Vee-Jay 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 ...

founded in the 1950s, located in

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

and specializing in

blues Blues is a music genre and musical form which originated in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues incorporated spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts, chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads from the Afr ...

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a major ...

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 ...

and

rock and roll Rock and roll (often written as rock & roll, rock 'n' roll, or rock 'n roll) is a Genre (music), genre of popular music that evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s. It Origins of rock and roll, originated from Africa ...

. The label was founded in

Gary, Indiana Gary is a city in Lake County, Indiana, United States. The city has been historically dominated by major industrial activity and is home to U.S. Steel's Gary Works, the largest steel mill complex in North America. Gary is located along the ...

in 1953 by

Vivian Carter Vivian Carter (March 25, 1921 – June 12, 1989) was an American record company executive who was a founder of Vee-Jay Records with her future husband, Jimmy Bracken. Carter was also a Gary, Indiana, and Chicago, Illinois, radio disc jockey. V ...

and James C. Bracken, a husband-and-wife team who used their initials for the label's name.Thompson, Dave (2002). ''A Music Lover's Guide to Record Collecting'', pp. 286-89. San Francisco: Backbeat Books. . Vivian's brother,

Calvin Carter Calvin T. Carter (May 27, 1925 – July 9, 1986) was an American record producer, record label manager and songwriter of jazz and pop songs. Calvin Carter was born in Gary, Indiana, in 1925. He joined Vee-Jay Records, founded by his sister ...

, was the label's A&R man.

Ewart Abner Ewart Gladstone Abner, Jr. (May 11, 1923 – December 27, 1997) was a major American record company executive who was President of Motown Records from 1973 to 1975 and was personal and business manager for Stevie Wonder for 10 years. In his ex ...

, formerly of Chance Records, joined the label in 1955, first as manager, then as vice president, and ultimately as president. One of the earliest

African American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ens ...

-owned record companies, Vee-Jay quickly became a major R&B label, with the first song recorded, the Spaniels' "Baby It's You," making it to the top ten on the national R&B charts.

Notable artists

Major acts on the label in the 1950s included blues singers Jimmy Reed,

Memphis Slim John Len Chatman (September 3, 1915 – February 24, 1988), known professionally as Memphis Slim, was an American blues pianist, singer, and composer. He led a series of bands that, reflecting the popular appeal of jump blues, included saxopho ...

, and

John Lee Hooker John Lee Hooker (August 22, 1912 or 1917 – June 21, 2001) was an American blues singer, songwriter, and guitarist. The son of a sharecropper, he rose to prominence performing an electric guitar-style adaptation of Delta blues. Hooker often ...

, and rhythm and blues vocal groups the Spaniels, the Dells, and the El Dorados. The 1960s saw the label become a major soul label with Jerry Butler, Gene Chandler, Dee Clark, and Betty Everett having hit singles on both the pop and R&B charts. Vee-Jay was also the first label to nationally issue a record by the Pips (through a master purchase from the tiny Huntom label of

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,715 ...

), who became Gladys Knight and the Pips in 1962 when they moved to Fury Records. Vee-Jay had significant success with pop/rock and roll acts, such as the Four Seasons (their first non-black act) and

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 ...

. Vee-Jay acquired the rights to some of the early recordings by the Beatles through a licensing deal with

EMI EMI Group Limited (originally an initialism for Electric and Musical Industries, also referred to as EMI Records Ltd. or simply EMI) was a British transnational conglomerate founded in March 1931 in London. At the time of its break-up in 201 ...

, as the American affiliate

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 ...

was initially uninterested in the group. The main attraction at the time, however, was another EMI performer, Frank Ifield. Calvin Carter later said, "There was a number one record over in England at the time—It was 'I Remember You' by Frank Ifield. We took the record, and as a throw in, they had a group and asked us if we would take them, too. The group turned out to be the Beatles and we got a five-year contract on the Beatles as a pickup on the Frank Ifield contract." In the mid-1960s, Vee-Jay signed the former successful child singer

Jimmy Boyd Jimmy Devon Boyd (January 9, 1939 – March 7, 2009) was an American singer, musician, and actor known for his 1952 recording of the song "I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus". Early years Jimmy Boyd was born in 1939 Mississippi into a musical fam ...

, known for the hit " I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus"; Boyd was then twenty-five years old. The company ventured into

folk music Folk music is a music genre that includes traditional folk music and the contemporary genre that evolved from the former during the 20th-century folk revival. Some types of folk music may be called world music. Traditional folk music has b ...

with

Hoyt Axton Hoyt Wayne Axton (March 25, 1938 – October 26, 1999) was an American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and actor. He became prominent in the early 1960s, establishing himself on the West Coast as a folk singer with an earthy style and powerful voic ...

and New Wine Singers, and also picked up

Little Richard Richard Wayne Penniman (December 5, 1932 – May 9, 2020), known professionally as Little Richard, was an American musician, singer, and songwriter. He was an influential figure in popular music and culture for seven decades. Described as the " ...

who re-recorded his Specialty hits and recorded (1965) "I Don't Know What You've Got (But It's Got Me)", an R&B success, with

Jimi Hendrix James Marshall "Jimi" Hendrix (born Johnny Allen Hendrix; November 27, 1942September 18, 1970) was an American guitarist, singer and songwriter. Although his mainstream career spanned only four years, he is widely regarded as one of the most ...

Don Covay Donald James Randolph (March 24, 1936 – January 31, 2015), better known by the stage name Don Covay, was an American R&B, rock and roll, and soul singer-songwriter most active from the 1950s to the 1970s. His most successful recordings incl ...

Bernard Purdie Bernard Lee "Pretty" Purdie (born June 11, 1939) is an American drummer, and an influential R&B, soul and funk musician. He is known for his precise musical time keeping and his signature use of triplets against a half-time backbeat: the "Purdie ...

Ronny Miller Roland Arthur Miller (August 28, 1918 – January 6, 1998) was a pitcher in Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is compos ...

, and

Billy Preston William Everett Preston (September 2, 1946 – June 6, 2006) was an American keyboardist, singer and songwriter whose work encompassed R&B, rock, soul, funk, and gospel. Preston was a top session keyboardist in the 1960s, during which he ba ...

(before Hendrix became successful on his own). Vee-Jay's

line accounted for a small portion of the company's releases, but recorded such artists as

Eddie Harris Eddie Harris (October 20, 1934 – November 5, 1996) was an American jazz musician, best known for playing tenor saxophone and for introducing the electrically amplified saxophone. He was also fluent on the electric piano and organ. His best-k ...

Wynton Kelly Wynton Charles Kelly (December 2, 1931 – April 12, 1971) was an American jazz pianist and composer. He is known for his lively, blues-based playing and as one of the finest accompanists in jazz. He began playing professionally at the age of ...

Lee Morgan Edward Lee Morgan (July 10, 1938 – February 19, 1972) was an American jazz trumpeter and composer. One of the key hard bop musicians of the 1960s, Morgan came to prominence in his late teens, recording on John Coltrane's '' Blue Train'' (1 ...

, and

Wayne Shorter Wayne Shorter (born August 25, 1933) is an American jazz saxophonist and composer. Shorter came to prominence in the late 1950s as a member of, and eventually primary composer for, Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers. In the 1960s, he joined Miles Davi ...

.Pruter, Robert (1996). ''Doowop: The Chicago Scene'', p. 105. Urbana and Chicago: University of Illinois Press. . The A&R for the label's jazz releases was Sid McCoy. The company also had a major

gospel Gospel originally meant the Christian message ("the gospel"), but in the 2nd century it came to be used also for the books in which the message was set out. In this sense a gospel can be defined as a loose-knit, episodic narrative of the words an ...

line, recording such acts as the Staple Singers, The Famous Boyer Brothers, the Argo Singers, Swan Silvertones,

the Caravans The Caravans were an American gospel music group that was started in 1947 by Robert Anderson. It reached its peak popularity during the 1950s and 1960s, launching the careers of a number of artists, including: Delores Washington, Albertina Wal ...

, Dorothy Love Coates and the Gospel Harmonettes, and Maceo Woods. Vee-Jay even released comedy on LP, with records by Dick Gregory, and ''Them Poems'', Mason Williams' early nightclub act, recorded with a studio audience in 1964.

Early history

Calvin Carter set up Vee-Jay's first rehearsal space in a garage at 47th Street and King's Drive in 1953, then discovered and signed Jimmy Reed. Carter also established a regular studio use arrangement with

Universal Recording Corporation Universal Recording Corporation was a recording studio in Chicago founded by Bill Putnam, Sr. for the purpose of investigating new recording techniques and the development of specialized recording equipment. Universal Recording was seminal i ...

, one of the largest independent recording studios in the U.S..

Success

Vee-Jay's biggest successes occurred from 1962 to 1964, with the ascendancy of the Four Seasons and the distribution of early

Beatles The Beatles were an English rock band, formed in Liverpool in 1960, that comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are regarded as the most influential band of all time and were integral to the developme ...

material (" From Me to You" b/w "

Thank You Girl "Thank You Girl" is a song recorded by the English rock band the Beatles, written by John Lennon and Paul McCartney. It was issued as the B-side of the single "From Me to You", which was recorded on the same day (5 March 1963). While not rele ...

," "

Please Please Me ''Please Please Me'' is the debut studio album by the English rock band the Beatles. Produced by George Martin, it was released on EMI's Parlophone label on 22 March 1963 in the United Kingdom, following the success of the band's first two sin ...

" b/w " From Me to You," and " Do You Want to Know a Secret" b/w "Thank You Girl" via Vee-Jay; and "

Love Me Do "Love Me Do" is the official debut single by the English rock band the Beatles, backed by " P.S. I Love You". When the single was originally released in the United Kingdom on 5 October 1962, it peaked at number 17. It was released in the United ...

" b/w " P.S. I Love You" and " Twist and Shout" b/w "

There's a Place "There's a Place" is a song by the English rock band the Beatles from their debut album, ''Please Please Me'', released in March 1963. It was written primarily by John Lennon and credited to McCartney–Lennon. In the United States, the song ...

" via its subsidiary

Tollie Records Tollie Records was a record label formed in February 1964, as a subsidiary label of Vee-Jay Records. It closed in May 1965. The label distributed two of the Beatles' singles in the United States before Capitol Records eventually took over. The ...

), because

's autonomous

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

company Capitol initially refused to release Beatles records. Vee-Jay's releases were at first unsuccessful, but quickly became huge hits once the

British Invasion The British Invasion was a cultural phenomenon of the mid-1960s, when rock and pop music acts from the United Kingdom and other aspects of British culture became popular in the United States and significant to the rising "counterculture" on b ...

took off in early 1964, selling 2.6 million Beatles singles in a single month. Cash flow problems caused by Ewart Abner's tapping the company treasury to cover personal gambling debts led to the company's active demise; Vee-Jay had been forced to temporarily cease operations in the second half of 1963, leading to royalty disputes with the Four Seasons and EMI. The Four Seasons then left Vee-Jay for

Philips Records Philips Records is a record label founded by the Dutch electronics company Philips. It was founded as Philips Phonographische Industrie in 1950. In 1946, Philips acquired the company which pressed records for British Decca's Dutch outlet in A ...

, and EMI's Capitol Records picked up the U.S. rights for both the Beatles and Frank Ifield. Other Vee-Jay subsidiary labels included Interphon (which yielded the Top 5 hit " Have I the Right?" by another British group, the Honeycombs), and Oldies 45 for reissues along with Tollie and Abner Records, which was an early subsidiary label formed in 1958. Vee-Jay also did distribution for Champion Records (notable for producing the original version of Tainted Love) as well as Rick Hall's Fame Records and, for a time, the Memphis label Goldwax Records and Johnny Vincent's Ace Records. Vee-Jay moved back to Chicago in 1965 after a year in

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

. Liens were placed on Vee-Jay assets still in Los Angeles after legal action by Pye Records due to non-payment of royalties.

As Vee-Jay International

Vee-Jay Records filed for bankruptcy in August 1966. The assets were subsequently purchased by label executives Betty Chiappetta and Randy Wood (not the Dot Records founder), who changed its name to Vee-Jay International. From 1967 to 1972, Vee-Jay was limited to selling some of the inventory on hand when the company went under, and leasing or licensing the Vee Jay masters to Buddah Records, who came out with "The First Generation" series, and Springboard International, who issued dozens of albums featuring Vee Jay material on their subsidiary label, Upfront. In the 1970s, Vee Jay International itself re-released a number of titles on LPs and 8-track tapes. In 1978, Vee Jay issued a Silver Anniversary catalog to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the label.

1980s–present

The label was revived under new management in 1982 as a dance and R&B label, but closed down in 1986. In the mid-late 1980s, a one-hour independent documentary film was made called "Cradle of Rock and Roll" aired on PBS soon after the film's completion. It covered the history of Vee-Jay and

Chess Records Chess Records was an American record company established in 1950 in Chicago, specializing in blues and rhythm and blues. It was the successor to Aristocrat Records, founded in 1947. It expanded into soul music, gospel music, early rock and roll ...

in Chicago, which helped to begin a revival of some interest in Vee-Jay's history and catalog. In 1986

Motown Motown Records is an American record label owned by the Universal Music Group. It was founded by Berry Gordy Jr. as Tamla Records on June 7, 1958, and incorporated as Motown Record Corporation on April 14, 1960. Its name, a portmanteau of ''moto ...

licensed 26 of Vee Jay's soul, blues and R&B hits for a CD compilation, "Hits from the Legendary Vee Jay Records." In 1993, the Vee Jay Limited Partnership released a 3-CD boxed set, "The Vee Jay Story (Celebrating 40 Years of Classic Hits)," again drawn from the label's R&B, soul, and blues catalog. The package includes a red-vinyl facsimile 45 of the Spaniels' "Goodnite Sweetheart Goodnite." Under the management of Michele Tayler, the company was reactivated in 1998 as The Vee-Jay Limited Partnership. Its main office is located in Redding, Connecticut. Collectables Records has been remastering and reissuing Vee-Jay albums on audio CD since 2000. A compilation which contains a Best of Vee-Jay box set as well as individual "Best of the Vee-Jay Years" CDs is released by

Shout! Factory Shout! Factory is an American home video and music company founded in 2002 as Retropolis Entertainment. Its video releases include previously released feature films, classic and contemporary television series, animation, live music, and comedy ...

. In July 2014 its catalogue was acquired by

Concord Music Group Concord Music Group was an American independent music company based in Beverly Hills, California, with worldwide (including the U.S.) distribution through Universal Music Group. The company specialized in recordings ( Fearless Records, Concord R ...

. The sale was facilitated by Minneapolis film producer, Scott McLain. The Vee-Jay Records story is featured on the documentary series ''

Profiles of African-American Success ''Profiles of African-American Success'' is an American documentary web series produced by Frances Presley-Rice and filmmaker Bayer Mack for their production company Block Starz Music Television. The documentary series features short biographi ...

''.

Subsidiaries

Abner Records was a subsidiary of Vee-Jay Records. It was originally named Falcon Records, but the name was changed in 1958 since there already existed a Falcon Records. The label was named after

who was general manager at Vee-Jay, 1955–1961. Falcon Records Scotland (2011–present) is a sub-label of Jilted Generation Inc. Falcon Records launched October 2011 in partnership with "Music Media Management" owned by Diania Elliott Tomlin Perkins & Eric Bryce, "In Hoodz We Trust (IHWT)" owned by Jay Supa & "Make Noise Fife" owned by Alex Herbert.

Discography

Vee-Jay LP/SR-1000 Main Series

The Vee-Jay LP/SR 1000 Series of 12 inch LPs were released between 1958 and 1963 with a catalog prefix of LP for mono releases and SR for stereo.

Vee-Jay LP/SR-3000 Jazz Series

In 1960 Vee-Jay began issuing jazz records with separate catalog numbers as the LP/SR 3000 Series of 12 inch LPs with a catalog prefix of LP for mono releases and SR for stereo.Both Sides Now: Vee-Jay Album Discography, Part 3: Jazz Series (1959-1978)
accessed July 23, 2019

Vee-Jay LP/SR-5000 Gospel Series

Between 1959 and 1965 the Vee-Jay LP/SR-5000 Gospel Series released seventy-eight 12 inch LPs.
accessed July 30, 2019

Vee-Jay VJLP/VJS-1000 Main Series

From 1963 the Vee-Jay 1000 Series of 12 inch LPs were released with a catalog prefix of VJLP for mono releases and VJS for stereo.
accessed July 23, 2019

Vee-Jay LP/SR-2500 Jazz Series

From 1964 to 1965 the Vee-Jay 2500 Series of 12 inch Jazz LPs were released with a catalog prefix of LP for mono releases and SR for stereo.

Vee-Jay International World of Jazz VJS-3000 Jazz Series

Between 1974 and 1978 the Vee-Jay International World of Jazz 3000 Series released twenty-three 12 inch stereo LPs. Many of these were previously unreleased sessions or live recordings, compilations of previously released material or re-releases of albums from other labels.

Vee-Jay International VJS-18000 Gospel Series

In 1975 Vee-Jay International VJS-18000 Gospel Series released eleven 12 inch LPs.

References

External links

Discography for Vee-Jay Records

Vee-Jay Records
on the Internet Archive'
Great 78 Project
{{Authority control American record labels Record labels established in 1953 Record labels disestablished in 1966 Record labels established in 1982 Record labels disestablished in 1986 Record labels established in 1998 Re-established companies History of Gary, Indiana Jazz record labels Blues record labels Rhythm and blues record labels Rock and roll record labels Concord Music Group 1953 establishments in Indiana

Notable artists

Early history

Success

As Vee-Jay International

1980s–present

Subsidiaries

Discography

Vee-Jay LP/SR-1000 Main Series

Vee-Jay LP/SR-3000 Jazz Series

Vee-Jay LP/SR-5000 Gospel Series

Vee-Jay VJLP/VJS-1000 Main Series

Vee-Jay LP/SR-2500 Jazz Series

Vee-Jay International World of Jazz VJS-3000 Jazz Series

Vee-Jay International VJS-18000 Gospel Series

See also

References

External links