Capitol Records is a major United States-based record label owned by EMI, formally located in Los Angeles, but currently operating New York City as part of Capitol Music Group. Its former headquarters building, the Capitol Tower, is a major landmark near the corner of Hollywood and Vine.
History
1940s
The Capitol Records Company was founded by songwriter Johnny Mercer in 1942, with the financial help of fellow songwriter and movie producer Buddy DeSylva and the business acumen of Glenn Wallichs (1910-1971), owner of Music City, at the time the biggest record store in Los Angeles, California. Wallichs Music City record store opened in 1940 and was located in Hollywood on the corner of Sunset and Vine. It was the premier music store in Southern California for decades but closed in 1978.
Johnny Mercer first suggested the idea of starting a record company while he was golfing with Harold Arlen and Bobby Sherwood. He told them, "I’ve got this idea of starting a record company. I get so tired of listening to the way everyone treats music. I keep feeling they’re selling out. And I don’t like the way artists are treated either. Bing Crosby isn’t the only one who can make records. I don’t know, I think it would be fun." By 1941, Mercer was not only an experienced songwriter, but a singer with a number of records to his name. Mercer next suggested starting a record company to his friend Glenn Wallichs while Mercer was visiting Wallichs' record store. Wallichs responded, "Fine, you run the record company and find the artists,' and Mercer added, "and you run the business."
On February 2, 1942, they met with Buddy DeSylva at a Hollywood restaurant to ask if Paramount Pictures would invest in the new record company. On the Paramount deal DeSylva said no, but that he himself would, and he gave them a check for $15,000. On March 27 the three men got a statement notarized that they have applied to incorporate Liberty Records. In May they amended the application to change the name to Capitol Records. (citations for Feb. 2 to July 25, 1942, see individual day dates at #
On April 6, 1942, Johnny Mercer supervised Capitol's first recording session, recording Martha Tilton singing 'Moon Dreams". On May 5, Bobby Sherwood and his orchestra recorded two tracks. On May 21, Freddie Slack and his orchestra recorded three tracks, one with just the orchestra, one with Ella Mae Morse—"Cow Cow Boogie', and one with Mercer—"Air–Minded Executive".
On June 4, Capitol Records opened its first office in a second-floor room south of Sunset Boulevard. On the same day, Wallichs presented the first free record to a Los Angeles disc jockey named Peter Potter. Potter was so pleased Wallichs decided to give free records to other DJs, becoming the first in the business to do so.
On June 5, Paul Whiteman and his Orchestra recorded four sides for Capitol. On June 12, the orchestra recorded five more songs, including one side with Billie Holiday. On June 11, Tex Ritter recorded “(I Got Spurs That) Jingle Jangle Jingle” and “Goodbye My Little Cherokee” at his first Capitol recording session. They would become record #110.
On July 1, Capitol Records released its first nine records:
- 101—"I Found a New Baby"/"The General Jumped at Dawn"—Paul Whiteman and His Orchestra
- 102—"Cow Cow Boogie" with Ella Mae Morse and Freddy Slack and His Orchestra/ "Here You Are"– Freddy Slack and His Orchestra
- 103—"Strip Polka"/"Air–Minded Executive"—both with vocals by Johnny Mercer
- 104—"Johnny Doughboy Found A Rose In Ireland"/ "Phil, The Fluters Ball" - both with vocals by Dennis Day
- 105—"The Angels Cried" – vocal Martha Tilton and The Mellowaires/I'll Remember April" - vocal Martha Tilton with Gordon Jenkins and his Orchestra
- 106—"He Wears A Pair Of Silver Wings" - vocal Connie Haines/"I’m Always Chasing Rainbows" - Gordon Jenkins and his Orchestra
- 107—"Elk's Parade"/"I Don't Know Why" - Bobby Sherwood and his Orchestra
- 108—"Serenade In Blue" - Martha Tilton with Paul Whiteman and his Orchestra/"(I've Got a Gal In) Kalamazoo" - The Mellowaires with Paul Whiteman and his Orchestra
- 109—"Windmill Under The Stars"/"Conchita Lopez" - Johnnie Johnston
By July 25, "Cow Cow Boogie" had gone to #1 on the hit parade. (see dates at #
The earliest recording artists included co–owner Johnny Mercer, Margaret Whiting, Jo Stafford, Paul Whiteman, Martha Tilton, Ella Mae Morse, the Pied Pipers, and Paul Weston and His Orchestra. Capitol's first gold single was Morse's "Cow Cow Boogie" in 1942. Capitol's first record album was Capitol Presents Songs By Johnny Mercer , a three 78-rpm record set with recordings by Mercer, Stafford, and the Pied Pipers, all with Paul Weston's Orchestra.
The label's other 1940s artists included Les Baxter, Les Paul, Peggy Lee, Stan Kenton, Les Brown, western swing artists Tex Williams, Merle Travis and Wesley Tuttle, Benny Goodman and Nat King Cole.
Capitol was the first West Coast label, competing with RCA-Victor, Columbia and Decca, all based in New York. In addition to its Los Angeles recording studio Capitol had a second studio in New York City, and on occasion sent mobile recording equipment to New Orleans, Louisiana and other cities.
By 1946, Capitol had sold 42 million records and was established as one of the Big Six record labels. It was also that year that writer–producer Alan W. Livingston created Bozo the Clown for their new children's record library. Some notable music appreciation albums for children by Capitol during that era included Sparky's Magic Piano and Rusty in Orchestraville .
Capitol also developed a noted jazz line, including the Capitol Jazz Men, and issued the Miles Davis–led sessions called "Birth of the Cool".
Capitol released a few classical albums in the 1940s, some featuring a heavily embossed, leather-like cover. These appeared initially in the 78-rpm format, then on some of Capitol's early LPs (33-1/3 rpm) which first appeared in 1949. Among the recordings was a unique performance of the Brazilian composer Heitor Villa-Lobos' Choros No. 10 with a Los Angeles choral group and the Janssen Symphony Orchestra (1940-1952) conducted by Werner Janssen, Symphony No. 3 by Russian composer Reinhold Moritzovich Glière, and Cesar Franck's Symphony in D minor with Willem Mengelberg and the Concertgebouw Orchestra.
In 1949, the Canadian branch was established and Capitol purchased the KHJ Studios on Melrose Avenue next to the Paramount Pictures lot in Hollywood. By the mid-1950s, Capitol had become a huge company, concentrating on popular music.
1950s
The 1950s roster now included Frank Sinatra, Judy Garland, The Andrews Sisters, Jackie Gleason, Jane Froman, Wesley Tuttle, Ray Anthony, Andy Griffith, Shirley Bassey, Merle Travis, The Kingston Trio (who in 1960 would account for 20% of all record sales for Capitol), Dean Martin, The Four Freshmen, Al Martino, Dinah Shore and Nancy Wilson. There were also some notable comedy recordings, including several by Stan Freberg and the Yiddish-dialect parodies of Mickey Katz. The label also began recording rock and roll acts such as The Jodimars and Gene Vincent.
Many children became familiar with Capitol Records through the release of a number of Bozo the Clown albums, which featured 78-rpm discs and full color booklets which the children could follow as they listened to the recorded stories. Although there were a series of Bozo the Clowns on various television stations, Capitol used the voice of Pinto Colvig, who was also the voice for Walt Disney's cartoon character Goofy.
In 1955, the British record company EMI acquired 96% of Capitol Records stock for $8.5 million. Soon afterward, EMI built a new studio at Hollywood and Vine to match its state-of-the-art Abbey Road Studios in London — see the Capitol Tower below. EMI's classical Angel Records label was merged into Capitol in 1957. Some classical recordings were issued in high fidelity and even stereophonic sound on the Capitol label by William Steinberg and the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, Leopold Stokowski with various orchestras (including the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra), and Sir Thomas Beecham and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, as well as light classical albums by Carmen Dragon and the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra and a series of albums of film music conducted by leading Hollywood composers such as Alfred Newman. Eventually, most of the classical recordings were released exclusively on the Angel and Seraphim labels in the U.S. EMI reissued many of the historic Capitol classical recordings on CD. In 1955, with the advent of stereo, Capitol records changed its LP label from a purple large Dome Logo to a smaller dome logo on a black label with a prism surrounding the edges.
During the 1950s Capitol Records also introduced its series of "Hi-Q" production music LP's and tapes. Some television and film productions that made use of this extensive library included Gumby , Davey and Goliath , The Donna Reed Show , The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet , and the earliest Hanna-Barbera cartoons.
Capitol released a number of soundtrack rcordings in the 1950s, including the film versions of three Rodgers and Hammerstein musicals Oklahoma! , Carousel , and The King and I , as well as excerpts from Dimitri Tiomkin's music from Warner Brothers' Giant . All of these were later reissued on CD.
1960s
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