Dial Records was a

Nashville Nashville is the capital city of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the seat of Davidson County. With a population of 689,447 at the 2020 U.S. census, Nashville is the most populous city in the state, 21st most-populous city in the U.S., and the ...

-based soul label established by music promoter, publisher and producer

Buddy Killen William Doyce “Buddy” Killen (November 13, 1932 – November 1, 2006) was an American record producer and music publisher, and a former owner of Trinity Broadcasting Network and Tree International Publishing, the largest country music p ...

in 1961.

History

Dial Records was formed specifically so Buddy Killen could record perhaps his best-known discovery,

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 ...

singer

Joe Tex Yusuf Hazziez (born Joseph Arrington Jr.; August 8, 1935 – August 13, 1982), known professionally as Joe Tex, was an American singer and musician who gained success in the 1960s and 1970s with his brand of Southern soul, which mixed the style ...

. After a few tries and misses, Tex came up with a song called "

Hold What You've Got "Hold What You've Got" is a 1964 single by Joe Tex Yusuf Hazziez (born Joseph Arrington Jr.; August 8, 1935 – August 13, 1982), known professionally as Joe Tex, was an American singer and musician who gained success in the 1960s and 1970s w ...

", a 1964 ballad that bridged traditional

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 ...

with the emerging Southern soul style and also pointed toward a future of

rap Rapping (also rhyming, spitting, emceeing or MCing) is a musical form of vocal delivery that incorporates "rhyme, rhythmic speech, and street vernacular". It is performed or chanted, usually over a backing beat or musical accompaniment. The ...

thanks to Tex's spoken, almost testifying homily midway through the song. (Tex, in fact, was actually nicknamed "The Rapper" in these years.") "Hold What You've Got" got Killen's Dial label a distribution deal with

Atlantic Records Atlantic Recording Corporation (simply known as Atlantic Records) is an American record label founded in October 1947 by Ahmet Ertegun and Herb Abramson. Over its first 20 years of operation, Atlantic earned a reputation as one of the most i ...

. Joe Tex was the anchor star of this Dial label (he rolled up almost thirty soul hits, some of which hit the pop charts, especially "Skinny Legs and All" and "I Gotcha") until he all but retired from music in the 1970s and died of a heart attack at age 49. Dial had a few distributors over the years including

London Records London Recordings (or London Records and London Music Stream) is a British record label that marketed records in the United States, Canada, and Latin America for Decca Records from 1947 to 1980 before becoming semi-independent. The London nam ...

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 is ...

Epic Records Epic Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America Sony Corporation of America (SONAM, also known as SCA), is the American arm of the Japanese conglomerate Sony Group ...

and T.K. Records. Killen shut down the label in 1979 to concentrate on his other music interests. He owned

Tree International Publishing {{Short description, American music publishing company Tree International Publishing was a major music publisher, based in Nashville. As the last major music publisher that was owned and operated in Nashville, it was sold to the Sony Music, CBS Rec ...

Sony/ATV Music Publishing Sony Music Publishing (formerly Sony/ATV Music Publishing) is the largest music publisher in the world, with over five million songs owned or administered as of end March 2021. US-based, it is part of the Sony Music Group, which is itself owned ...

owns the Dial Records catalogue today.

Artists

Bobby Marchan Bobby Marchan (born Oscar James Gibson, April 30, 1930 – December 5, 1999) was an American rhythm and blues singer, songwriter, recording artist, bandleader, MC, and female impersonator. He was the key singer in the early lineup of Huey "Piano ...

* Clarence Reid * Paul Kelly * Chris Harris & The Soul Agents *

Clarence "Frogman" Henry Clarence Henry II (born March 19, 1937), known as Clarence "Frogman" Henry, is an American rhythm and blues singer and pianist, best known for his hits " Ain't Got No Home" (1956) and " (I Don't Know Why) But I Do" (1961). Career Clarence Henry ...

Gunilla Hutton Gunilla Hutton (born May 15, 1944) is a Swedish-born American actress and singer, perhaps best known for her roles as the second Billie Jo Bradley (1965–1966) on ''Petticoat Junction'' and as a regular cast member in the television series ''He ...

* Frederick Knight *

Annette Snell Annette Snell (March 22, 1945 – April 4, 1977) was an American rhythm and blues singer who recorded in the 1960s and 1970s. She died in the Southern Airways Flight 242 crash. Biography She was born Annetta Snell in Sandersville, Georgia, a ...

King Floyd King Floyd (February 13, 1945 – March 6, 2006) was a New Orleans soul singer and songwriter, best known for his top 10 hit from 1970, " Groove Me". Early career King Floyd III was born in New Orleans in 1945. His musical career started as a ...

Jean Knight Jean Knight (née Caliste; born January 26, 1943)Official records state that Jean Caliste, aged 16, married in June 1954, indicating a birth year of 1938. is an American R&B and soul singer from New Orleans, Louisiana. Launching her profession ...

Little Archie ''Little Archie'' is a comic book published by Archie Comics from 1956 to 1983, lasting 180 issues. ''Little Archie'' #1 is considered to be "scarce" by the ''Overstreet Comic Book Price Guide'' (only 20-100 copies exist). Beginnings According t ...

Len Wade Len or LEN may refer to: People and fictional characters * Len (given name), a list of people and fictional characters * Lén, a character from Irish mythology * Alex Len (born 1993), Ukrainian basketball player * Mr. Len, American hip hop DJ *Le ...

Wayne Handy Wayne Handy (born May 14, 1935) is a rock and roll singer. Biography Early life Wayne Jackson Handy was born on May 14, 1935 in what is now Eden, North Carolina. He grew up in neighboring Reidsville, North Carolina, a once thriving tobacco town ...

The Allman Joys The Allman Joys was an early band with Duane and Gregg Allman fronting. It was originally the Escorts, but it eventually evolved into the Allman Joys. Duane Allman quit high school to spend his days at home practicing guitar. They auditioned for ...

Label variations

Dial Records had the distinction of going through four different distributors: * London-distributed label (early-1960s, numbered in the 3000s): black and red label, large logo at top * Atlantic-distributed label (mid-to-late-1960s, 4000s): same label as above * Mercury-distributed label (early-1970s, 1000s): yellow and orange label, smaller logo at top * TK-distributed label (late-1970s, 2800s): yellow, blue and green label, small logo at top

References

{{Authority control American record labels Soul music record labels Record labels established in 1964

History

Artists

Label variations

See also

References