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Vee-Jay
Vee-Jay Records is an American record label founded in the 1950s, located in Chicago and specializing in blues, jazz, rhythm and blues and rock and roll. The label was founded in Gary, Indiana, in 1953 by Vivian Carter 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, was the label's A&R man. Ewart Abner, 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-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. Artists Major acts on Vee-Jay in the 1950s included blues singers Jimmy Reed, Memphis Slim, and John Lee Hooker, and rhythm and blues vocal groups ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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. Vee Jay, an independent record label, became the first successful black-owned recording company in the United States. It released original music from artists of the 1950s and 1960s in a variety of genres, including rhythm and blues, doo-wop, pop, and gospel. Early life and education Carter was born in Tunica, Mississippi, United States, and moved with her parents to Gary, Indiana, when she was a child. She graduated from Gary's Roosevelt High School in 1939. Carter excelled at public speaking, theater, and chorus. A classmate and longtime friend described her as a fun-loving extrovert with "a rich alto voice." After graduation, Carter took classes at a business college before becoming a clerical worker for the U.S. Army's Quartermaster ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dee Clark
Dee Clark (November 7, 1938 – December 7, 1990) was an American soul singer and songwriter best known for a string of R&B and pop hits in the late 1950s and early 1960s, including the song " Raindrops", which became a million-seller in the United States in 1961. Career He was born Delectus ClarkShaw, ''Honkers And Shouters'', 1978, p. 324. or Delecta Clark, Jr. in Blytheville, Arkansas, and moved to Chicago in 1941. His mother, Essie Mae Clark, was a gospel singer and encouraged her son to pursue his love of music. Clark made his first recording in 1952 as a member of the Hambone Kids, who enjoyed some success with a recording of "Hambone" on the OKeh label. In 1953, he joined an R&B group called the Goldentones, who later became the Kool Gents and were discovered by Chicago radio DJ Herb Kent upon winning a talent competition. Kent had the Kool Gents signed to Vee-Jay label's subsidiary Falcon/Abner. The group recorded for Falcon/Abner in 1956, and also recorded a novelty re ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
El Dorados
The El Dorados were an American doo-wop group, who achieved their greatest success with the song " At My Front Door", a no. 1 hit on the US ''Billboard'' R&B chart in 1955. History The group formed in Chicago, Illinois, United States, in 1952, originally as "Pirkle Lee and the Five Stars". It comprised Pirkle Lee Moses Jr. (lead vocals), Louis Bradley and Arthur Basset (tenors), Jewel Jones (second tenor/baritone), James Maddox and Richard Nickens (both baritone/bass). When Moses Jr. got out of the United States Air Force in 1954, they changed their name to The El Dorados. Vivian Carter heard them and signed them to her Vee-Jay Records label, making their first recordings in mid 1954. After a string of unsuccessful singles, they recorded " At My Front Door" (also known as "Crazy Little Mama") in 1955, and it rose to No. 1 on the US ''Billboard'' R&B chart, and No. 17 on the US pop chart. Their follow-up, "I’ll Be Forever Loving You", also made the R&B top ten in early 1 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jimmy Reed
Mathis James Reed (September 6, 1925 – August 29, 1976) was an American blues musician and songwriter. His particular style of electric blues was popular with a wide variety of audiences. Reed's songs such as "Honest I Do" (1957), "Baby What You Want Me to Do" (1960), "Big Boss Man (song), Big Boss Man" (1961), and "Bright Lights, Big City (song), Bright Lights, Big City" (1961) appeared on both Billboard (magazine), ''Billboard'' magazine's Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs, R&B and Hot 100 singles charts. Reed influenced many other musicians, including Elvis Presley, Hank Williams Jr., Bob Dylan, Neil Young, and the Rolling Stones, who recorded his songs. Music critic Cub Koda describes him as "perhaps the most influential bluesman of all," due to his easily accessible style. Biography Reed was born in Dunleith, Mississippi. He learned the harmonica and guitar from his friend Eddie Taylor. After several years of busking and performing there, he moved to Chicago, Illinois, in 1943. He ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Betty Everett
Betty Jean Everett (November 23, 1939 – August 19, 2001) was an American soul singer and pianist, best known for her biggest hit single, the million-selling " Shoop Shoop Song (It's In His Kiss)", and her duet " Let It Be Me" with Jerry Butler. Biography Early career Everett was born in Greenwood, Mississippi, United States, the daughter of Catherine and Abel Everett. She began playing the piano and singing gospel music in church at the age of nine. In 1957, she moved to Chicago, Illinois, to pursue a career in secular music. She recorded for various small local Chicago soul labels, before she was signed in 1963 by Calvin Carter, A&R musical director of fast-growing independent label Vee-Jay Records. An initial single failed, but her second Vee-Jay release, a cover version of " You're No Good" (written by Clint Ballard Jr. and later a No. 1 hit for Linda Ronstadt), just missed the U.S. top 50. Her next single, "The Shoop Shoop Song (It's in His Kiss)", was her biggest s ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Chance Records
Chance Records was a Chicago-based label founded in 1950 by Art Sheridan. It specialized in blues, jazz, doo-wop, and gospel. Among the acts who recorded for Chance were The Flamingos, The Moonglows, Homesick James, J. B. Hutto, Brother John Sellers, and Schoolboy Porter. In addition, Chance released three singles by John Lee Hooker and made a coordinated issue of the first singles by Jimmy Reed and The Spaniels with the brand-new and still tiny Vee-Jay Records. The company closed down at the end of 1954. Sheridan became one of the financial backers of Vee-Jay. History Chance Records opened for business in September 1950. Initially the company was housed at Sheridan's American Record Distributors, 2011 South Michigan Avenue in Chicago.Pruter, Robert (1997). ''Doowop: The Chicago Scene.'' Urbana: University of Illinois Press, pp. 21–39 Among the first artists to record for the company were the Al Sims Trio, an uptown blues group, and a combo led by tenor saxophonist ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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 saxophones, bass, drums, and piano. A song he first cut in 1947, "Every Day I Have the Blues", has become a blues standard, recorded by many other artists. He made over 500 sound recording and reproduction, recordings. He was Posthumous recognition, posthumously inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame in 1989. Biography Memphis Slim was born John Len Chatman, in Memphis, Tennessee. For his first recordings, for Okeh Records in 1940, he used the name of his father, Peter Chatman (who sang, played piano and guitar, and operated juke joints); it is commonly believed that he did so to honor his father. He started performing under the name "Memphis Slim" later that year but continued to Music publisher (popular music), publish songs under the name Pete ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
James Bracken
James C. Bracken (May 23, 1909 – February 20, 1972) was an American songwriter and the co-founder and co-owner of Vee-Jay Records with his wife Vivian and her brother, Calvin Carter. Life Bracken was born in Oklahoma and grew up in Kansas City. He was living in Chicago when he met Vivian Carter in 1944. In 1950 they founded Vivian's Record Shop in Gary, Indiana, and three years later decided to start their own record company, which they named Vee-Jay from their initials. As well as producing and releasing records through his label, Bracken also wrote some of the songs recorded. During the 1950s and early 1960s Vee-Jay became a major independent record label with acts including Jimmy Reed, John Lee Hooker, Gene Chandler, Jerry Butler, The Four Seasons and, for a time, The Beatles. The company folded in 1966. Bracken died in Los Angeles in 1972. Songwriting credits Bracken is sometimes credited with songs recorded by Vee-Jay artists, such as John Lee Hooker ("Baby Lee", " Dim ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jerry Butler (singer)
Jerry Butler Jr. (December 8, 1939 – February 20, 2025) was an American soul singer-songwriter, producer, musician, and politician. He was the original lead singer of the R&B vocal group the Impressions, who were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1991. After leaving the group in 1960, Butler achieved over 55 ''Billboard'' Pop and R&B Chart hits as a solo artist including " He Will Break Your Heart," " Let It Be Me," and " Only the Strong Survive." He was inducted into the National Rhythm & Blues Hall of Fame in 2015. Butler served as a Commissioner for Cook County, Illinois, from 1985 to 2018. As a member of the 17-member county government board, he chaired the Health and Hospitals Committee and served as Vice Chair of the Construction Committee. Biography Early life Butler was born in Sunflower, Mississippi, United States, on December 8, 1939. When Butler was three years old, the family moved to Chicago, Illinois, and he grew up in the Cabrini–Green ho ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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 that he developed in Detroit. Hooker often incorporated other elements, including talking blues and early North Mississippi hill country blues. He developed his own driving-rhythm boogie style, distinct from the 1930s–1940s piano-derived boogie-woogie. Hooker was ranked 35 in ''Rolling Stone''s 2015 list of 100 greatest guitarists, and has been cited as one of the greatest male blues vocalists of all time. Some of his best known songs include " Boogie Chillen'" (1948), " Crawling King Snake" (1949), " Dimples" (1956), " Boom Boom" (1962), and " One Bourbon, One Scotch, One Beer" (1966). Several of his later albums, including '' The Healer'' (1989), '' Mr. Lucky'' (1991), '' Chill Out'' (1995), and '' Don't Look Back'' (1997), were album chart succe ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Dells
The Dells were an American R&B vocal group. Formed in high school in 1953 by founding members Marvin Junior, Verne Allison, Johnny Funches, Chuck Barksdale, and Michael and Lucius McGill, under the name the El-Rays. They released their first recording in 1954 and two years later had their first R&B hit with " Oh What a Night". After disbanding due to a near-fatal car crash in 1958, the band re-formed in 1960 with Funches being replaced by Johnny Carter. This lineup remained together until Carter's death in 2009. In 2004 the Dells were inducted into both the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and the Vocal Group Hall of Fame. The group performed until illness forced longtime lead singer Marvin Junior and bass vocalist Chuck Barksdale into retirement, ending the group's 60-year run. History Early career The Dells grew up in Harvey, Illinois, and began singing together while attending Thornton Township High School. Forming in 1952 under the name the El-Rays, the group initially consis ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Spaniels
The Spaniels were an American R&B and doo-wop group, best known for the hit " Goodnite, Sweetheart, Goodnite". They have been called the first successful Midwestern R&B group. Some historians of vocal groups consider Pookie Hudson to be the first frontman of a vocal group because the Spaniels pioneered the technique of having the main singer solo at his microphone while the rest of the group shared a second microphone. Original members The original members included: *Thornton James "Pookie" Hudson (June 11, 1934 – January 16, 2007) *Ernest Warren (December 2, 1933 – May 7, 2012) *Willie C. Jackson (April 22, 1935 – February 18, 2015) *Opal Courtney Jr. (November 22, 1936 – September 18, 2008) *Gerald Gregory (June 10, 1934 – February 12, 1999) Career The group debuted in late 1952 at Roosevelt High School in Gary, Indiana as Pookie Hudson & The Hudsonaires.Betts, Graham (2014). Motown Encyclopedia', AC Publishing. Retrieved April 29, 2018. They changed their name to ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
