Vee-Jay Records

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. 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. 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 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), 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. Vee-Jay acquired the rights to some of the early recordings by the Beatles through a licensing deal with EMI Records, since EMI's American affiliate Capitol Records initially rejected issuing the Beatles records in America.

In the mid-1960s, Vee-Jay signed the former successful child singer Jimmy Boyd, known for the hit "I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus"; Boyd was then twenty-five years old. The company ventured into folk music with Hoyt Axton and New Wine Singers, and also picked up Little Richard 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 Don Covay, Bernard Purdie, Ronny Miller, Billy Preston, and Jimi Hendrix (before Hendrix became successful on his own).

Vee-Jay's jazz line accounted for a small portion of the company's releases, but recorded such artists as Eddie Harris, Wynton Kelly, Lee Morgan, and Wayne Shorter. The A&R for the label's jazz releases was Sid McCoy. The company also had a major gospel line, recording such acts as the Staple Singers, The Famous Boyer Brothers, the Argo Singers, Swan Silvertones, the Caravans, Dorothy Love Coates and the Gospel Harmonettes, and Maceo Woods.

Success

Vee-Jay's biggest successes occurred from 1962 to 1964, with the ascendancy of the Four Seasons and the distribution of early Beatles material ("From Me to You" b/w "Thank You Girl," "Please Please Me" b/w "From Me to You," and "Do You Want to Know a Secret" b/w "Thank You Girl" via Vee-Jay; EMI's Capitol Records picked up the U.S. rights for both the Beatles and Frank Ifield.) 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. 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. The Four Seasons' catalog was not included in the sale, as the band had negotiated a contract clause that would, in the event of bankruptcy, return the catalog to the band, 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 titled “Cradle of Rock and Roll" aired on PBS soon after its completion. It covered the history of Vee-Jay and Chess Records in Chicago, which helped to begin a revival of some interest in Vee-Jay's history and catalog. In 1986 Motown 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.

In July 2014 its catalogue was acquired by Concord Music Group. 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.

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 Ewart Abner 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. Exodus Records was also a subsidiary of Vee-Jay, focusing largely on gospel music releases (such as early Billy Preston recordings) as well as being the label for some reissues of blues and jazz records.

References

External links

Discography for Vee-Jay Records
The Vee-Jay Story - Both Sides Now website
Vee-Jay Records on the Internet Archive's Great 78 Project