Columbia Records

One of THE DISCO labels...

Columbia Records is the oldest label in the recording industry and was started already in 1888. The label originally sold and distributed Edison phonographs and phonograph cylinders in the DC area, it was from 'Disctrict of Columbia' the name Columbia Records were taken. They produced their own cylinder recordings and from 1893 they only sold and distributed their own produced equipment and releases. In 1901 the company started releasing their recordings on discs and they also manufactured the phonographs to play these new discs on. And just seven years later, in 1908, Columbia started producing double sided discs which gave the possibilities of giving the listeners double the listening pleasure. In 1912 they decided to completely abandon any new cylinder releases, but yet they kept selling and press cylinders out of their back catalogue for a few more years. In 1931 Electric & Musical Industries Ltd. (EMI) was formed by the merge of the English Columbia Gramophone Company and the Gramophone Company. Because of anti-trust reasons EMI had to sell the American Columbia operations to the Grigsby-Grunow company. In 1934 Columbia was sold to ARC [American Record Corporation] when Grigsby-Grunow went into bankruptcy. Then in 1938 ARC, with all it's sub-labels (incl. Columbia), was sold to Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS) [a company originally co-founded by Columbia Records]. From about the time Columbia had been sold by EMI until the time CBS took over, the Columbia label had become less and less important as those previous owners had other labels they prioritized. But with the CBS ownership the label saw a revival and CBS also invested new money in the label to make it successful. In 1948 the label was responsible for introducing a new record format, a soon to become recording standard, the 33 rpm Long Playing microgroove record - the LP was born. The new format is said to have been created because one of the labels executives wanted to be able to listen to the full movement of a symphony on one side of a record, without having to turn the record halfway through. In 1950 the other major US labels wanted to cash in on the success Columbia scored with the LP format and from that time on all labels were releasing LP records.
The 1950's was a successful decade for the label and in 1953 CBS started a sister label to Columbia, a label which was named - Epic Records. Here in the mid 50's the label's 'Walking Eye' logo was invented. The 'legs' should describe a stylus on a record (the 'eye') and is making a pass to the mother-company's classic logo with its eye. Then in 1957 Columbia started recording in stereophonic [stereo] sound, which was a great improvement in the sound experience. And again, as for the inventing of the LP, this was driven by the classical music with its full orchestrations. On came the 60's and in 1961 CBS formed CBS Records, their international organization for releasing and controlling the CBS owned labels outside of the US. In 1963 Barbra Streisand released her first solo album on the label and the label started to hook on to the rapidly growing Rock scene of the 60's and it soon became more of a Rock and Pop label. The success of the label followed into the 70's and for a while Columbia experimented with quadraphonic (four-channel) sound, as several other labels. But as the labels used different encoding methods for the process, no 'standard' could be set for the four-channel sound and in a few years all the labels abandoned the quadraphonic sound. In the mid 70's the Disco movement started, but surprisingly Columbia (as many other major labels), was late trying to cash in on the Disco craze. There was a few Disco 12-inch singles released during 1976-1977, must notable are probably hits like Emotions' "I Don't Wanna Lose Your Love" [#4 in the Billboard National Disco Action Top 30], Tina Charles' "I Love To Love", Willie Bobo's "Always There", "Gonna Fly Now (Theme From Rocky)" by Maynard Ferguson [#37], "Pipeline" by Bruce Johnson and the stage show singer/actress Linda Hopkins' "It's In Your Blood" [#19]. In 1977-78 Sam Weiss' SAM Records had some commercial paydirt and closed a licensing deal with Columbia Records. So during 1978-1979 Columbia released several very successful 12" Disco versions of SAM acts, including the international and Billboard number 1 smash hit - "Keep On Dancin'" by Gary's Gang. All the Columbia releases of SAM artists came with a 'SAM Production' credit including the SAM logo on the standard Columbia label. It was mainly two SAM acts that scored lots of hits and success for Columbia. John Davis & the Monster Orchestra sung "Ain't That Enough For You" as well as "Love Magic", "Bourgie bourgie" (a vocal cover of the Ashford & Simpson instrumental classic) and "Baby I've Got It", while Gary's Gang gave us "Let's Lovedance Tonight" and "Do Ya Wanna Go Dancin'" besides the already mentioned "Keep On Dancin'". Except for these 'SAM releases', not very many Columbia 12" Disco singles was released in 1978, but we all remember "Got To Be Real" and "Star Love" as sung by Cheryl Lynn. She would later also sing with another Columbia act, Toto, in their '79 classic "Georgy Porgy". But on the sister label, Epic Records, we could hear Melba Moore's Bee Gees penned "You Stepped Into My Life" and the Jacksons' "Shake Your Body" and "Blame It On The Boogie" [which was NOT written by the Jacksons but by the UK artist Mick Jackson]. As said above, apart from the co-operation with SAM, it wasn't until 1979 Columbia really started pushing out Disco 12" releases. And when Columbia got on the train they were un-stoppable and only in 1979 they gave us Disco hits and classics like; "Born To Be Alive" by Patrick Hernandez, "Boogie Wonderland" by Earth, Wind & Fire, Chicago's "Street Player", Janis Ian's "Fly Too High" and Jackie Moore's "This Time Baby", just to mention a few... Epic helped out in adding to the good figures by releasing Michael Jackson's Off the Wall LP from which both "Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough" and "Rock With You" became worldwide hits while Patti LaBelle had a Top 10 hit with "Music Is My Way Of Life" for example. Even other sub labels added to the 1979 success, ARC gave us Deniece Williams' "I've Got The Next Dance" and "I Found Love", while Blue Sky reached to #1 with "Relight My Fire" by Dan Hartman. Philadelphia International stated "Ain't No Stoppin' Us Now" as sung by McFadden & Whitehead and "Strutt Your Funky Stuff" - Frantique. A personal favorite, "High Steppin' Hip Dressin' Fella" by Love Unlimited, was released on Unlimited Gold. In the early eighties 'Disco Died', or at least it was this 'Disco backlash' with records burning and similar. We all know that Disco never really died, it only took new shapes, or in theory only new names, but 1980-81 didn't give us much 12" Disco from Columbia. But their friends at Epic had the Jacksons' with "Can You Feel It" and Billy Ocean singing "Nights" and "Stay The Night". Notable about Epic is that in the UK the label was responsible for releasing Swedish super-group ABBA, but they never had the rights for the material in the US, those rights were owned by Atlantic Records. In 1982 "It's Raining Men" for the Weather Girls, Eddie Murphy wanted to "Boogie In Your Butt" and Earth, Wind & Fire screamed "Fall In Love With Me". So Columbia was doing OK, but Epic would be doing GREAT... Because in 1982 they released the Thriller album by Michael Jackson, the biggest-selling album ever, including hits like "Billie Jean", "P.Y.T", "Beat It", "Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'", "The Girl Is Mine" [duet with Paul McCartney] and the title track - "Thriller". Next couple of years saw some great releases and specially I'd like to push a little for the wonderful 1984 album Snap by Peter Brown that included the three 12" singles; "They Only Come Out At Night", "Love Is Just The Game" and "Zie Zie Won't Dance", where the first two both were remixed on the 12"s by Jellybean. It's really a great album that is well worth checking out... The label has continued to release great music, but as it has not really been 'Disco' per say, I have chosen not to get into it further here. But some acts to mention from the Columbia roaster during the late 80's and throughout the 90's are; George Michael, Mariah Carey, Jennifer Lopez, Ricky Martin, C+C Music Factory and Jessica Simpson. Columbia and Epic are most likely the only CBS sub labels from the Disco days which are still active, but over the years (focusing, but not limiting to the Disco years), the following labels have at some point been related to the Columbia/CBS group; >> ARC [The American Record Company (ARC) was formed in 1929. Another longlived label which gained new success during the Disco era. Their greatest act was Deniece Williams, but also the Emotions were on the label.] >> Bang [Started by Bert Berns in 1965 together with Ahmet Ertegun, Nesuhi Ertegun and Jerry (Gerald) Wexler. The first letters of their names forms the label name: BANG. Van Morrison, Brick and Peabo Bryson were their most known acts.] >> Believe In A Dream [Small 80's label most known for Tyron Brunson's "the Smurf" but also Bobby "O" released his female act the Flirts' 1986 hit "Miss You" on the lable along with the Reddings, which was Otis Redding's sons; Dexter Redding and Otis Redding II together with their cousin Mark Locket. Look out for their brilliant "the Awakening".] >> Blue Sky [Someone once told me this was Dan Hartman's own label, not sure if that's true but Dan was THE artist of the label. "Vertigo/Relight My Fire", "Instant Replay", "This Is It"... They were all released on the label.] >> Bobcat [Label by Hi-NRG guru Bobby "O". Bobby had LOTS of different labels, but it was through Bobcat he released the very first (and the more Hi-NGR) version of Pet Shop Boys' "West End Girls".] >> Coast To Coast [Don't know much about this label except for that they released Kelly Marie's "Feels Like I'm In Love" and also some B.T. Express tracks.] >> Def Jam [Hip-Hop label founded in 1984 by Russell Simmons and Rick Rubin. The label is still active and their most known acts are Jay-Z, Nas, Public Enemy, Beastie Boys, EPMD and LL Cool J.] >> Epic [Originally founded by CBS in 1953 as a Jazz and Classical label. But over the years the label turned more into Pop, Rock and Disco/Dance with huge success. Epic's biggest acts include names like; Michael Jackson, Jacksons, Sade, George Michael, Wham!, Gloria Estefan, Miami Sound Machine, George Duke and Luther Vandross.] >> Handshake [New York Disco label most known for acts like Johnny Bristol and his hit "Love No Longer Has A Hold On Me", Revelation, Ronnie Jones & Claudja Barry, Amii Stewart, Karin Jones and Aneka's "Japanese Boy".] >> Invictus [Label created by Eddie Holland, Lamont Dozier and Brian Holland (of Holland-Dozier-Holland fame) in 1968. Most know acts were Freda Payne, Chairmen of the Board and New York Port Authority (NYPA).] >> Jet [A small record label set up by Don Arden in the early 70's. Most know acts were Electric Light Orchestra (ELO), Roy Wood and Ozzy Osbourne. They also released the soundtrack to the movie Xanadu with songs by ELO and Olivia Newton-John.] >> Mosaic [This mid 80's label even had CBS Associated Records in big letters on the vinyl label. There's also a Jazz label called Mosaic that started in the early 80's, but I think that label has no connection to this one. Michael Zager did a few recordings for Mosaic.] >> Pavillion [A label given to legendary Disco DJ and Remixer John Luongo by CBS. John got the name from a book called 'Far Pavilions', he then added another 'L' for Luongo and it became Pavillion. The label had a #1 hit with "You're Too Late" by Fantasy.] >> Philadelphia International [This Philly Soul label was founded by Kenneth Gamble and Leon Huff in 1971 and had a distribution deal with CBS until 1984. Gamble & Huff have, both separately and together, written and produced over 170 Gold & Platinum records. Acts of the label include MFSB, Three Degrees, O'Jays, People's Choice, McFadden & Whitehead and several others.] >> Portrait [The label started out in 1976 to be shut down in 1979 and then revived again in 1982 to once again be folded in 1986. In 1988 it came back as a Jazz label, but was folded again in 1990. It was then revived both in 1992 and 1999 before finally disappear in 2002. Most famous act was Cyndi Lauper.] >> Private I [The label had no really big hits but their most known acts were Bonnie Pointer (formerly of the Pointer Sisters), Staple Singers, Matthew Wilder and Michael Jackson's sister - LaToya Jackson. Cheryl Lynn, Evelyn "Champagne" King, Chi-Lites, Alphonse Mouzon and the Dells were acts who all briefly recorded for the label.] >> Rock'n'Roll [Label started in the early 1980's. The label seems to have been focusing on and was probably owned by "Weird Al" Yankovic with hits like: "Like A Surgeon", "Eat It", "I Lost On Jeopardy" and similar.] >> Ruffhouse [A Hip-Hop label started in the early 1990's by Joe "The Butcher" Nicolo. Ruffhouse was the label behind many major Hip-Hop acts like; Cypress Hill, Fugees, Lauryn Hill, Wyclef Jean, Schooly D and Kriss Kross.] >> Scotti Brothers [An Independent label that has also been associated/distributed via other major labels like Atlantic. In the early to mid 80's Scotti Bros. worked with CBS/Columbia and released hit music from the Rocky movies, tracks like Survivor's "Eye Of The Tiger" and James Brown's "Living In America".] >> T-Neck [This was Isley Brothers own label. It was originally founded in 1964 and they only released one single on the label before they got signed to Motown. They revived the label in 1969 when the Isley's had left Motown. T-Neck was originally distributed via Buddah Records, to later be moved to Columbia where they released several records and 12" singles including the hit "It's A Disco Night (Rock Don't Stop)"] >> Tabu [This R&B/Funk label was founded by Clarence Avant in 1976. Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis of The Time wrote many of the labels biggest hits and its most known acts were S.O.S Band, Cherelle, Alexander O'Neal and Brainstorm.] >> Unlimited Gold [Disco label founded by Barry White in 1976 which was folded in 1983-4. The label released material by Barry himself and his acts Love Unlimited and the Love Unlimited Orchestra.] >> WMOT [Funky Philly label where WMOT stood for 'We Men Of Talent'. It was owned by Steve Bernstein, Alan Rubens and David Chacker, who later sold the label to Michael Goldberg, Allen Cohen, and Jeff and Mark Salvarian. Later Larry Lavin joined the label as a partner and he used the label to laundry money, this brought the company down and it was folded in 1984. The label is most known for Frankie Smith, Fat Larry's Band and "I Really Love You" by Heaven & Earth as well as for Mel Brooks' "It's Good To Be The King".] In 1988 CBS Records and all its sub labels was acquired by Sony, to become part of the Sony Music Entertainment group and in 2004 Sony merged the music division with Bertelsmann to create Sony BMG Music Entertainment. The Columbia label, as well as Epic, still remains active but under the Sony BMG umbrella. It's nice to see that the worlds oldest label is still in business and the list of famous acts that has been recording for the label is LONG, including top artists like; Louis Armstrong, Benny Goodman, Bob Dylan, Pink Floyd, Leonard Bernstein, Barbra Streisand, Carlos Santana, Toto, Earth Wind & Fire, Bruce Springsteen, Bangles, Mariah Carey, George Michael, Celine Dion, Lauren Hill & Fugees and the list goes on and on and on...		Download the FREE basic RealPlayer... CLICK to hear some Columbia incl. various Sub labels songs... Give up the Funk B.T. Express Got to give in to love Bonnie Boyer Push push Brick Street Player Chicago Got to be real Cheryl Lynn Star love Cheryl Lynn Instant Replay Dan Hartman Relight my fire Dan Hartman I found love Deniece Williams I've got the next dance Deniece Williams Boogie wonderland Earth, Wind & Fire You're too late Fantasy Strutt your funky stuff Frantique Let's lovedance tonight Gary's Gang Keep on dancin' Gary's Gang It's a Disco night (Rock don't stop) Isley Brothers This time baby Jackie Moore Blame it on the boogie Jacksons Shake you body (down to the ground) Jacksons Ain't that enough for you John Davis & Monster Orchestra Bourgie, Bourgie John Davis with the Monster Orchestra Touch me in the morning Marlena Shaw Ain't no stoppin' us now McFadden & Whitehead You stepped into my life Melba Moore Don't stop 'til you get enough Michael Jackson I don't want to work today New York Port Authority Born to be alive Patrick Hernandez Music is my way of life Patti LaBelle Love is just (the Game) Peter Brown They only come out at night Peter Brown I love to love Tina Charles Georgy Porgy TOTO High steppin', hip dressin' fella Love Unlimited CLICK to hear some related songs... Dancing queen ABBA Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! ABBA Lay all you love on me ABBA Voulez-vous ABBA Blame it on the boogie Mick Jackson
Columbia Records was not among the first ones to hook up on Disco, but when they finally did... they sure released some good stuff. Even if Columbia never wanted, or intended, to be a 'Disco label', it still became one of the most important, especially when you adding up with all the Sub labels sharing the same matrix series. But again, for a label that was started in 1888 and a label that invented the LP, I guess you can't be first all the time. But let's hope Sony BMG keeps running Columbia to see its 150th anniversary. I think Columbia Records deserves and was; "Born To Be Alive"!

© Discoguy (discoguy@disco-disco.com) 2007-2009.
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