OKeh Records was founded by Otto K. E. Heinemann, a German-American, who set up a recording studio and pressing plant in New York City and started the label in 1918. A landmark OKeh release OKeh released mainly music by dance and jazz bands, until a blues singer, Mamie Smith, became the first African […]
Read More
Jerry Wexler is remembered for many things within the music industry, but perhaps the most significant of all is his invention in 1949 of the term Rhythm and Blues to describe the music being recorded by and for the black population of the United States, music which up until then […]
Read More
After touring with legendary Jazz artists such as Miles Davis, both men decided to venture into song-writing and producing. They created a music production team known as James Mtume and Reggie Lucas Music Productions, which operated out of Sigma Sound Studios in New York City, where they both gained fame […]
Read More
After the successful collaboration with James Mtume, Reggie Lucas branched out and began to write and produce material by himself. In addition to his own instrumental record “Survival Themes” (1978), one of the first solo projects he co-produced was Madonna’s 1983 self-titled multi-platinum debut album, including the million-selling single “Borderline”, […]
Read More
Nickolas Ashford and Valerie Simpson had staff positions at Motown, where they wrote and produced hits for Marvin Gaye and Diana Ross. During their stay at Motown, Valerie released a couple of solo albums which flopped, prompting her and Ashford to leave in 1973. From then on, the duo concentrated on making […]
Read More
The association of the Brunswick name with popular music goes back a long way. Brunswick-Balke-Collender, a company based in Iowa, was a manufacturer of pianos and sports equipment, that began trading in 1845. In 1916 they began making phonographs and then records too. In 1930, they sold their record business to […]
Read More
American Sound Studio was set up in 1964 at 827 Thomas Street, North Memphis, by producer Chips Moman and Don Crews. Moman had helped owner Jim Stewart develop Satellite Records and then set up in the new venue as Stax Records, but a dispute between them over royalties led to Moman leaving […]
Read More
The creative team of Holland-Dozier-Holland became the dominant and most influential songwriting and music production team of the 1960s. They were responsible for making Motown a globally powerful force in the music industry that was able to meet the challenge of the British invasion led by The Beatles and The […]
Read More
The late Billy Davis was born on July 11th 1932 in Detroit. He started his career in the entertainment industry as a songwriter with Berry Gordy in Detroit during the mid 1950s, creating successful songs for his cousin the late Jackie Wilson, under the pseudonym of Tyran Carlo. Billy Davis Their first major international hit was “Reet Petite” released […]
Read More
The analysis of the Sound of Detroit was made more complicated in 1970 by the first major successes for Invictus Records, which had been founded in Detroit by Motown’s former staff song-writing and production team Holland-Dozier-Holland in 1968. Two key members from the audio and sound team at Motown were […]
Read More