Big 4 hits
| Big 4 hits records | |
|---|---|
| Parent company | Rite Record Productions |
| Active years | 1952 to 1958 |
| founder | Carl Burckhardt |
| Seat | Cincinnati, Ohio / Philadelphia, Pennsylvania |
| Genre (s) | Country , rockabilly , rock 'n' roll , pop |
Big 4 Hits , also called Big 4 Hits Records , was an American budget label based in Cincinnati , Ohio . Big 4 Hits only released EP records with covers of current hits. The name is based on it (Eng. "Four big hits").
history
Big 4 Hits was founded in 1952 by Carl Burckhardt as a subsidiary of his recording company Rite Record Productions in Cincinnati, Ohio. The headquarters of the label was 3930 Spring Grove Avenue in Cincinnati. Burckhardt's goal was to use Big 4 Hits and other labels such as Gateway Records and Kentucky Records , which also belonged to Rite, to make current hits available to financially weaker customers. He therefore used unknown, regional musicians, whose recordings were nevertheless often musically on the same level as their role models. Recordings for Big 4 hits were often published on other Rite labels, appeared under pseudonyms or one name was used for several musicians.
The label's first EP was released in 1952 with Wild Side of Life / Somebody's Stolen My Honey b / w Busybody / Wondering (Big 4 Hits # 10) by Preston Ward and Jim Watson, four country songs. Until 1953, only gospel and country appeared under the name , after which pop hits were also included in the repertoire. The later bluegrass star Sonny Osborne started his career here and Delbert Barker's first recordings also appeared on Big 4 hits. With a cover of the song Shake, Rattle and Roll (made popular by Bill Haley ) by Billy St. Claire on Big 4 Hits # 102, a rock and roll song was released for the first time in 1954. By 1958, more and more rock'n'roll covers appeared proportionally, so that in the end almost only rock'n'roll could be found in the catalog of Big 4 hits. Some of these recordings were re-released by Collector Records in the Hot Steamy Lovers: Rock 'n' Roll Covers series.
The Gateway label also introduced a short-lived EP series in 1955, the 17 releases of which appeared in the Big 4 Hits catalog. Some Big-4-Hits records have the addition of the label name and Queen City Records on the label .
1957/1958 Rite sold all budget labels, including Big 4 Hits, to a company in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, from which Big 4 Hits was continued for about a year. With the change of ownership, the record labels also changed from yellow to blue. The last EP appeared with Big 4 hits 591-4 in 1958.
Discography
Big 4 Hits only had one series that only released EPs. It started at # 10 in 1952 and ended at # 236 in 1958. The label changed its seat around the same time as the release date of EP # 212. The only release not recorded under this catalog system is Big 4 Hits # 591-4 from 1958. This may be the label's last release.
A list of all publications is not possible here due to their large number.