s * Sparkle s * Switch (1984) s * Will King (1985) s * Yarbrough and Peoples (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 * Lonnie Simmons *Oliver Scott p *Suha Gur

Key Writers

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