Miracle Records

Last updated

Miracle Records was an independent American record label, established in Chicago, Illinois, United States, in 1946 to record and issue rhythm and blues, jazz and gospel music.

The company was established in August 1946 by Chicago-born businessman Lee L. Egalnick (1921–2000). [1] [2] It released records by musicians including Rudi Richardson, Memphis Slim, Sonny Thompson, Piney Brown, Dick Davis  [ de ], Gladys Palmer, Eddie Chamblee, Al Hibbler, and Robert Anderson. [2]

In 1948, Memphis Slim's "Messin' Around", and Sonny Thompson's "Long Gone" and "Late Freight" all made No. 1 on the US Billboard R&B chart. (known at the time as the "Race Records" chart). [3]

Egalnick left the label in 1950 to found Premium Records, and his associate Lew Simpkins soon followed, closing the label down. [2]

The name was briefly used in 1961 by Motown Records [4] and later by unrelated record labels in Australia [5] and the UK [6] during the 1970s.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">T-Bone Walker</span> American blues musician and singer-songwriter (1910–1975)

Aaron Thibeaux "T-Bone" Walker was an American blues musician, composer, songwriter and bandleader, who was a pioneer and innovator of the jump blues, West Coast blues, and electric blues sounds. In 2018 Rolling Stone magazine ranked him number 67 on its list of "The 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chess Records</span> American record label (1950–1975)

Chess Records was an American record company established in 1950 in Chicago, specializing in blues and rhythm and blues. It was the successor to Aristocrat Records, founded in 1947. It expanded into soul music, gospel music, early rock and roll, and jazz and comedy recordings, released on the Chess and its subsidiary labels Checker and Argo/Cadet. The Chess catalogue is owned by Universal Music Group and managed by Geffen Records and Universal Music Enterprises.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Memphis Slim</span> American blues pianist, singer, and composer

John Len Chatman, known professionally as Memphis Slim, was an American blues pianist, singer, and composer. He led a series of bands that, reflecting the popular appeal of jump blues, included saxophones, bass, drums, and piano. A song he first cut in 1947, "Every Day I Have the Blues", has become a blues standard, recorded by many other artists. He made over 500 recordings.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Vee-Jay Records</span> American record label

Vee-Jay Records is an American record label founded in the 1950s, located in Chicago and specializing in blues, jazz, rhythm and blues and rock and roll.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rufus Thomas</span> American singer (1917–2001)

Rufus C. Thomas, Jr. was an American rhythm-and-blues, funk, soul and blues singer, songwriter, dancer, DJ and comic entertainer from Memphis, Tennessee. He recorded for several labels, including Chess Records and Sun Records in the 1950s, before becoming established in the 1960s and 1970s at Stax Records. His dance records, including "Walking the Dog" (1963), "Do the Funky Chicken" (1969), and "(Do the) Push and Pull" (1970), were some of his most successful songs. According to the Mississippi Blues Commission, "Rufus Thomas embodied the spirit of Memphis music perhaps more than any other artist, and from the early 1940s until his death . . . occupied many important roles in the local scene."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Little Walter</span> American blues harmonica player (1930–1968)

Marion Walter Jacobs, known as Little Walter, was an American blues musician, singer, and songwriter, whose revolutionary approach to the harmonica had a strong impact on succeeding generations, earning him comparisons to such seminal artists as Django Reinhardt, Charlie Parker and Jimi Hendrix. His virtuosity and musical innovations fundamentally altered many listeners' expectations of what was possible on blues harmonica. He was inducted into The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2008, the first and, to date, only artist to be inducted specifically as a harmonica player.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Checker Records</span> American record label

Checker Records is an inactive record label that was started in 1952 as a subsidiary of Chess Records in Chicago, Illinois. The label was founded by the Chess brothers, Leonard and Phil, who ran the label until they sold it to General Recorded Tape (GRT) in 1969, shortly before Leonard's death.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tyrone Davis</span> American musician

Tyrone Davis was an American blues and soul singer with a long list of hit records over more than 20 years. Davis had three number 1 hits on the Billboard R&B chart: "Can I Change My Mind" (1968), "Turn Back the Hands of Time" (1970), and "Turning Point" (1975).

The American Folk Blues Festival was a music festival that toured Europe as an annual event for several years beginning in 1962. It introduced audiences in Europe, including the UK, to leading blues performers of the day such as Muddy Waters, Howlin' Wolf, John Lee Hooker and Sonny Boy Williamson, most of whom had never previously performed outside the US. The tours attracted substantial media coverage, including TV shows, and contributed to the growth of the audience for blues music in Europe.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">I Second That Emotion</span> 1967 single by Smokey Robinson & the Miracles

"I Second That Emotion" is a 1967 song written by Smokey Robinson and Al Cleveland. First charting as a hit for Smokey Robinson and the Miracles on the Tamla/Motown label in 1967, "I Second That Emotion" was later a hit single for the group duet Diana Ross & the Supremes and the Temptations, also on the Motown label.

Albert Luandrew, known as Sunnyland Slim, was an American blues pianist who was born in the Mississippi Delta and moved to Chicago, helping to make that city a center of postwar blues.

Ann Sexton is an American soul singer who recorded mainly in the 1970s. Her biggest hit, "You're Gonna Miss Me", reached the R&B chart in 1973.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Billy Lee Riley</span> American singer-songwriter

Billy Lee Riley was an American musician, singer-songwriter, and record producer. His most memorable recordings include "Rock With Me Baby", "Flyin' Saucers Rock and Roll" and "Red Hot".

Sonny Thompson, born Alfonso Thompson or Hezzie Tompson, was an American R&B bandleader and pianist, popular in the 1940s and 1950s.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tarheel Slim</span> American singer

Allen Rathel Bunn, who was sometimes credited as Alden Bunn and who performed as Tarheel Slim, was an American singer, guitarist and songwriter whose work spanned gospel, blues, doowop, R&B, pop, and rockabilly. After singing in various gospel groups he became a member of The Larks before recording with his wife Anna Lee "Little Ann" Sandford, and then as a solo performer.

"Baby Face" Leroy Foster was an American blues singer, drummer and guitarist, active in Chicago from the mid-1940s until the late 1950s. He was a significant figure in the development of the postwar electric Chicago blues sound, particularly as a member of the Muddy Waters band during its formative years.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Delmark Records</span> American record label

Delmark Records is an American jazz and blues independent record label. It was founded in 1958 as Delmar Records and is based in Chicago, Illinois. The label originated in St. Louis, Missouri, in 1953 when then owner, and founder, Bob Koester released a recording of the Windy City Six, a traditional jazz group, under the Delmar imprint.

Terry Timmons was an American R&B singer who performed and recorded in the late 1940s and early 1950s in a style that was compared to Dinah Washington.

Premium Records was an American record label established in Chicago in 1950 by Lee Egalnick, who had previously run Miracle Records. Lew Simpkins, who had also worked at Miracle, joined Premium soon afterwards.

Edwin Leon Chamblee, known as Eddie "Long Gone" Chamblee, was an American tenor and alto saxophonist, and occasional vocalist, who played jazz and R&B.

References

  1. Houston Chronicle, "Obituary: Lee L. Egalnick". Chron.com, Accessed 19 November 2012
  2. 1 2 3 Robert Pruter and Robert L. Campbell, Miracle Records, article and full discography Archived 2009-04-27 at the Wayback Machine . Accessed 19 November 2012
  3. Whitburn, Joel (2004). Top R&B/Hip-Hop Singles: 1942-2004. Record Research.
  4. "Miracle Records". Motownjunkies.co.uk. October 2, 2009. Retrieved 11 February 2024.
  5. "Miracle Records (4)". Discogs. Retrieved 25 May 2018.
  6. "Miracle Records (2)". Discogs. Retrieved 25 May 2018.