|
Donald's Encyclopedia of Popular MusicA B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y ZVEE-JAYLabel formed in Chicago '53 by Vivian and James Bracken and Calvin Carter; began as a gospel label with Maceo Smith (steady album seller) and the Staple Singers; among the few black-owned labels between Don Robey's Peacock in Houston and Berry Gordy's Motown in Detroit and almost became a giant, but foundered '66. Lou Rawls recorded with the Pilgrim Travelers; the Original Five Blind Boys of Mississippi were a classic gospel act; Langston Hughes's Black Nativity: Gospel on Broadway was a notable album. Biggest seller was probably Jimmy Reed, but Vee-Jay had hits with seminal vocal groups the Spaniels, El Dorados and the Dells (later also big on Cadet). Gladys Knight and the Pips saw one of their first big hits sold to Vee-Jay by tiny Huntom Records; meanwhile the group had been signed by Fury who sued Vee-Jay and won, then went broke: both Vee-Jay and the Pips lost out. John Lee Hooker, Jerry Butler, Dee Clark and the Four Seasons all had Vee-Jay hits; the Eddie Harris album Exodus To Jazz '61 was the first jazz album certified gold. But as the company got bigger it also got more expensive to run, and a firmer hand on the till was needed; one of Vee-Jay's stunts was to fly a planeload of Scandinavian female entertainers across the North Pole to a convention. This attitude to cash flow together with their biggest success helped to put them under: Capitol having turned down the Beatles, they were first released in the USA on Vee-Jay; if a small-to-middling company has a huge hit, it has to buy a lot of pressings in a hurry, and the money is too slow to come back from distributors. Vee-Jay was reactivated '92, singer/songwriter/producer Billy Vera supervising CD reissues. |