Los Angeles & West Coast

The “Recorded In Hollywood” label was founded in Los Angeles in 1948 by John Dolphin, a Black record store entrepreneur. The operation was centred on the Dolphin’s of...

Roy Milton was born in Wynnewood, Oklahoma, in 1907. His grandmother was a Chickasaw native American; Milton grew up on a reservation, later relocating to Tulsa. He joined...

R. Dean Taylor was a White Canadian musician who came to Motown in 1964 as a singer, songwriter, and then producer. His first three singles were released in...

Sam Cooke left Keen Records after three years to join RCA in January 1960. The obvious attraction was the opportunities offered by a big multi-national against those on...

During the two years following Sam Cooke’s tragic death in December 1964, RCA Victor released two studio albums, two compilation albums, and eight singles. Over subsequent years, the...

When Sam Cooke joined the Highway QCs in 1945, he was fourteen years old. He had been singing Gospel in church since the age of six! In 1950,...

In 1947, Jack Lauderdale founded Down Beat Records in Los Angeles. Two years later, the company name was changed to Swing Beat or Swing Records, and then in...

Keen Records was founded in April 1957 by two brothers, John and Alex Siamas. John ran a business manufacturing parts for the aircraft industry; he loved music but...

Big Town Records was set up by Bob Geddins in Oakland, California, in 1945. He established a base on the corner of 7th and Center Streets and also...

The Emotions were an all-girl group formed in Chicago in 1968, consisting of three sisters Sheila Hutchinson, Wanda Hutchinson and Jeanette Hawes. They had started out as a...