Walt Disney Records is 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 ...

of the

Disney Music Group Disney Music Group (DMG) is the music recording arm of Disney Platform Distribution, a division of The Walt Disney Company. It is located at the studio's headquarters in Burbank, California. The division's subsidiaries consist of two owned record ...

. The label releases soundtrack albums from

The Walt Disney Company The Walt Disney Company, commonly known as Disney (), is an American multinational mass media and entertainment industry, entertainment conglomerate (company), conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios (Burbank), Walt Disney Stud ...

's motion picture studios, television series,

theme parks An amusement park is a park that features various attractions, such as rides and games, as well as other events for entertainment purposes. A theme park is a type of amusement park that bases its structures and attractions around a central ...

, and traditional

studio albums An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early 20th century as individual 78 rpm records co ...

produced by its roster of pop,

teen pop Teen pop is a subgenre of pop music that is created, marketed and oriented towards preteens and teenagers.Lamb, Bill"Teen Pop" About.com. Retrieved January 28, 2007. Teen pop incorporates different subgenres of pop music, as well as elements o ...

, and

country A country is a distinct part of the world, such as a state, nation, or other political entity. It may be a sovereign state or make up one part of a larger state. For example, the country of Japan is an independent, sovereign state, while ...

artists. The label was founded on February 4, 1956 as Disneyland Records. Before that time, Disney recordings were licensed to a variety of other labels such as

RCA The RCA Corporation was a major American electronics company, which was founded as the Radio Corporation of America in 1919. It was initially a patent trust owned by General Electric (GE), Westinghouse, AT&T Corporation and United Fruit Comp ...

Decca Decca may refer to: Music * Decca Records or Decca Music Group, a record label * Decca Gold, a classical music record label owned by Universal Music Group * Decca Broadway, a musical theater record label * Decca Studios, a recording facility in W ...

Capitol A capitol, named after the Capitoline Hill in Rome, is usually a legislative building where a legislature meets and makes laws for its respective political entity. Specific capitols include: * United States Capitol in Washington, D.C. * Numerous ...

ABC-Paramount ABC Records was an American record label founded in New York City in 1955. It originated as the main popular music label operated by the Am-Par Record Corporation. Am-Par also created the Impulse! jazz label in 1960. It acquired many labels bef ...

, and

United Artists United Artists Corporation (UA), currently doing business as United Artists Digital Studios, is an American digital production company. Founded in 1919 by D. W. Griffith, Charlie Chaplin, Mary Pickford, and Douglas Fairbanks, the stud ...

. It was Disney Legend Jimmy Johnson who convinced

Walt Disney Walter Elias Disney (; December 5, 1901December 15, 1966) was an American animator, film producer and entrepreneur. A pioneer of the American animation industry, he introduced several developments in the production of cartoons. As a film p ...

’s brother

Roy O. Disney Roy Oliver Disney (; June 24, 1893 – December 20, 1971) was an American businessman and co-founder of The Walt Disney Company. He was the older brother of Walt Disney and the father of Roy E. Disney. Biography Early life Disney was bor ...

that Walt Disney Productions (now The Walt Disney Company) should form their own record label. It adopted its current name in 1989 for the flagship

label and is distributed by

Universal Music Group Universal Music Group N.V. (often abbreviated as UMG and referred to as just Universal Music) is a Dutch– American multinational music corporation under Dutch law. UMG's corporate headquarters are located in Hilversum, Netherlands and its ...

History

Disneyland Records was predicated by non-soundtrack audio material based on Davy Crockett miniseries from the Disneyland anthology television series, along with the song, "The Ballad of Davy Crockett," both featuring series star Fess Parker. These were licensed to Columbia Records, but the smaller Cadence Records label released the more successful "Ballad of Davy Crockett" sung by Bill Hayes faster, and this was the record that topped the charts instead. The following year, Disney saw profits for Mickey Mouse Club records in the millions being shared with Golden Records and ABC Records, finally convincing Roy to allow Johnson to start the in-house Disneyland Records.

Disneyland Records

The company was founded as Disneyland Records on February 4, 1956, with Jimmy Johnson as president, serving as the recorded unit of

Walt Disney Productions The Walt Disney Company, commonly known as Disney (), is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios complex in Burbank, California. Disney was originally founded on October 1 ...

. Johnson brought in musician

Tutti Camarata Salvador "Tutti" Camarata (May 11, 1913 – April 13, 2005) was an American composer, arranger, trumpeter, and record producer. Also known as "Toots" Camarata. Early life and career Camarata, born in Glen Ridge, New Jersey, United States, and s ...

to head the

Artists and Repertoire Artists and repertoire ( colloquially abbreviated to A&R) is the division of a record label or music publishing company that is responsible for talent scouting and overseeing the artistic development of recording artists (singers, instrumental ...

department of this new enterprise.One ten-inch LP with the "Disneyland" imprint had been released a few months earlier, a musical version of ''A Child's Garden of Verses'', but it was distributed by the Charles Hansen music publishing company. The very first Disneyland Record produced, manufactured, marketed and distributed by the label was ''Walt Disney Takes You to Disneyland'', the only album Walt had ever recorded especially for his own record company. Also in the first year, seven Disney animated movie soundtracks were issued by the company. Disneyland Records issued Parker's "Wringle Wrangle" single from the ''

Westward Ho the Wagons! ''Westward Ho the Wagons!'' is a 1956 American Western film starring Fess Parker and Kathleen Crowley and produced by Walt Disney Productions. Based on Mary Jane Carr's novel ''Children of the Covered Wagon'', the film was produced by Bill Wal ...

'' film within a year of starting operations; the single became a hit. This led the company to start recording music from outside the films. However, what ever was released by the company the industry categorized as children. Pricing was directed towards an adult audience, which was more than standard children fare. The only outside success was Camarata’s album "Tutti's Trumpets". Thus in 1959, the Disneyland label became the soundtrack and children's label and Buena Vista label for the occasional pop song record. Camarata established the label's initial forays into long-form musical albums, which included jazz interpretations of Disney standards from ''

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" is a 19th-century German fairy tale that is today known widely across the Western world. The Brothers Grimm published it in 1812 in the first edition of their collection ''Grimms' Fairy Tales'' and numbered as T ...

'', ''

Bambi ''Bambi'' is a 1942 American animated drama film directed by David Hand (supervising a team of sequence directors), produced by Walt Disney and based on the 1923 book ''Bambi, a Life in the Woods'' by Austrian author and hunter Felix Salten ...

'', and ''

Cinderella "Cinderella",; french: link=no, Cendrillon; german: link=no, Aschenputtel) or "The Little Glass Slipper", is a folk tale with thousands of variants throughout the world.Dundes, Alan. Cinderella, a Casebook. Madison, Wis: University of Wisconsi ...

'', as well as original musical concept albums, and he expanded the format of soundtracks by including selections from the score as well as the songs. Tutti's connections within the music industry also brought to the label the likes of

Mary Martin Mary Virginia Martin (December 1, 1913 – November 3, 1990) was an American actress and singer. A muse of Rodgers and Hammerstein, she originated many leading roles on stage over her career, including Nellie Forbush in '' South Pacific'' (194 ...

, Louis Armstrong,

Louis Prima Louis Leo Prima (December 7, 1910 – August 24, 1978) was an American singer, songwriter, bandleader, and trumpeter. While rooted in New Orleans jazz, swing music, and jump blues, Prima touched on various genres throughout his career: he forme ...

and

Phil Harris Wonga Philip Harris (June 24, 1904 – August 11, 1995) was an American actor, comedian, musician and songwriter. He was an orchestra leader and a pioneer in radio situation comedy, first with ''The Jack Benny Program'', then in '' The Phil Harr ...

. After popular Mouseketeer, Annette Funicello, sang a song called "How Will I Know My Love" on the Mickey Mouse Club TV series, fans contacted the studio for the record, which became a minor hit. This prompted Camarata, Johnson and Walt Disney to encourage Annette's career as the label's first artist in residence. In 1959, the Buena Vista Records label was formed for Funicello's select recordings, soundtrack albums and other contemporary audiophile music. While looking for the right material for Annette, Tutti and his team discovered the songwriting duo of

Richard M. Sherman Richard Morton Sherman (born June 12, 1928) is an American songwriter who specialized in musical films with his brother Robert B. Sherman. According to the official Walt Disney Company website and independent fact checkers, "the Sherman Brot ...

and

Robert B. Sherman Robert Bernard Sherman (December 19, 1925 – March 6, 2012) was an American songwriter, best known for his work in musical films with his brother, Richard M. Sherman. The Sherman brothers produced more motion picture song scores than any ...

after hearing one of their songs on the radio. The two were brought to the Disney studio in Burbank where they eventually became the first staff songwriters for the company.With the participation of the Sherman brothers and two technicians at Sunset Sound in Hollywood, Camarata developed his renowned "Annette Sound," a specific type of double/reverb recording to strengthen Annette's voice that became an industry standard. The Shermans penned not only a good deal of Annette's songs, but were also responsible for most of the iconic Disney songs of the 1960s and beyond – “

It's a Small World "It's a Small World" is a water-based boat ride located in the Fantasyland area at various Disney theme parks worldwide, including Disneyland Park in Anaheim, California; Magic Kingdom at Walt Disney World Resort in Bay Lake, Florida; Tokyo D ...

” and “

The Tiki Tiki Tiki Room "The Tiki, Tiki, Tiki Room" is the official song for Walt Disney's Enchanted Tiki Room, an attraction at the Disneyland theme park. It was written in 1963 by Disney staff songwriters, The Sherman Brothers: Robert B. and Richard M. Sherman, and rec ...

” for the theme parks, as well as the songs from ''

Mary Poppins It may refer to: * ''Mary Poppins'' (book series), the original 1934–1988 children's fantasy novels that introduced the character. * Mary Poppins (character), the nanny with magical powers. * ''Mary Poppins'' (film), a 1964 Disney film sta ...

'', ''

Winnie the Pooh and the Honey Tree ''Winnie the Pooh and the Honey Tree'' is a 1966 animated featurette based on the first two chapters of ''Winnie-the-Pooh'' by A. A. Milne. The film was produced by Walt Disney Productions, and distributed by Buena Vista Distribution on February ...

'', ''

The Jungle Book ''The Jungle Book'' (1894) is a collection of stories by the English author Rudyard Kipling. Most of the characters are animals such as Shere Khan the tiger and Baloo the bear, though a principal character is the boy or "man-cub" Mowgli, w ...

'', ''

Winnie the Pooh and the Blustery Day ''Winnie the Pooh and the Blustery Day'' is a 1968 American animated featurette based on the third, fifth, ninth, and tenth chapters of ''Winnie-the-Pooh'' and the second, eighth, and ninth chapters from ''The House at Pooh Corner'' by A. A. Milne ...

'' and ''

Bedknobs and Broomsticks ''Bedknobs and Broomsticks'' is a 1971 American live-action animated musical fantasy film directed by Robert Stevenson and produced by Bill Walsh for Walt Disney Productions. It is loosely based upon the books '' The Magic Bedknob; or, How t ...

''. In 1960, Camarata left the staff but under Roy O. Disney's suggestion, established his own full-service recording studio where most of Disney and Buena Vista's records were recorded, mixed, engineered, cut and mastered, the Los Angeles landmark,

Sunset Sound Sunset, also known as sundown, is the daily disappearance of the Sun below the horizon due to Earth's rotation. As viewed from everywhere on Earth (except the North and South poles), the equinox Sun sets due west at the moment of both the sprin ...

. In effect he was associated with Disney until the early seventies. Disneyland Records started its read-along series in 1965 with singer/actor

Robie Lester Robie Lester (March 23, 1925 – June 14, 2005) was an American actress, singer, voice artist, and author, best known as the voice of "Miss Jessica" in the Rankin/Bass animated special ''Santa Claus is Comin' to Town'', the singing voice of ...

performer appearing on more titles than any other in the history of the labe

By 1971, Disneyland Records was also called Disneyland/Vista Records. Also, ''

A Child's Garden of Verses ''A Child's Garden of Verses'' is an 1885 volume of 64 poems for children by the Scottish author Robert Louis Stevenson. It has been reprinted many times, often in illustrated versions, and is considered to be one of the most influential child ...

'' was still in their line. Disneyland/Vista worked with

Rankin/Bass Rankin/Bass Animated Entertainment (founded and formerly known as Videocraft International, Ltd. and Rankin/Bass Productions, Inc.) was an American production company located in New York City, and known for its seasonal television specials, usual ...

to release six recordings tied to ''The Hobbit'' 1977 animated film as Rankin/Bass had Disneyland/Vista do soundtrack for two of their earlier holiday specials, ''

Frosty's Winter Wonderland ''Frosty's Winter Wonderland'' is a 1976 animated Christmas television special and a standalone sequel to the 1969 special '' Frosty the Snowman'', produced by Rankin/Bass Productions and animated by Topcraft. It is the second television special ...

'' and '' ’Twas the Night Before Christmas''. The company was so successful with its ''Mickey Mouse Disco'' album that Disneyland looked to expand again into pop music by October 1980. Its success also lead to the issuance of animated theatrical shorts based on songs from the album. Two such original productions were "That Waddlin' Crazy Guy" and "Pardners" featuring the comedy singing team of Willio and Phillio (Will Ryan and Phil Baron).

Walt Disney Records

In 1989, Disneyland Records was renamed Walt Disney Records. About 1990, Walt Disney Records signed several youth targeted acts like Parachute Express and

Norman Foote Norman Mervyn Barrington-Foote is a Canadian musician, songwriter, and comedian. Foote is originally from Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. He has been nominated for four Juno Awards for Best Children's Album in 1990, 1993, 2001, and won in 2010 ...

. Disney let these act go after several years as their mandate was changed to support the animated features, produce book and tape packages and compilations to take advantage of the catalog. In May 2000, Walt Disney Records signed the label's first teen singer, Myra; her first single with the label, "Magic Carpet Ride", was released May 23, 2000 as a part of ''La Vida Mickey'' album. On June 24, 2014, Walt Disney Records started releasing '' The Legacy Collection.'' The series includes original soundtracks, as well as unreleased music, and composer and producer liner notes. As of 2022, the collection includes 16 albums ranging between various anniversaries of various Disney films and Disneyland. With Disney's purchase of Lucasfilm on December 21, 2012, it became the official label for the studio and all '' Star Wars''-related soundtracks, beginning with ''The Force Awakens'' soundtrack on December 18, 2015. In January 2017, Disney acquired the distribution rights to the entire ''Star Wars''

music catalog In the music industry, a collection of musical compositions is cataloged into a music catalog. The owner owns the copyrights of the cataloged compositions. See also * Catalogues of classical compositions * Commission (art) * History of music p ...

from

Sony Classical Sony Classical is an American record label founded in 1924 as Columbia Masterworks Records, a subsidiary of Columbia Records. In 1980, the Columbia Masterworks label was renamed as CBS Masterworks Records. The CBS Records Group was acquired by ...

; the soundtrack albums from the first six films were then released by Walt Disney Records in digital formats the same day. Disney

digitally remastered Remaster refers to changing the quality of the sound or of the image, or both, of previously created recordings, either audiophonic, cinematic, or videographic. The terms digital remastering and digitally remastered are also used. Mastering A ...

and reissued the original ''Star Wars'' soundtrack albums in physical formats on May 4, 2018.

Albums

; Notable soundtracks * ''

'' (1964) * ''

The Little Mermaid "The Little Mermaid" ( da, Den lille havfrue) is a literary fairy tale written by the Danish author Hans Christian Andersen. The story follows the journey of a young mermaid who is willing to give up her life in the sea as a mermaid to gain a ...

'' (1989) * ''

Beauty and the Beast ''Beauty and the Beast'' (french: La Belle et la Bête) is a fairy tale written by French novelist Gabrielle-Suzanne Barbot de Villeneuve and published in 1740 in ''La Jeune Américaine et les contes marins'' (''The Young American and Marine ...

(''1991) * ''

The Lion King ''The Lion King'' is a 1994 American animated musical drama film produced by Walt Disney Feature Animation and released by Walt Disney Pictures. The 32nd Disney animated feature film and the fifth produced during the Disney Renaissance ...

'' (1994) * '' Tarzan'' (1999) * '' Tron: Legacy'' (2010) * '' Frozen'' (2013) * '' Moana'' (2016) *''

Encanto ''Encanto'' is a 2021 American computer-animated musical fantasy comedy film produced by Walt Disney Animation Studios and distributed by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures. The 60th film produced by the studio, it was directed by Jared B ...

'' (2021) ; Compilations * ''For Our Children'' (2003) * ''The Disney Princess Christmas Album'' (2007) * ''

Disney Channel Holiday Playlist ''Disney Channel Holiday Playlist'' (titled '' Family® Holiday Playlist'' in Canadahttps://music.amazon.ca/albums/B07BB1TLNX) is a 2012 holiday music album released on October 2, 2012 in the United States, and November 2, 2012 in Canada. The alb ...

'' (2012) * ''Disney Classics'' (Box Set, 2013) * ''The Silly Symphony Collection'' (2015) * '' Disney Holidays Unwrapped'' (2013) * ''

Disney Channel Play It Loud Disney Channel Play It Loud is a playlist of Walt Disney Records released on February 11, 2014 in the United States and August 25, 2014 in Europe. This album includes works by musical artists associated with Disney Channel, such as Ross Lynch, ...

'' (2014) * '' Dconstructed'' (April 22, 2014) Disney tunes remix by EDM stars ; Album series * ''Walt Disney Record Classic Soundtrack Series'' * Disney Archive Collection Series * '' Disneymania'' * '' Radio Disney Jams'' * ''Disney Karaoke Series'' * ''

We Love Disney ''We Love Disney'' is a compilation series that features cover versions of Disney songs by contemporary artists. It is the successor to the ''Disneymania (series), Disneymania'' series of albums that were released from 2002 to 2010. The We Love D ...

'' (2013–present) * '' Walt Disney Records: The Legacy Collection'' (2014–2015, 2017–present)

References

External links

Mouse Tracks: The Story of Walt Disney Records

Walt Disney Records Database

Columbia.edu
{{Authority control American companies established in 1956 American record labels Record labels based in California Disney Music Group Pop record labels Soundtrack record labels Companies based in Burbank, California Labels distributed by Universal Music Group Record labels established in 1956 1956 establishments in California Children's record labels