Valiant Records was an independent record label distributed in the 1960s by

Warner Bros. Records Warner Records Inc. (formerly Warner Bros. Records Inc.) is an American record label. A subsidiary of the Warner Music Group, it is headquartered in Los Angeles, California. It was founded on March 19, 1958, as the recorded music division of the ...

(and briefly by

Four Star Television Four Star Television, also called Four Star International, was an American television production company. Founded in 1952 as Four Star Productions by prominent Hollywood actors Dick Powell, David Niven, Charles Boyer, and Joel McCrea, it was insp ...

). The label was sold to Warner Bros. in

1967 Events January * January 1 – Canada begins a year-long celebration of the 100th anniversary of Confederation, featuring the Expo 67 World's Fair. * January 5 ** Spain and Romania sign an agreement in Paris, establishing full consular and ...

History

Valiant Records was formed in

1960 It is also known as the "Year of Africa" because of major events—particularly the independence of seventeen African nations—that focused global attention on the continent and intensified feelings of Pan-Africanism. Events January * Ja ...

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

, by singer−songwriter

Barry De Vorzon Barry De Vorzon (born July 31, 1934) is an American singer, songwriter, producer, and composer. His earliest hit compositions were "Just Married" (1958), written with Al Allen and recorded by Marty Robbins, which reached number 26 on ''Billboar ...

and manager Billy Sherman. Valiant charted with its first release, " Angel On My Shoulder" recorded by

Shelby Flint Shelby Flint (born September 17, 1939) is an American singer-songwriter who had two top-100 hits, " Angel on My Shoulder" in 1961 and "Cast Your Fate to the Wind" in 1966. Career Flint's single "I Will Love You" appeared in the Variety T.I.P.S ...

. De Vorzon's own group, Barry and the Tamerlanes, hit in 1963 with "I Wonder What She's Doin' Tonight." Flint scored again in 1966 with a soft vocal version of " Cast Your Fate To The Wind." In 1966 De Vorzon rescued folk-rockers

The Association The Association is an American sunshine pop band from California. During the late 1960s, the band had numerous hits at or near the top of the ''Billboard'' charts (including " Windy", " Cherish", " Never My Love" and "Along Comes Mary") and ...

from their obscurity at

Jubilee Records Jubilee Records was an American independent record label, specializing in rhythm and blues and novelty records. It was founded in New York City in 1946 by Herb Abramson. His partner was Jerry Blaine. Blaine bought Abramson's half of the compan ...

. They debuted on Valiant (which had just ended a brief distribution stint with Four Star Television, the distributor of such shows as '' Burke's Law'' and ''

Honey West Honey West is a fictional character created by the husband and wife writing team Gloria and Forest Fickling under the pseudonym "G.G. Fickling", and appearing in eleven mystery novels by the duo. The character is notable as being one of the firs ...

'') with a non-charting version of "One Too Many Mornings." The next single records — "

Along Comes Mary "Along Comes Mary" is a song composed by Tandyn Almer, originally recorded by American sunshine pop band the Association. It was the group's first hit, released on their debut album, '' And Then... Along Comes the Association'' (1966). Backgr ...

," " Cherish," "Pandora's Golden Heebie Jeebies," and "No Fair At All" — helped establish The Association as one of the premier

Sunshine Pop Sunshine pop (originally known as soft pop) is a subgenre of pop music that originated in Southern California in the mid-1960s. Rooted in easy listening and advertising jingles, sunshine pop acts combined nostalgic or anxious moods with "an appre ...

groups of the '60s.

Demise

, after a little over 110 singles and 11 albums (seven under Warner Bros. and four under Four Star/independent distribution), the Valiant Records label itself ceased to exist and was folded into Warner Bros. Records. Its output remains desirable to collectors, with the early years featuring a string of obscure but worthwhile white pop titles, and the later years an intriguing mix of slick Southern California psych and pop.

Label variations

Singles

*1960-1966 (Warner Bros. distribution) — Purple labels with silver print *1966 (Four Star Television distribution) — Red label with black shield logo and "A SUBSIDIARY OF FOUR STAR TELEVISION" at the bottom perimeter of the label in either small or large letters *1966-1967 (Independent distribution) -- Same as above but with either the Four Star byline covered by a black bar or removed altogether

Albums

*1960-1966 (Warner Bros. distribution) -- Purple or red labels with silver print *1966 (Four Star distribution—VLM 5001/VLS 25001 only) -- Red label with black shield and white knight head logos and "A SUBSIDIARY OF FOUR STAR TELEVISION" in small letters at the bottom perimeter of the label *1966-1967 (Independent distribution) -- Same as above but with either the Four Star byline covered by a black bar or removed altogether

Numbering series

On a collectors note, Valiant singles sported three separate numbering series. The very first Valiant release bore the catalog number 45-111. But that record, "Angel On My Shoulder" by Shelby Flint became too big a hit for the new label to handle so Warner Bros. Records picked it up with a new catalog number, 6001. For Warner distributed singles, the 6000 series (6001–6062) ran from 1960 to 1966, followed by the 700 series (700-739 under Four Star Television, 740-762 as an independent label) from 1966–1967. Some numbers from 6002 to 6013 were shared with Montclare Records, a very short-lived Warner subsidiary, as well as several one-shot labels such as Elloma and Burbank. The first five numbers of the Four Star series (701-705) were reissues of the most popular singles of the 6000 series. Six catalog numbers from the second series were unused: 706, 707, 708, 710, 722, and 746. Albums were also given different numbering sets. The seven albums distributed by Warner Bros. were numbered from W/WS 401–407, the four albums under Four Star/independent were issued VLM 5001–5004 for mono, VLS 25001–25004 for stereo. Warner Bros. reissued the Four Star/independent albums using numbers W (mono)/WS (stereo) 1701–1704 in alignment with the original issues.

Valiant Records artists

The Addrisi Brothers The Addrisi Brothers were an American pop duo from Winthrop, Massachusetts. The brothers themselves were Donald "Don" Addrisi (December 14, 1938 – ) and Richard "Dick" Addrisi (born ). Biography Both Don and Dick played parts in their famil ...

* Barry & the Tamerlanes * Perry Botkin, Jr. *

Charles Boyer Charles Boyer (; 28 August 1899 – 26 August 1978) was a French-American actor who appeared in more than 80 films between 1920 and 1976. After receiving an education in drama, Boyer started on the stage, but he found his success in American fi ...

* J.J. Cale * The Cascades * The Collectors * Danny & The Memories *

* The Grads *Art Guy *

The Hollyhill Singers ''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 ...

* Dean Jones *The Lost Ones *

Denny Provisor Dennis Provisor (born November 9, 1943) is an American musician and songwriter. He recorded on several different labels, including 20th Century Fox and Valiant, under the name of Denny Provisor. He released some soulful singles as a solo artist. ...

(''Dennis Provisor of

The Grass Roots The Grass Roots are an American rock band that charted frequently between 1965 and 1975. The band was originally the creation of Lou Adler and songwriting duo P. F. Sloan and Steve Barri. In their career, they achieved two gold albums, two ...

'') *

The Silvertones The Silvertones (who also recorded as The Valentines, The Gold Tones, The Admirals and The Muskyteers) are a Jamaican reggae harmony group formed in 1964, best known for their recordings for Lee "Scratch" Perry in the early 1970s. In 1964 thre ...

*Singers, Inc. *

Corey Wells & The Enemys Cory Wells & The Enemys are best remembered as a group fronted by Cory Wells before he joined up with Danny Hutton and Chuck Negron to form Three Dog Night. Origins The story of The Enemys begins in Buffalo, New York in the mid-1960s, when vocali ...

Unrelated labels also called Valiant

In 1960, record label owner Joe Banashak started a New Orleans-based Valiant label, but threats of a lawsuit by Warner Bros. prompted Banashak to rename the label

Instant Records Instant Records was an American independent record label based in New Orleans, Louisiana, United States, which was founded in 1961 by Joe Banashak (owner of Minit Records) and Irvin Smith. It was originally called Valiant Records until another Va ...

in 1961. Valiant Records was also the name of an unrelated label headquartered variously in Swarthmore, PA and Bronx, NY, that re-released some albums originally issued on the

Somerset Records David Leonard Miller (July 4, 1925May 24, 1985) was an American record producer and the founder of many budget album record companies. Miller is more familiar to some record buyers and collectors as the notorious Leo Muller who produced many Ex ...

label, largely for inexpensive supermarket and variety store distribution.Valiant Album Discography (Somerset)
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