Kapp Records was an

independent record label An independent record label (or indie label) is a record label that operates without the funding or distribution of major record labels; they are a type of small- to medium-sized enterprise, or SME. The labels and artists are often represented ...

started in 1954 by David Kapp, brother of

Jack Kapp Jack Kapp (born Jacob Kaplitzky; June 15, 1901 – March 25, 1949) was a record company executive with Brunswick Records who founded the American Decca Records in 1934 along with British Decca founder Edward Lewis and later American Decca head M ...

(who set up American

Decca Records Decca Records is a British record label established in 1929 by Edward Lewis. Its U.S. label was established in late 1934 by Lewis, Jack Kapp, American Decca's first president, and Milton Rackmil, who later became American Decca's president. ...

in 1934). David Kapp founded his own label after stints with Decca and

RCA Victor 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 ...

. Kapp licensed its records to

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 ...

for release in the UK. In 1967, David Kapp sold his label to MCA Inc. and the label was placed under

Uni Records Uni Records (short for the label's legal name Universal City Records and rendered as UNI) was a record label owned by MCA Inc. The brand, which long featured a distinctive UNi logo, was established in 1966 in music, 1966 by MCA executive Ned Tanen ...

management; Kapp was consolidated with MCA's other record labels in 1971 and, in 1973,

MCA Records MCA Records was an American record label owned by MCA Inc., which later became part of Universal Music Group. Pre-history MCA Inc., a powerful talent agency and a television production company, entered the recorded music business in 1962 w ...

released the last Kapp record. Catalogue albums that continued to sell were renumbered and reissued on the MCA label. Kapp's subsidiaries included

Medallion Records Medallion Records was a record label (1919–late 1921 or early 1922) owned by the Baldwin Piano Corporation of Cincinnati, Ohio. Most Medallion issues were pressed from masters leased from Emerson Records, whose catalogue included early jazz rec ...

(an

audiophile An audiophile is a person who is enthusiastic about high-fidelity sound reproduction. An audiophile seeks to reproduce the sound of a piece of recorded music or a live musical performance, typically inside closed headphones, In-ear monitors, open ...

label),

Congress Records Congress Records was a record label founded in 1962 by Neil Galligan who headed Canadian-American Records and brought with him Linda Scott from that label. The label was sold the following year to Kapp Records. Under Kapp, the most successful artist ...

, Leader Records, and Four Corners Records with its "4 Corners of the World" logo. Four Corners was formed to promote European artists, such as

Françoise Hardy Françoise Madeleine Hardy (; born 17 January 1944) is a French former singer and songwriter. Mainly known for singing melancholic sentimental ballads, Hardy has been an important figure in French pop music since her debut, spanning a career o ...

, Raymond Lefèvre, and the Barclay Singers. Today, the Kapp Records catalog is owned by MCA's successor-in-interest Universal Music Group through its Geffen Records subsidiary.

History

* 1954: Kapp Records was created by David Kapp. * 1960: Kapp Records released one of the first cover versions of songs from ''

The Sound of Music ''The Sound of Music'' is a musical with music by Richard Rodgers, lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II, and a book by Howard Lindsay and Russel Crouse. It is based on the 1949 memoir of Maria von Trapp, ''The Story of the Trapp Family Singers''. S ...

'', which was running on Broadway at that time. The Pete King Chorale was featured on the album. * 1964: Kapp Records released " Hello Dolly" sung by

Louis Armstrong Louis Daniel Armstrong (August 4, 1901 – July 6, 1971), nicknamed "Satchmo", "Satch", and "Pops", was an American trumpeter and Singing, vocalist. He was among the most influential figures in jazz. His career spanned five decades and se ...

that became the number one song in America on ''Billboard'' Top 100, two months after

The Beatles The Beatles were an English Rock music, rock band, formed in Liverpool in 1960, that comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are regarded as the Cultural impact of the Beatles, most influential band of al ...

' arrived from England. The label also distributed American releases by another successful British Invasion group,

The Searchers ''The Searchers'' is a 1956 American Technicolor VistaVision epic Western film directed by John Ford and written by Frank S. Nugent, based on the 1954 novel by Alan Le May. It is set during the Texas-Native American wars, and stars John W ...

. * 1966: The record label released the

original cast album A cast recording is a recording of a stage musical that is intended to document the songs as they were performed in the show and experienced by the audience. An original cast recording or OCR, as the name implies, features the voices of the sho ...

of ''

Man of La Mancha ''Man of La Mancha'' is a 1965 musical with a book by Dale Wasserman, music by Mitch Leigh, and lyrics by Joe Darion. It is adapted from Wasserman's non-musical 1959 teleplay '' I, Don Quixote'', which was in turn inspired by Miguel de Cerva ...

'', perhaps their most successful cast album. * 1967: David Kapp sold his label to MCA Inc. and it became a division of

. * 1973: MCA released the last Kapp record. The catalog and artist roster was absorbed by MCA Records. * 2003: MCA Records is absorbed into

Geffen Records Geffen Records is an American record label established by David Geffen and owned by Universal Music Group through its Interscope Geffen A&M Records imprint. Founded in 1980, Geffen Records has been a part of Interscope Geffen A&M since 1999 and h ...

, which currently manages Kapp's pop/rock/R&B catalogs. The country, jazz, and musical theatre catalogs are now managed by MCA Nashville Records, GRP Records, and

Decca Broadway Decca Broadway is an American record label specializing in musical theater recordings founded in 1999 by Decca Records and is a unit of Universal Music Group. Decca Broadway issued both new original cast albums as well as reissues of classic mus ...

, respectively. Decca Broadway released a remastered version of the ''Man of La Mancha'' original cast album in 2001.

Label variations

Throughout Kapp's history, its logo was a stylized "K" incorporating a

phonograph record A phonograph record (also known as a gramophone record, especially in British English), or simply a record, is an analog sound storage medium in the form of a flat disc with an inscribed, modulated spiral groove. The groove usually starts near ...

design. Three versions of this logo appeared during the company's history. Until 1970, this logo also appeared on a drum major's cap in a wordplay of the label's name. *1950s: Stylized "K/record" logo and KAPP at top of either red/white, silver/maroon or purplish red/white labels. *Early 1960s: Black label with white "K/record" logo and KAPP in red at top, a similar design had a red drum major cap and KAPP in yellow at top. *Mid to late 1960s: Black label with red drum major cap (showing "K/record" logo in yellow) and KAPP in black letters in white box at left for singles, at top for albums. *1970-1972: Purple, red, orange and yellow label with new "K" logo, either in black or in white inside black box, at left. (A few 1970s releases were also pressed with the mid-to-late 1960s black label.)

Roster

Eddie Albert Edward Albert Heimberger (April 22, 1906 – May 26, 2005) was an American actor and activist. He was twice nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor; the first nomination came in 1954 for his performance in ''Roman Holiday'', ...

* Paul Arnoldi *

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Burt Bacharach Burt Freeman Bacharach ( ; born May 12, 1928) is an American composer, songwriter, record producer and pianist who composed hundreds of pop songs from the late 1950s through the 1980s, many in collaboration with lyricist Hal David. A six-time Gr ...

Kenny Ball Kenneth Daniel Ball (22 May 1930Larkin C., ''Virgin Encyclopedia of Sixties Music''. (Muze UK Ltd, 1997), p. 29; ) – 7 March 2013) was an English jazz musician, best known as the bandleader, lead trumpet player and vocalist in Kenny Ball and ...

* Kenny Ballard *

Gilbert Bécaud Gilbert Bécaud (, 24 October 1927 – 18 December 2001) was a French singer, composer, pianist and actor, known as "Monsieur 100,000 Volts" for his energetic performances. His best-known hits are " Nathalie" and "Et maintenant", a 1961 release ...

* Budgie *

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* The Critters * Johnny Cymbal *

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* Bill Dana (a.k.a. José Jiménez) * Anita Darian, 1960, a self-titled album, ''Anita Darian'' (later titled ''East of the Sun''), KL-1168 *

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(Congress) * Jerry Fielding * The Flying Machine (Congress) * The Fortune Tellers (

Robert Maxwell (songwriter) Robert Maxwell (born Max Rosen; April 19, 1921 – February 7, 2012) was an American harpist, songwriter, and teacher who wrote the music for two well-known songs: "Ebb Tide" and "Shangri-La" (originally a composition entitled "Fantasy for Harp ...

) (Medallion) *

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(Four Corners) * Frank Gallop * The Ginger Snaps (including Judi Weiner) * Tom Glazer *

Good Rats The Good Rats are an American rock band from Long Island, New York. Their music mixes elements of rock with blues and pop. They are best known on their native Long Island, although they had some success nationally and internationally. History ...

* The Greenwood County Singers (including

Van Dyke Parks Van Dyke Parks (born January 3, 1943) is an American musician, songwriter, arranger, and record producer who has composed various film and television soundtracks. He is best known for his 1967 album ''Song Cycle'' and for his collaborations with ...

) *

(Four Corners) * Joe Harnell * Bill Hayes *

The Hesitations The Hesitations are an American R&B group from Cleveland, Ohio. Formed in 1965, they scored several hits in 1967 and 1968, the biggest being their gospel-infused version of the title track to the movie ''Born Free''. After one of the group's sing ...

* Gregory Howard and group *

Brian Hyland Brian Hyland (born November 12, 1943) is an American pop singer and instrumentalist who was particularly successful during the early 1960s. He continued recording into the 1970s. AllMusic journalist Jason Ankeny says "Hyland's puppy-love pop v ...

(Leader & Kapp) *

Jellyroll Jason DeFord (born December 4, 1984), known professionally as Jelly Roll (sometimes written as JellyRoll), is an American rapper and country singer known for his collaborations with Lil Wyte, Struggle Jennings, Yelawolf, Tech N9ne, and Ryan ...

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(two singles on Congress) *

Jack Jones Jack Jones may refer to: Arts and entertainment Music *Jack Jones (American singer) (born 1938), American jazz and pop singer *Jack Jones, stage name of Australian singer Irwin Thomas (born 1971) *Jack Jones (Welsh musician) (born 1992), Welsh mu ...

* Just Us *

Jerry Keller Jerry Paul Keller (born June 20, 1937) is an American pop singer and songwriter, best known for his 1959 hit song "Here Comes Summer". Career Born in Fort Smith, Arkansas, Keller moved with his family to Tulsa, Oklahoma, when he was six, and ...

*The Kids Next Door (Four Corners) *

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Eartha Kitt Eartha Kitt (born Eartha Mae Keith; January 17, 1927 – December 25, 2008) was an American singer and actress known for her highly distinctive singing style and her 1953 recordings of "C'est si bon" and the Christmas novelty song " Santa ...

* The Latin Souls * Raymond Lefèvre (Four Corners) * Charles Lloyd *

Rod McKuen Rodney Marvin McKuen (; April 29, 1933 – January 29, 2015) was an American poet, singer-songwriter, and actor. He was one of the best-selling poets in the United States during the late 1960s. Throughout his career, McKuen produced a wide range ...

Miriam Makeba Zenzile Miriam Makeba (4 March 1932 – 9 November 2008), nicknamed Mama Africa, was a South African singer, songwriter, actress, and civil rights activist. Associated with musical genres including Afropop, jazz, and world music, she w ...

* Sam Makia and the Makapuu Beach Boys *

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* David McWilliams * Chad Mitchell Trio *

Art Mooney Arthur Joseph Mooney (February 11, 1911 – September 9, 1993) was an American singer and bandleader. His biggest hits were "I'm Looking Over a Four Leaf Clover" and "Baby Face" in 1948 and "Nuttin' For Christmas," with Barry Gordon, in 1955. Hi ...

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(Tough Strings, KL-1253) *

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*Pat Rolle * Patty Lace & the Petticoats *

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* Sylvia Telles *

Thee Prophets The word ''thou'' is a second-person singular pronoun in English. It is now largely archaic, having been replaced in most contexts by the word ''you'', although it remains in use in parts of Northern England and in Scots (). ''Thou'' is the ...

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* The Trophies *

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* Billy Usselton *

Leroy Van Dyke Leroy Frank Van Dyke (born October 4, 1929) is an American country music and honky-tonk singer and guitarist, best known for his hits " The Auctioneer" (1956) and " Walk on By" (1961). Biography Van Dyke was born in Mora, Missouri. He lived ...

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*The "You Know Who" Group (Four Corners)

References

Hall, Claude: "MCA Drops Vocalion, Decca, Kapp and Uni", ''Billboard'', February 10, 1973

External links

Kapp Records story from BSN Pubs

Kapp Records
on the Internet Archive'
Great 78 Project
{{Authority control American record labels Jazz record labels Record labels established in 1954 Record labels disestablished in 1972 Pop record labels MCA Records