After moving to Hollywood in 1956, Dot Records bought many recordings by small local independent labels and issued them nationally. In 1957, Wood sold the label to Paramount Pictures, but remained in charge until 1967, when he departed to join Lawrence Welk in the formation of Ranwood Records.
In 1968, the label was acquired as part of the acquisition of Paramount by Gulf+Western, which transitioned it to recording exclusively country music and placed it under the management of Famous Music in 1971. Gulf+Western sold its labels to ABC in 1974. Dot was renamed to ABC-Dot Records before closing in 1978.
Dot's founder, Randy Wood, a veteran of the Army during World War II, settled in Gallatin, Tennessee. There he started an appliance store named Randy's, and began carrying records as an afterthought in 1947. Wood initially carried records in the classical and popular genres, but found his customers were asking for records of such rhythm and blues artists as Joe Liggins, Roosevelt Sykes, and Cecil Gant. They were staples of the playlist of Nashville's CBS Radio affiliate, WLAC.
After discovering that their records were only available only in limited quantities—and not in Gallatin—Wood formed a mail-order operation by placing a short advertisement with WLAC personalities "Hoss" Allen and Gene Nobles. By 1950, his record sales had far surpassed that of the appliances he carried and he renamed his store to Randy's Record Shop. As an extension, he formed a label named Randy's, which released "Gene Nobles' Boogie" by Richard Armstrong, and Record Shop Special, which had Gant on its roster.[2]
After Wood purchased local radio station WHIN, he and Nobles formed Dot, a more widely distributed label, whose first headquarters were in that station's building. Since WHIN was broadcast only in the daytime, recording sessions were at night when the station was off the air.[2]
One of the first artists he recorded was the young Johnny Maddox, who packed records for him at his store, and whose honky tonk piano style graced Dot Records for almost twenty years. Wood's roster of R&B artists included Ivory Joe Hunter, Joe Liggins, the Four Dots, the Big Three Trio, Brownie McGhee, Shorty Long, the Counts, and the Griffin Brothers, who had a top-10 R&B hit with "Darling Dear" in 1954. His country artists included Mac Wiseman, who had hits with "The Ballad of Davy Crockett" and "Jimmy Brown the Newsboy", and, more famously, Jimmy "C." Newman, who scored many hits on the label (the biggest being "Cry, Cry, Darling") before leaving for MGM Records in 1958. Wood also recorded such gospel artists as the Fairfield 4, the Gateway Quartet, the Golden Voice Trio, Rosa Shaw, Joe Warren, the Singing Stars, and the Brewsteraires.[2]
In 1956, Dot also made a noteworthy contribution to the Easy Listening genre by releasing a recording of popular music arranged by John Serry (Squeeze Play, DLP-3024, 1956).[3][4][5]
Paramount years
Dot Records logo after its sale to Paramount Pictures combined the original Dot script logo with the Paramount mountain and halo of stars symbol.
In late 1956, Wood signed Warner Bros. star Tab Hunter to a record contract after Chicago disc jockey Howard Miller suggested to Wood that he might want to sign Hunter, who was enormously popular and had just packed a stage show in Chicago with screaming girls. Wood asked if Hunter could sing, but Miller replied, "I don't know, it doesn't matter, I guess." Tab Hunter was the first to tell Wood that he could not sing a note. However, after giving Hunter the Ric Cartey tune "Young Love", Wood told producer Milt Rogers to repeatedly teach Hunter how to sing it until he finally reached the point where he could. The record topped the charts in 1957; Dot's release of a follow-up record from Hunter ("Ninety-Nine Ways") frustrated Warner Bros. chief Jack L. Warner, who retaliated by forming Warner Bros. Records and placing Hunter on the label as its first artist.[6]
In 1957, Wood sold the label to Paramount Pictures,[7] but he remained president for another decade. Dot (and Wood) then moved to Hollywood, where the label began to release soundtrack albums, including Elmer Bernstein's score for The Ten Commandments (1956),[8] a 2-LP set that played longer than the usual record album.
During the late 1950s and 1960s, Wood would re-enter the rock and roll market by licensing material from independent producers. Most of his acquisitions charted and became major hits, including leases of Sanford Clark's "The Fool" from producer Lee Hazlewood, Bonnie Guitar's "Dark Moon" from Fabor Records, the Del-Vikings' "Come Go with Me" from Fee-Bee Records, Jimmie Dee and the Offbeats' "Henrietta" from Bob Tanner's TNT Records, Robin Luke's "Susie Darlin" from Bertram International Records,[9]Lonnie Donegan's "Does Your Chewing Gum Lose Its Flavour (On the Bedpost Overnight?)" from Pye Records, the Chantays' "Pipeline" from Downey Records, the Surfaris' "Wipe Out" from the Princess label, and the Fireballs' "Sugar Shack" from producer Norman Petty.[7] The label's success on the pop charts would be negatively impacted by the success of The Beatles and the subsequent British Invasion, and there were times, between 1964 and 1967, when it could not place a song on the Billboard Hot 100 or the Bubbling Under Hot 100 chart or both of the two charts.[7]
Pat Boone had further success in the 1960s, registering a #1 hit in 1961 with "Moody River", then coming back in 1962 with a #6 hit with "Speedy Gonzales". He was one of the Big Three Dot album sellers of the 1960s, along with Billy Vaughn and Lawrence Welk, whose orchestra members, such as Myron Floren, Jo Ann Castle, Joe Feeney and Bob Ralston, released records alongside him in the 1960s. Welk and Vaughn in particular regularly appeared in the album top-twenty. Johnny Maddox, banjo player Eddie Peabody, Steve Allen, Louis Prima, Keely Smith, the Mills Brothers and organists Eddie Baxter and George Wright made many albums for Dot as well.[7] Known for artist loyalty, many of these artists stayed with Dot for over a decade, partly because Wood had a reputation for fairmindedness. His label was not impacted by any of the record industry scandals of the 1950s and Wood told a 1959 congressional hearing on payola that his books were open.[2]
Hamilton Records, a subsidiary, was founded in 1958 for rockabilly and rhythm & blues. It distributed Steed Records and the only two records from Carnival, owned by Herb Alpert and Jerry Moss. Two other subsidiary labels were created: Crystalette Records and Acta Records. In 1967, Dot picked up distribution of DynoVoice, owned by Bob Crewe, from Bell Records. Later in 1967, Randy Wood left Dot to found Ranwood Records with Welk.
Country music label
Dot's logo after Gulf+Western acquired Paramount. The Paramount logo was removed when Famous Music took over.
In 1971, Gulf and Western placed Dot under the umbrella of the Famous Music Group,[10] which included Paramount Records, Stax (until 1970), and Blue Thumb, with distribution of Sire (now owned by Warner Music Group) and Neighborhood, originally owned by Melanie Safka. By 1968, Lawrence Welk had acquired his portion of the Dot back catalog and subsequently reissued the material on his own Ranwood label.[11]
With the rest of the Famous Music Group, in 1974, Dot was bought by ABC, which had tried to purchase the label years before, and renamed it to ABC/Dot Records, a name it retained before the label was discontinued at the start of 1978.[12] The ABC/Dot headquarters became the Nashville office of ABC Records.
The ABC/Dot Records logo. The logo first read 'ABC/Dot' and the word 'Records' was added later.
The merger of the MCA Records and PolyGram Records families became the foundation for Universal Music Group in 1999. Currently, the Dot pop music catalog is managed by Universal Music's Geffen Records. The country back catalog is managed by the former Decca and Coral unit, which was rebranded as MCA Nashville, except for those by Roy Clark and Hank Thompson (owned by their respective estates).
Randy Wood died at age 94 in his La Jolla, California, home on April 9, 2011, from complications after a fall.
Geffen Records is an American record label established by David Geffen and owned by Universal Music Group through its Interscope Geffen A&M Records imprint.
Lawrence Welk was an American accordionist, bandleader, and television impresario, who hosted The Lawrence Welk Show from 1951 to 1982. His style came to be known as "champagne music" to his radio, television, and live-performance audiences.
MCA Records was an American record label owned by MCA Inc., which later became part of Universal Music Group.
Coral Records was a subsidiary of Decca Records that was formed in 1949. Coral released music by Patsy Cline, Buddy Holly, the McGuire Sisters and Teresa Brewer.
MGM Records was a record label founded by the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer film studio in 1946 for the purpose of releasing soundtrack recordings of their musical films. It transitioned into a pop music label that continued into the 1970s. The company also released soundtrack albums of the music for some of their non-musical films as well, and on rare occasions, cast albums of off-Broadway musicals such as The Fantasticks and the 1954 revival of The Threepenny Opera. In one instance, MGM Records released the highly successful soundtrack album of a film made by another studio, Columbia Pictures's Born Free (1966).
ABC Records was an American record label founded in New York City in 1955. It originated as the main popular music label operated by the Am-Par Record Corporation. Am-Par also created the Impulse! jazz label in 1960. It acquired many labels before ABC was sold to MCA Records in 1979. ABC produced music in a variety of genres: pop, rock, jazz, country, rhythm and blues, soundtrack, gospel, and polka. In addition to producing records, ABC licensed masters from independent record producers, and purchased regionally released records for national distribution.
Warner Records Inc. is an American record label. A subsidiary of the Warner Music Group, it is headquartered in Los Angeles, California. It was founded on March 19, 1958, as the recorded music division of the American film studio Warner Bros.
Ranwood Records is an American record label started in 1968 by Randy Wood and Lawrence Welk. Lawrence Welk owned all of the recordings that he released on Dot as they were produced and manufactured by Teleklew Productions and leased to Dot. These were repackaged for reissue on Ranwood. Welk did not own or buy those recordings he made for Coral and they continue to be owned by Universal Music.
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"Red Sails in the Sunset" is a popular song. Published in 1935, its music was written by Hugh Williams with lyrics by prolific songwriter Jimmy Kennedy. The song was inspired by the "red sails" of Kitty of Coleraine, a yacht Kennedy often saw off the northern coast of Northern Ireland and by his adopted town Portstewart, a seaside resort in County Londonderry.
Earl Thomas Conley was an American country music singer-songwriter. Between 1980 and 2003, he recorded ten studio albums, including seven for RCA Records. In the 1980s and into the 1990s, Conley also charted more than 30 singles on the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart, of which 18 reached Number One. His 18 Billboard Number One country singles during the 1980s were the third most by any artist in any genre during that decade, after Alabama and Ronnie Milsap.
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George Sylvester "Red" Callender was an American string bass and tuba player. He is perhaps best known as a jazz musician, but worked with an array of pop, rock and vocal acts as a member of The Wrecking Crew, a group of first-call session musicians in Los Angeles.
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Longhorns & Londonbridges is a 1974 album by B. J. Thomas, released on Paramount Records, during the time when rights to the Paramount Records name were owned by Paramount Pictures. It is commonly misidentified as Longhorn & London Bridges.
The Mills Brothers, sometimes billed the Four Mills Brothers, and originally known as the Four Kings of Harmony, were an American jazz and traditional pop vocal quartet who made more than 2,000 recordings that sold more than 50 million copies and garnered at least three dozen gold records.
Randolph Clay Wood was an American record producer and the founder of Nashville-based Dot Records, one of the most successful independent record labels of the 1950s and 1960s.
↑ Birmingham, Jed (March 22, 2006). "Beat Vinyl: Reports from the Bibliographic Bunker". Realitystudio.org. Retrieved November 14, 2007. The ultimate Beat Generation collectible on vinyl might be Jack Kerouac's Poetry of the Beat Generation on Dot Records.
↑ DeMara, Bruce (February 27, 2015). "Five things you don't know about Leonard Nimoy". The Toronto Star. ISSN0319-0781. Retrieved March 25, 2016. Leonard Nimoy, who died Feb. 27 at the age of 83, was more than his most famous character, Spock. He also wrote poetry, sang and loved photography.
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