Hi records
Hi Records was an American music label founded in 1957 in Memphis , Tennessee by musicians Ray Harris , Bill Cantrell and Quinton Claunch together with music store owner Joe Cuoghi .
history
With the successful streak of Sun Records further labels were quickly founded. Ray Harris, former Sun artist, teamed up with two studio musicians, Quinton Claunch and Bill Cantrell, who were also employed by Sun, to form Hi Records. Joe Coughi was also brought into the shop. Hi Records specialized in R&B and Rockabilly and in 1959 they had their first hit with the instrumental Smokie Part 2 from Bill Black's Combo . The 1960s and 1970s were the most successful for the label, musically turning to soul and Al Green and Ann Peebles became international stars with Hi Records. In the first phase, Hi Records was known for a rock and roll instrumental party sound. From the end of the 1960s, the typical hi-sound was characterized by soul with extremely unusual vocal performances, while the instrumental background was kept extremely calm and minimalist.
After the death of label co-founder Joe Cuoghi in 1970, songwriter and producer Willie Mitchell took over his duties and formed an in-house backing band for the artists, the Hi Rhythm Section. Ray Harris left the label that same year and moved back to Mississippi. With the increasingly popular disco music at the end of the 1970s, the label's importance increasingly disappeared. In 1977 Hi Records was sold to Cream Records , which is now reissuing some of its most successful releases on CD under the original label name.