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Brunswick Records

February 09, 2023

Brunswick Records is an American record label founded in 1916.

Brunswick Records
Founded1916; 107 years ago (1916)
FounderBrunswick-Balke-Collender Company
Distributor(s)AMPED Distribution
GenreVarious
Country of originUnited States
Official websitebrunswickrecords.com

History

From 1916

Records under the Brunswick label were first produced by the Brunswick-Balke-Collender Company, a company based in Dubuque, Iowa which had been manufacturing products ranging from pianos to sporting equipment since 1845. The company first began producing phonographs in 1916, then began marketing their own line of records as an afterthought. These first Brunswick records used the vertical cut system like Edison Disc Records, and were not sold in large numbers. They were recorded in the United States but sold only in Canada.[1]

1920s

 
A Brunswick record label from 1922

In January 1920, a new line of Brunswick Records was introduced in the U.S. and Canada that employed the lateral cut system which was becoming the default cut for 78 discs. Brunswick started its standard popular series at 2000 and ended up in 1940 at 8517. However, when the series reached 4999, they skipped over the previous allocated 5000s and continued at 6000. When they reached 6999, they continued at 7301 (because the early 7000s had been previously allocated as their Race series). The parent company marketed them extensively, and within a few years Brunswick became a competitor to America's "big three" record companies, Edison Records, Victor, and Columbia Records.

The Brunswick line of home phonographs were commercially successful. Brunswick had a hit with their Ultona phonograph capable of playing Edison Disc Records, Pathé disc records, and standard lateral 78s. In late 1924, Brunswick acquired the Vocalion Records label.

Audio fidelity of early-1920s, acoustically-recorded Brunswick discs is above average for the era. They were pressed into good quality shellac, although not as durable as that used by Victor. General music director Walter B. Rogers and his colleague Gus Haenschen lured significant classical and popular soloists into Brunswick's roster, including Sigrid Onegin, Marie Tiffany, Michael Bohnen, Mario Chamlee, Richard Bonelli, Giacomo Lauri-Volpi, and popular singers Al Bernard, Ernest Hare, and light-voiced Nick Lucas. Significant Brunswick instrumentalists included pianists Leopold Godowsky and Josef Hofmann, and violinists Bronislaw Huberman and Max Rosen.

In the spring of 1925 Brunswick introduced its own version of electrical recording derived from the Pallophotophone system, developed by Charles A. Hoxie (and licensed from General Electric) using photoelectric cells, which Brunswick called the "Light-Ray" process. These early electric discs have a harsh equalization which does not compare well to early electric Columbias and Victors, and the company's logbooks from 1925–27 show many recordings that were unissued for technical reasons having to do with the GE system's electronic and sonic inconsistencies. (Only Brunswick and Vocalion records pressed at their West Coast plant bore the name "Light-Ray Process" on the labels.)

 
A Brunswick record label from the mid-1920s

Once Brunswick's engineers had tentative control of their new equipment, the company expanded its popular music recording activities, exploiting its roster of stars: the dance bands of Bob Haring, Isham Jones, Ben Bernie, Abe Lyman, Earl Burtnett, and banjoist Harry Reser and his various ensembles (especially the Six Jumping Jacks), and Al Jolson (whose record labels proclaimed him "The World's Greatest Entertainer With Orchestra").

Then based in Chicago (although they maintained an office and studio in New York), many of the city's best orchestras and performers recorded for Brunswick. The label's jazz roster included Fletcher Henderson, Duke Ellington (usually as the Jungle Band), King Oliver, Johnny Dodds, Andy Kirk, Roger Wolfe Kahn, and Red Nichols. Brunswick initiated a 7000 race series (with the distinctive 'lightning bolt' label design, also used for their popular 100 hillbilly series) as well as the Vocalion 1000 race series. These race records series recorded hot jazz, urban and rural blues, and gospel.

Brunswick also had a very successful business supplying radio with sponsored transcriptions of popular music, comedy and personalities.

Brunswick embarked on an ambitious domestic classical recording program, recording the New York String Quartet, the Minneapolis Symphony under Henri Verbrugghen and the Cleveland Orchestra under Nikolai Sokoloff (who had both been recording acoustically for Brunswick since 1924), and in a tremendous steal from Victor, the New York Philharmonic with conductors Willem Mengelberg and Arturo Toscanini. The popular records, which used small performing groups, were difficult enough to make with the photoelectric cell process; symphony orchestra recording, however, further exacerbated the problems of the "Light-Ray" system. Few orchestra records were approved for issue and those that did appear on the market often combined excellent performances with execrable sound. Brunswick found it expedient and ultimately cheaper to contract with European companies (whose electrical recording systems were more reliable than Brunswick's) to fill their electrical classical catalogue. Among the recordings Brunswick imported and issued under their own label (through an agreement reached with Polydor, Deutsche Grammophon's export branch) were historic performances conducted by Hans Pfitzner and Richard Strauss—the latter conducting critically acclaimed performances of his symphonic poems Don Juan and Till Eulenspiegel's Merry Pranks, recorded in Berlin in 1929–30. Some of these recordings have been reissued on CD.

Brunswick itself switched to a conventional condenser microphone recording process (licensed through Western Electric) in 1927, with better results. Prior to this, however, they had introduced the Brunswick Panatrope all-electric phonograph with electric amplification. This phonograph met with critical acclaim, and composer Ottorino Respighi selected the Brunswick Panatrope to play a recording of bird songs in his composition The Pines of Rome. Jack Kapp became the record company executive of Brunswick in 1930.[2]

1930s

In April 1930, Brunswick-Balke-Collender sold Brunswick Records to Warner Bros., and the company's headquarters moved to New York.[3] Warner Bros. hoped to make their own soundtrack recordings for their sound-on-disc Vitaphone system. A number of interesting recordings were made by actors during this period, featuring songs from musical films. Actors who made recordings included Noah Beery, Charles King, and J. Harold Murray. During this Warner Brothers period Brunswick signed Bing Crosby,[2] who was to become their biggest recording star, as well as the Mills Brothers,[2] Adelaide Hall, the Boswell Sisters, Cab Calloway, the Casa Loma Orchestra and Ozzie Nelson.

In November 1930, the new budget-line, Melotone, debuted, entering a field of lower-priced electrical records, including Columbia's Clarion, Velvet Tone, Harmony and the labels of the Plaza Music Company, such as Perfect, Banner, and Romeo. Melotone releases before the ARC takeover of December 1931 are not duplicated on these labels.

When Vitaphone was abandoned in favor of sound-on-film systems—and record industry sales plummeted due to the Great Depression—Warner Bros. leased the Brunswick record operation to Consolidated Film Industries, the parent company of the American Record Corporation (ARC),[3] in December 1931. In 1932, the UK branch of Brunswick was acquired by British Decca.

Between early 1932 and 1939, Brunswick was ARC's flagship label, selling for 75 cents, while all of the other ARC labels were selling for 35 cents. Best selling artists during that time were Bing Crosby, the Boswell Sisters, the Mills Brothers, Duke Ellington, Cab Calloway, Abe Lyman, Casa Loma Orchestra, Leo Reisman, Ben Bernie, Red Norvo, Teddy Wilson, and Anson Weeks. Many of these artists moved over to Decca in late 1934, causing Brunswick to reissue popular records by these artists on the ARC dime store labels as a means to compete with Decca's 35 cent price.

During much of 1932, Brunswick/ARC used a different microphone setup in their New York studios, which made records from 1932 sound very constricted with little bass. By the end of 1932, they apparently abandoned this setup and sound quality improved dramatically. Collectors have also long complained that Brunswicks from 1936–1939 showed a drop in sound quality as well as pressing quality, but in fact, those records had a wider groove than the earlier Brunswicks.

Since 1939

In 1939, the American Record Corp. was bought by the Columbia Broadcasting System for $750,000, which discontinued the Brunswick label in 1940,[2] in favor of reviving the Columbia label (as well as reviving the OKeh label, replacing Vocalion). This, along with the lower than agreed-upon sales/production numbers, violated the Warner lease agreement, resulting in the Brunswick trademark reverting to Warner. In 1941, Warner sold the Brunswick and Vocalion labels to American Decca (which Warner had a financial interest in), with all masters recorded prior to December 1931. Rights to recordings from late December 1931 on were retained by CBS/Columbia.

In 1943, Decca revived the Brunswick label, mostly for reissues of recordings from earlier decades, particularly Bing Crosby's early hits of 1931 and jazz items from the 1920s. Since then, Decca and its successors have had ownership of the historic Brunswick Records archive from this time period.[4][5]

After World War II, American Decca releases were issued in the United Kingdom on the Brunswick label until 1968 when the MCA Records label was introduced in the UK. During the war, British Decca sold its American branch.

By 1952, Brunswick was put under the management of Decca's Coral Records subsidiary. That same year, Brunswick resumed releasing new material, initially as rhythm and blues specialty label,[6] adding pop music in 1957.[7] Later in the 1950s, American Decca made Brunswick its leading rock and roll label, featuring artists such as Buddy Holly & the Crickets, with releases having backup vocals (by The Picks or The Roses) and labeled under the group name without reference to Holly. Hit records by Buddy Holly were released during the same period of his career on the co-owned Coral Records. The records released on Coral by Holly normally were without backup vocals, with the exception of "Rave On" and "Early In The Morning". In 1957, Brunswick became a subsidiary label to Coral.[8]

Rhythm and blues

 
Jackie Wilson's debut single was the first release of the current Brunswick Records.

Starting in the latter part of the 1950s and continuing well into the 1970s, the label recorded mainly R&B/soul acts, such as the label's leading artist in the late 1950s and early/mid 1960s, Jackie Wilson, and later on, the Chi-Lites. Jackie Wilson's manager, Nat Tarnopol, joined the label in 1957 as head of A&R.[2] Brunswick became a separate company and a unit of Decca in 1960 with Tarnopol serving as executive vice-president.[9] He acquired a 50% interest in Brunswick from Decca in 1964 and then the rest of Brunswick from Decca in 1969 to settle disputes with Decca management.

 
During the 1950s, the artists on Brunswick and Coral were interchangeable. This single by Buddy Holly and the Crickets, who were signed to Coral, was released on Brunswick.

Many of the recordings which established Brunswick as a major force in R&B and soul music in the mid-1960s and into the 1970s were supervised by producer Carl Davis in Chicago.[2] He joined the label after helping to revive Jackie Wilson's recording career with his production on Wilson's 1966 hit, "Whispers". Wilson and Davis collaborated the following year for one of the label's biggest selling singles, "Higher And Higher", which sold over two million copies (No. 1 R&B, No. 5 pop). The Chi-Lites recorded two No. 1 R&B hits in the 1970s for Brunswick, "Have You Seen Her" and "Oh Girl", both co-written and co-produced by lead singer, Eugene Record. "Oh Girl" also topped the Billboard Hot 100.

Davis formed a sister label, Dakar Records, in 1969, with Tyrone Davis (no relation) becoming its main artist and a major-selling R&B act. Dakar was first distributed by Atlantic Records for two years, but moved under Brunswick distribution from January 1972, after the company became independent from Decca.

Brunswick and Dakar artists included the Chi-Lites, Tyrone Davis, Jackie Wilson, Barbara Acklin, Young-Holt Unlimited, Gene Chandler, the Artistics, Otis Leavill, the Lost Generation, Walter Jackson, Erma Franklin, Linda Hopkins, Hamilton Bohannon, Lavern Baker, Sunny Nash[10] and Little Richard. Main producers for the labels, along with Davis, were Eugene Record, Willie Henderson and later, Leo Graham, while staff arrangers during the Chicago years included Sonny Sanders, Gerald Sims, Tom Washington, Quinton Joseph and Willie Henderson.

The Chi-Lites' "Oh Girl" was the label's only release from post-1957 to reach the top of the Billboard Hot 100, but Brunswick and Dakar managed to top the R&B chart a total of 10 times during the same period, six by Jackie Wilson and two each by Tyrone Davis and the Chi-Lites.

Legal problems caused Brunswick to become dormant after 1982, in which Tarnopol licensed Brunswick recordings from 1957 onwards to the special products unit of Columbia Records. Brunswick had its last chart hits in 1982.[11] Although Brunswick was eventually cleared of the charges, the situation, which had resulted in court action, left both the label and Tarnopol in financial difficulties. By then, Carl Davis and most of the artists had left the company. Tarnopol blamed his legal problems on a personal vendetta led by Lew Wasserman, the head of Decca's parent corporation, MCA Inc.[12] Tarnopol died in 1987 at age 56.[13]

Ownership

The Tarnopol family only claims ownership of Brunswick recordings since Tarnopol joined Brunswick in 1957.[14] Decca's parent company, Universal Music controls the Decca-era pre-Tarnopol Brunswick recordings (excluding the late 1931–1939 era, which is still controlled by Columbia Records' parent, Sony Music Entertainment). The Decca-era Brunswick jazz catalogue is managed by the Verve Music Group[15] (which is also part of Universal).[16]

The official Brunswick Records web site has a detailed history of the Tarnopol-era Brunswick Records. The label was revived in 1995 by Nat's children.[14] and many of the Chicago soul recordings have been re-issued in recent years. Brunswick's catalog is distributed by AMPED Distribution (a division of Alliance Entertainment).

See also

References

  1. ^ Laird, Ross (2001). Brunswick Records - A Discography of Recordings, 1916-1931 vol. 1: New York Sessions 1916-1926. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press. p. 49. ISBN 0-313-31866-2.
  2. ^ a b c d e f Colin Larkin, ed. (1992). The Guinness Encyclopedia of Popular Music (First ed.). Guinness Publishing. p. 354. ISBN 0-85112-939-0.
  3. ^ a b Barry Kernfeld The New Grove Dictionary of Jazz, London & New York: Macmillan, 1988 [1994], p.164
  4. ^ The Billboard, 29 May 1943, p.95. 1943-05-29. Retrieved 2014-06-29.
  5. ^ The Billboard, 23 August 1947, p.38. 1947-08-23. Retrieved 2014-06-29.
  6. ^ The Billboard, 13 December 1952, p. 27, col.5. 1952-12-13. Retrieved 2014-06-29.
  7. ^ Billboard - Google Books. 1957-03-30. Retrieved 2014-04-04.
  8. ^ Billboard - Google Books. 1957-03-09. Retrieved 2014-04-04.
  9. ^ The Billboard, 26 September 1960, p.6, col.6. 1960-09-26. Retrieved 2014-06-29.
  10. ^ "Sunni Nash". Discogs.com. Retrieved 17 August 2021.
  11. ^ . Brunswick Records. Archived from the original on 2013-03-07. Retrieved 2014-04-04.
  12. ^ McDougal, Denis (2001). The Last Mogul: Lew Wasserman, MCA, and the Hidden History of Hollywood. Da Capo Press. p. 439. ISBN 9780306810503.
  13. ^ . Brunswick Records. Archived from the original on 2013-01-07. Retrieved 2014-04-04.
  14. ^ a b Lichtman, Irv. "Brunswick digs into its vaults to release vintage R&B on CD". Billboard, 8 June 1996, p.6
  15. ^ . List-company.com. Archived from the original on 2014-04-07. Retrieved 2014-04-04.
  16. ^ "Universal Music Group Donates Over 200,000 Master Recordings to the Library of Congress", News from the Library of Congress, January 10, 2011

External links

  • Official site
    • Brunswick Records: From Brunswick to Warner Bros., Decca, et al.
    • History of Brunswick and Vocalion
    • Both Sides Now page on Brunswick's history and LP catalogue
    • Brunswick Records on the Internet Archive's Great 78 Project

    February 09, 2023
    brunswick, records, american, record, label, founded, 1916, founded1916, years, 1916, founderbrunswick, balke, collender, companydistributor, amped, distributiongenrevariouscountry, originunited, statesofficial, websitebrunswickrecords, contents, history, from. Brunswick Records is an American record label founded in 1916 Brunswick RecordsFounded1916 107 years ago 1916 FounderBrunswick Balke Collender CompanyDistributor s AMPED DistributionGenreVariousCountry of originUnited StatesOfficial websitebrunswickrecords wbr com Contents 1 History 1 1 From 1916 1 2 1920s 1 3 1930s 1 4 Since 1939 1 5 Rhythm and blues 2 Ownership 3 See also 4 References 5 External linksHistory EditFrom 1916 Edit Records under the Brunswick label were first produced by the Brunswick Balke Collender Company a company based in Dubuque Iowa which had been manufacturing products ranging from pianos to sporting equipment since 1845 The company first began producing phonographs in 1916 then began marketing their own line of records as an afterthought These first Brunswick records used the vertical cut system like Edison Disc Records and were not sold in large numbers They were recorded in the United States but sold only in Canada 1 1920s Edit A Brunswick record label from 1922 In January 1920 a new line of Brunswick Records was introduced in the U S and Canada that employed the lateral cut system which was becoming the default cut for 78 discs Brunswick started its standard popular series at 2000 and ended up in 1940 at 8517 However when the series reached 4999 they skipped over the previous allocated 5000s and continued at 6000 When they reached 6999 they continued at 7301 because the early 7000s had been previously allocated as their Race series The parent company marketed them extensively and within a few years Brunswick became a competitor to America s big three record companies Edison Records Victor and Columbia Records The Brunswick line of home phonographs were commercially successful Brunswick had a hit with their Ultona phonograph capable of playing Edison Disc Records Pathe disc records and standard lateral 78s In late 1924 Brunswick acquired the Vocalion Records label Audio fidelity of early 1920s acoustically recorded Brunswick discs is above average for the era They were pressed into good quality shellac although not as durable as that used by Victor General music director Walter B Rogers and his colleague Gus Haenschen lured significant classical and popular soloists into Brunswick s roster including Sigrid Onegin Marie Tiffany Michael Bohnen Mario Chamlee Richard Bonelli Giacomo Lauri Volpi and popular singers Al Bernard Ernest Hare and light voiced Nick Lucas Significant Brunswick instrumentalists included pianists Leopold Godowsky and Josef Hofmann and violinists Bronislaw Huberman and Max Rosen In the spring of 1925 Brunswick introduced its own version of electrical recording derived from the Pallophotophone system developed by Charles A Hoxie and licensed from General Electric using photoelectric cells which Brunswick called the Light Ray process These early electric discs have a harsh equalization which does not compare well to early electric Columbias and Victors and the company s logbooks from 1925 27 show many recordings that were unissued for technical reasons having to do with the GE system s electronic and sonic inconsistencies Only Brunswick and Vocalion records pressed at their West Coast plant bore the name Light Ray Process on the labels A Brunswick record label from the mid 1920s Once Brunswick s engineers had tentative control of their new equipment the company expanded its popular music recording activities exploiting its roster of stars the dance bands of Bob Haring Isham Jones Ben Bernie Abe Lyman Earl Burtnett and banjoist Harry Reser and his various ensembles especially the Six Jumping Jacks and Al Jolson whose record labels proclaimed him The World s Greatest Entertainer With Orchestra Then based in Chicago although they maintained an office and studio in New York many of the city s best orchestras and performers recorded for Brunswick The label s jazz roster included Fletcher Henderson Duke Ellington usually as the Jungle Band King Oliver Johnny Dodds Andy Kirk Roger Wolfe Kahn and Red Nichols Brunswick initiated a 7000 race series with the distinctive lightning bolt label design also used for their popular 100 hillbilly series as well as the Vocalion 1000 race series These race records series recorded hot jazz urban and rural blues and gospel Brunswick also had a very successful business supplying radio with sponsored transcriptions of popular music comedy and personalities Brunswick embarked on an ambitious domestic classical recording program recording the New York String Quartet the Minneapolis Symphony under Henri Verbrugghen and the Cleveland Orchestra under Nikolai Sokoloff who had both been recording acoustically for Brunswick since 1924 and in a tremendous steal from Victor the New York Philharmonic with conductors Willem Mengelberg and Arturo Toscanini The popular records which used small performing groups were difficult enough to make with the photoelectric cell process symphony orchestra recording however further exacerbated the problems of the Light Ray system Few orchestra records were approved for issue and those that did appear on the market often combined excellent performances with execrable sound Brunswick found it expedient and ultimately cheaper to contract with European companies whose electrical recording systems were more reliable than Brunswick s to fill their electrical classical catalogue Among the recordings Brunswick imported and issued under their own label through an agreement reached with Polydor Deutsche Grammophon s export branch were historic performances conducted by Hans Pfitzner and Richard Strauss the latter conducting critically acclaimed performances of his symphonic poems Don Juan and Till Eulenspiegel s Merry Pranks recorded in Berlin in 1929 30 Some of these recordings have been reissued on CD Brunswick itself switched to a conventional condenser microphone recording process licensed through Western Electric in 1927 with better results Prior to this however they had introduced the Brunswick Panatrope all electric phonograph with electric amplification This phonograph met with critical acclaim and composer Ottorino Respighi selected the Brunswick Panatrope to play a recording of bird songs in his composition The Pines of Rome Jack Kapp became the record company executive of Brunswick in 1930 2 1930s Edit In April 1930 Brunswick Balke Collender sold Brunswick Records to Warner Bros and the company s headquarters moved to New York 3 Warner Bros hoped to make their own soundtrack recordings for their sound on disc Vitaphone system A number of interesting recordings were made by actors during this period featuring songs from musical films Actors who made recordings included Noah Beery Charles King and J Harold Murray During this Warner Brothers period Brunswick signed Bing Crosby 2 who was to become their biggest recording star as well as the Mills Brothers 2 Adelaide Hall the Boswell Sisters Cab Calloway the Casa Loma Orchestra and Ozzie Nelson In November 1930 the new budget line Melotone debuted entering a field of lower priced electrical records including Columbia s Clarion Velvet Tone Harmony and the labels of the Plaza Music Company such as Perfect Banner and Romeo Melotone releases before the ARC takeover of December 1931 are not duplicated on these labels When Vitaphone was abandoned in favor of sound on film systems and record industry sales plummeted due to the Great Depression Warner Bros leased the Brunswick record operation to Consolidated Film Industries the parent company of the American Record Corporation ARC 3 in December 1931 In 1932 the UK branch of Brunswick was acquired by British Decca Between early 1932 and 1939 Brunswick was ARC s flagship label selling for 75 cents while all of the other ARC labels were selling for 35 cents Best selling artists during that time were Bing Crosby the Boswell Sisters the Mills Brothers Duke Ellington Cab Calloway Abe Lyman Casa Loma Orchestra Leo Reisman Ben Bernie Red Norvo Teddy Wilson and Anson Weeks Many of these artists moved over to Decca in late 1934 causing Brunswick to reissue popular records by these artists on the ARC dime store labels as a means to compete with Decca s 35 cent price During much of 1932 Brunswick ARC used a different microphone setup in their New York studios which made records from 1932 sound very constricted with little bass By the end of 1932 they apparently abandoned this setup and sound quality improved dramatically Collectors have also long complained that Brunswicks from 1936 1939 showed a drop in sound quality as well as pressing quality but in fact those records had a wider groove than the earlier Brunswicks Since 1939 Edit In 1939 the American Record Corp was bought by the Columbia Broadcasting System for 750 000 which discontinued the Brunswick label in 1940 2 in favor of reviving the Columbia label as well as reviving the OKeh label replacing Vocalion This along with the lower than agreed upon sales production numbers violated the Warner lease agreement resulting in the Brunswick trademark reverting to Warner In 1941 Warner sold the Brunswick and Vocalion labels to American Decca which Warner had a financial interest in with all masters recorded prior to December 1931 Rights to recordings from late December 1931 on were retained by CBS Columbia In 1943 Decca revived the Brunswick label mostly for reissues of recordings from earlier decades particularly Bing Crosby s early hits of 1931 and jazz items from the 1920s Since then Decca and its successors have had ownership of the historic Brunswick Records archive from this time period 4 5 After World War II American Decca releases were issued in the United Kingdom on the Brunswick label until 1968 when the MCA Records label was introduced in the UK During the war British Decca sold its American branch By 1952 Brunswick was put under the management of Decca s Coral Records subsidiary That same year Brunswick resumed releasing new material initially as rhythm and blues specialty label 6 adding pop music in 1957 7 Later in the 1950s American Decca made Brunswick its leading rock and roll label featuring artists such as Buddy Holly amp the Crickets with releases having backup vocals by The Picks or The Roses and labeled under the group name without reference to Holly Hit records by Buddy Holly were released during the same period of his career on the co owned Coral Records The records released on Coral by Holly normally were without backup vocals with the exception of Rave On and Early In The Morning In 1957 Brunswick became a subsidiary label to Coral 8 Rhythm and blues Edit Jackie Wilson s debut single was the first release of the current Brunswick Records Starting in the latter part of the 1950s and continuing well into the 1970s the label recorded mainly R amp B soul acts such as the label s leading artist in the late 1950s and early mid 1960s Jackie Wilson and later on the Chi Lites Jackie Wilson s manager Nat Tarnopol joined the label in 1957 as head of A amp R 2 Brunswick became a separate company and a unit of Decca in 1960 with Tarnopol serving as executive vice president 9 He acquired a 50 interest in Brunswick from Decca in 1964 and then the rest of Brunswick from Decca in 1969 to settle disputes with Decca management During the 1950s the artists on Brunswick and Coral were interchangeable This single by Buddy Holly and the Crickets who were signed to Coral was released on Brunswick Many of the recordings which established Brunswick as a major force in R amp B and soul music in the mid 1960s and into the 1970s were supervised by producer Carl Davis in Chicago 2 He joined the label after helping to revive Jackie Wilson s recording career with his production on Wilson s 1966 hit Whispers Wilson and Davis collaborated the following year for one of the label s biggest selling singles Higher And Higher which sold over two million copies No 1 R amp B No 5 pop The Chi Lites recorded two No 1 R amp B hits in the 1970s for Brunswick Have You Seen Her and Oh Girl both co written and co produced by lead singer Eugene Record Oh Girl also topped the Billboard Hot 100 Davis formed a sister label Dakar Records in 1969 with Tyrone Davis no relation becoming its main artist and a major selling R amp B act Dakar was first distributed by Atlantic Records for two years but moved under Brunswick distribution from January 1972 after the company became independent from Decca Brunswick and Dakar artists included the Chi Lites Tyrone Davis Jackie Wilson Barbara Acklin Young Holt Unlimited Gene Chandler the Artistics Otis Leavill the Lost Generation Walter Jackson Erma Franklin Linda Hopkins Hamilton Bohannon Lavern Baker Sunny Nash 10 and Little Richard Main producers for the labels along with Davis were Eugene Record Willie Henderson and later Leo Graham while staff arrangers during the Chicago years included Sonny Sanders Gerald Sims Tom Washington Quinton Joseph and Willie Henderson The Chi Lites Oh Girl was the label s only release from post 1957 to reach the top of the Billboard Hot 100 but Brunswick and Dakar managed to top the R amp B chart a total of 10 times during the same period six by Jackie Wilson and two each by Tyrone Davis and the Chi Lites Legal problems caused Brunswick to become dormant after 1982 in which Tarnopol licensed Brunswick recordings from 1957 onwards to the special products unit of Columbia Records Brunswick had its last chart hits in 1982 11 Although Brunswick was eventually cleared of the charges the situation which had resulted in court action left both the label and Tarnopol in financial difficulties By then Carl Davis and most of the artists had left the company Tarnopol blamed his legal problems on a personal vendetta led by Lew Wasserman the head of Decca s parent corporation MCA Inc 12 Tarnopol died in 1987 at age 56 13 Ownership EditThe Tarnopol family only claims ownership of Brunswick recordings since Tarnopol joined Brunswick in 1957 14 Decca s parent company Universal Music controls the Decca era pre Tarnopol Brunswick recordings excluding the late 1931 1939 era which is still controlled by Columbia Records parent Sony Music Entertainment The Decca era Brunswick jazz catalogue is managed by the Verve Music Group 15 which is also part of Universal 16 The official Brunswick Records web site has a detailed history of the Tarnopol era Brunswick Records The label was revived in 1995 by Nat s children 14 and many of the Chicago soul recordings have been re issued in recent years Brunswick s catalog is distributed by AMPED Distribution a division of Alliance Entertainment See also EditList of record labelsReferences Edit Laird Ross 2001 Brunswick Records A Discography of Recordings 1916 1931 vol 1 New York Sessions 1916 1926 Westport CT Greenwood Press p 49 ISBN 0 313 31866 2 a b c d e f Colin Larkin ed 1992 The Guinness Encyclopedia of Popular Music First ed Guinness Publishing p 354 ISBN 0 85112 939 0 a b Barry Kernfeld The New Grove Dictionary of Jazz London amp New York Macmillan 1988 1994 p 164 The Billboard 29 May 1943 p 95 1943 05 29 Retrieved 2014 06 29 The Billboard 23 August 1947 p 38 1947 08 23 Retrieved 2014 06 29 The Billboard 13 December 1952 p 27 col 5 1952 12 13 Retrieved 2014 06 29 Billboard Google Books 1957 03 30 Retrieved 2014 04 04 Billboard Google Books 1957 03 09 Retrieved 2014 04 04 The Billboard 26 September 1960 p 6 col 6 1960 09 26 Retrieved 2014 06 29 Sunni Nash Discogs com Retrieved 17 August 2021 The soul of the 60s and 70s Brunswick Records Archived from the original on 2013 03 07 Retrieved 2014 04 04 McDougal Denis 2001 The Last Mogul Lew Wasserman MCA and the Hidden History of Hollywood Da Capo Press p 439 ISBN 9780306810503 The soul of the 60s and 70s Brunswick Records Archived from the original on 2013 01 07 Retrieved 2014 04 04 a b Lichtman Irv Brunswick digs into its vaults to release vintage R amp B on CD Billboard 8 June 1996 p 6 Verve Music Group List company com Archived from the original on 2014 04 07 Retrieved 2014 04 04 Universal Music Group Donates Over 200 000 Master Recordings to the Library of Congress News from the Library of Congress January 10 2011External links EditOfficial site history Brunswick Records From Brunswick to Warner Bros Decca et al History of Brunswick and Vocalion Both Sides Now page on Brunswick s history and LP catalogue Brunswick Records on the Internet Archive s Great 78 Project Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Brunswick Records amp oldid 1121980686, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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