SAR records
| SAR records | |
|---|---|
| Parent company | Abkco Records |
| Active years | 1959-1965 |
| founder | JW Alexander , Sam Cooke |
| Seat | Los Angeles , California |
| Sub-label | Derby |
| Genre (s) | Gospel , soul , pop |
SAR Records is an American music label founded by Sam Cooke and JW Alexander , which published in the genres of gospel , soul and pop from 1959 to 1965 .
Origin and history
When Sam Cooke realized towards the end of 1958 that his label Keen was only financed by his hits and kept afloat and also owed him a fee, he refused to make further recordings and, at the suggestion of JW Alexander, decided to start a music production company with him Follow to start your own label. Cooke and Alexander - both with no experience in the record business - took the opportunity in the fall of 1959 when the Soul Stirrers couldn't find a place at Specialty to sign them. With the support of the lawyer Walter E. Hurst and the guitarist and arranger René Hall, the label SAR Records was created. SAR originally stands for S am, A lex and R oy. Senior Roy Crain , the founder of the Soul Stirrers, should also be involved in SAR according to Cooke's will, as well as his brother Charles and Clif White , the guitarist in Cooke's band. However, Alexander wanted to wait for the label to start successfully.
The single releases started in 1959 with the Soul Stirrers on SAR-101 and ended with Patience Valentines SAR-157, which came out shortly after Cooke's death in late 1964. From 1961 to 1963, five long-playing records were also released on SAR. In 1963 JW Alexander founded the Derby sub-label, which was designed purely for pop publications. The first album by Billy Preston and an LP by Mel Carter were released as LP on Derby .
The first and only employee of the company from 1961 was Zelda Samuels , a white songwriter who also - well versed in the music business - handled the day-to-day business and acted as a co-author.
In mid-1963 disillusionment slowly set in. SAR was not yet a million seller , some artists stopped selling records, others came into conflict with the law. SAR was doing poorly financially, Cooke put his personal fortune into the company and didn't even skim off all the royalties due to him as a composer. At this point, Allen Klein stepped on the floor and arranged both Cookes and the business of SAR and Kags, Cookes music publisher. For this he founded a new record company Tracey Records (named after Cooke's daughter), which got the rights to all future recordings with JW Alexander as president. RCA , Sam Cooke's previous record company, only took over the distribution.
After Cooke's death in December 1964, his widow Barbara found herself overwhelmed with the business situation, silvered the fortune that Tracey Records had brought him and did not trust Alexander or Klein to continue the business. She eventually sold her Kags shares to Hugo Peretti and Luigi Creatore , Cooke's producers at RCA, who in turn sold the rights to Klein, as did JW Alexander. Since then, A llen & B etty K lein and CO mpany (ABKCO) has managed the rights to the Cooke catalog.
Artists and Achievements
The first release on SAR-101 was Stand By Me Father / He's Been A Shelter For Me by the Soul Stirrers, an adaptation of the Gospel Standards of Charles Albert Tindley at the beginning of the 20th century, the Cooke and Alexander to a pop ballad have remade . The lead singer for the Stirrers at that time was Johnnie Taylor , who also performed solo in April 1961 a. A. released the country song Rome (Wasn't Built In A Day) on SAR-131. The song was written by twins Beverly and Betty Prudhomme and polished up by Sam Cooke for SAR.
In addition to Johnnie Taylor, Kylo Turner (formerly lead Pilgrim Travelers ) and Johnnie "Two Voice" Morisette recorded on SAR. The latter had reached # 18 on the R&B charts with Meet Me At The Twisting Place (SAR-126). SAR's top-ranked release came from the Sims Twins , who climbed to # 4 on the R&B charts in October 1961 with Cooke's composition Soothe Me (SAR-117) in 22 weeks. The Valentinos reached # 8 in July 1962 with Looking For A Love on SAR-132. The Valentinos were previously known as the Womack Brothers.
The only SAR / Derby song to hit the pop charts was Mel Carter's When A Boy Falls In Love (Derby-1003) at # 44. Most of the label's recordings were released by the Soul Stirrers with Jimmy Outler after Taylor's departure on lead vocals. Also Rebert H. Harris , the predecessor of Cooke at the Stirrers published solo. The rarest edition of SAR is the live EP Nearer To Thee (SAR EP-105) from the Soul Stirrers and Sam Cooke. This EP was withdrawn due to contractual issues with Specialty.
Publications
The following singles and long-playing records have been released on SAR:
Singles
|
|
LPs
- 701. The Soul Stirrers - Jesus Be a Fence Around Me [1961]
- 702. The Soul Stirrers [1961]
- 703. Various SAR Artists - Gospel Pearls [1962]
- 704. Soul Stirrers - Encore [1962]
- 705. Sam Cooke and the Soul Stirrers - Sam Cooke & Soul Stirrers [1963]
Literature and Sources
- Peter Guralnick : Dream Boogie: The Triumph Of Sam Cooke , Little, Brown and Company, ISBN 0-316-37794-5
- The story of SAR on songsofsamcooke.com [2] . Retrieved September 25, 2009
Individual evidence
- ↑ Johnnie Taylor's SAR-131 at The "A" Side [1] . Retrieved September 25, 2009
- ↑ The history of SAR on songsofsamcooke.com, last paragraph Archived copy ( Memento of the original from June 14, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. . Retrieved September 25, 2009
- ↑ The SAR / Derby Records Discography at songsofsamcooke.com Archived copy ( memento of the original from June 14, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. . Retrieved September 26, 2009
