Sunflower Records was a Los Angeles, California-based record label founded by songwriter Mack David and music industry veteran Danny Kessler that operated from 1970 to 1972. The label was distributed by MGM Records. Sunflower issued fewer than 30 singles and a dozen albums.
Early in its operation, Sunflower obtained the rights to some 1966 vintage concert recordings by the Grateful Dead. They issued these as the albums Vintage Dead (SUN-5001) and Historic Dead (SNF-5004), both of which made the record charts. They followed the first Grateful Dead LP with another live set, Live At The Family Dog (SUN-5002) from popular performer Danny Cox, who reminded listeners of the folk era. Another artist was Randy Edelman, who would later find success in writing songs picked up by more famous artists such as Barry Manilow. Edelman's debut album, Sunflower SNF-5005, was released in 1971. [1]
Sunflower Records' first single, "Song Of A Thousand Voices"/ "You Can Cry If You Want To" (Sunflower 101), was by Fearless Fradkin a/k/a/ Les Fradkin and the third (Sunflower 103) was "Hippie Lady" / "Patty Cake" by the Yummies, both of which surfaced as regional hits in various sections of the US in fall 1970. By the time they reached #105, they came up with a fictitious artist called Daddy Dewdrop, who coupled "Chick-A-Boom (Don't Ya Jes' Love It)" with the children's tune "John Jacob Jingleheimer Smith". Surprisingly, the song "Chick-A-Boom," a wry sexual fantasy put to music, jumped into the national top-10, the biggest hit the label ever had. The Daddy Dewdrop album, which followed the successful single, was a light-hearted, if not lightweight, effort that sealed the fate of Daddy Dewdrop as a one-hit wonder, never to be heard from again. The follow-up single, "The March of the White Corpuscles"/"Fox Huntin'" (Sunflower 111), sank without a trace.
Other notable artists on the label included Jasper Wrath, Storm (featuring songwriter Larry Weiss), Tony Scotti, Frankie Laine and R.B. Greaves. The last single to make the charts was Sunflower 118, "Love Me, Love Me, Love" by pianist Frank Mills, which reached the top 50 in early 1972. Mills was to make a top-3 record, "Music Box Dancer," about seven years later on Polydor Records.
Warren William Zevon was an American rock singer and songwriter. His most famous compositions include "Werewolves of London", "Lawyers, Guns and Money", and "Roland the Headless Thompson Gunner". All three songs are featured on his third album, Excitable Boy (1978), the title track of which is also well-known. He also wrote major hits that were recorded by other artists, including "Poor Poor Pitiful Me", "Accidentally Like a Martyr", "Mohammed's Radio", "Carmelita", and "Hasten Down the Wind".
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).
Toby Keith Covel was an American country music singer, songwriter, record producer, actor, and businessman.
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.
Ross Andrew Wilson is an Australian singer-songwriter, musician and producer. He is the co-founder and frontman of the long-standing rock groups Daddy Cool and Mondo Rock, as well as a number of other former bands, in addition to performing solo. He has produced records for bands such as Skyhooks and Jo Jo Zep & the Falcons, as well as for those of his own bands. He appeared as a judge on celebrity singing TV series It Takes Two from 2005. Wilson was individually inducted into the Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA) Hall of Fame in 1989 and again as a member of Daddy Cool in 2006. Ross currently resides in the Melbourne suburb of Port Melbourne.
Paul Lester Overstreet is an American country music singer and songwriter. He began his singing career in 1982 with a self-titled album on RCA Records Nashville. From 1986 to 1987, he was a vocalist in the trio S-K-O, in which he had a number-one single on the Billboard Hot Country Songs charts with "Baby's Got a New Baby". After leaving S-K-O he resumed a solo career, charting a second number-one single alongside Paul Davis and Tanya Tucker on "I Won't Take Less Than Your Love". Between 1989 and 1992, he released the albums Sowin' Love, Heroes, and Love Is Strong. These albums include the number-one single "Daddy's Come Around" and nine other top-40 entries on the country music charts. Subsequent albums have been released independently on the Scarlet Moon label.
Holly Suzette Dunn was an American country music singer and songwriter. Dunn recorded for MTM Records between 1985 and 1988, Warner Bros. Records between 1988 and 1993, and River North Records between 1995 and 1997. She released 10 albums and charted 19 singles, plus two duets on the Hot Country Songs charts. Two of her single releases, "Are You Ever Gonna Love Me" and "You Really Had Me Going", went to No. 1 on that chart. Other songs for which she is known include "Daddy's Hands" and "Maybe I Mean Yes". Dunn's brother, Chris Waters, is a songwriter and record producer, having worked with both his sister and other artists in these capacities. Dunn retired from music in 2003, and died of ovarian cancer in 2016.
"Chicka Boom" is a popular song written by Bob Merrill. The song was published in 1953 and appeared in the 1953 film, Those Redheads From Seattle.
Richard Preston Butler Jr., better known by his stage name Rico Love, is an American songwriter, record producer, singer, and rapper. He was born in New Orleans, but split his childhood between Milwaukee and New York City's Harlem neighborhood. He attended Florida A&M and, while visiting Atlanta, worked his way into the music industry through connections with singer Usher, who became one of Butler's frequent collaborators.
Efraín David Fines Nevares, known professionally as Tito El Bambino, is a Puerto Rican singer and songwriter who rose to fame as part of the duo Héctor & Tito. In 2010, his song "El Amor", written with Joan Ortiz Espada, was awarded Latin Song of the Year by the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP). He was awarded Songwriter of the Year at the 2011 ASCAP.
Kenneth "Kenny" Nolan is an American singer-songwriter from Los Angeles.
The Chicks are an American country band from Dallas, Texas. The band consists of Natalie Maines and sisters Martie Maguire and Emily Strayer. Maguire and Strayer, both née Erwin, founded the band in 1989, with bassist Laura Lynch and vocalist and guitarist Robin Lynn Macy. They performed bluegrass and country music, busking and touring the bluegrass festival circuits and small venues for six years without attracting a major label. In 1992, Lynch replaced Macy as the lead vocalist.
Robert Ellis Orrall is an American singer, songwriter, and record producer. Signed to RCA Records in 1980, Orrall debuted that year with the album "Fixation". His first Top 40 single was "I Couldn't Say No", a duet with Carlene Carter. By 1990, Orrall had found success as a songwriter, having penned Number One singles for Shenandoah and Clay Walker. He returned to RCA in 1991 and charted the singles "Boom! It Was Over" (#19) and "A Little Bit of Her Love" (#31), from his first country music album, Flying Colors. Orrall then joined frequent songwriting partner Curtis Wright in the CMA-nominated duo Orrall & Wright, recording one more album and charting two singles. They split up in 1994, however, and Orrall returned to his solo career, writing singles for Reba McEntire, Taylor Swift, and Lindsay Lohan, as well as producing records for Swift, Be Your Own Pet, and Love and Theft. He also performs and records as an indie rock musician in the band Monkey Bowl.
Daddy Dewdrop is a pseudonym for the American songwriter Richard "Dick" Monda. He is best known for his 1971 hit "Chick-A-Boom ".
Les Fradkin is an American MIDI guitarist, keyboardist, songwriter, composer, and record producer. He is best known for being a member of the original cast of the hit Broadway show Beatlemania. In addition to playing MIDI guitar, he plays 12 string guitar, the Starr Labs Ztar, guitar synthesizer, SynthAxe, Hammond organ, Mellotron, piano, bass guitar, and Moog synthesizer.
Anjulie Persaud, known by the mononym Anjulie, is a Canadian singer and songwriter who has released one self-titled album, and has collaborated with Diplo, Zedd, Boombox Cartel, Kelly Clarkson, Lady Gaga, Nicki Minaj, TheFatRat, and Benny Benassi, among others. Her music has been featured on HBO, ABC, NBC and MTV.
Richard Delvy was an American music entrepreneur. He started in the music business as a drummer who played with The Bel-Airs and took his experience to broader appeal with The Challengers, who were in the forefront of the surf music explosion in southern California. He also worked as a composer, arranger, music manager, producer, and music publisher. He owned the rights to several iconic surf and rock songs including "Wipe Out", "Mr. Moto", and "Chick-A-Boom ". He is well known as being one of the first pioneers of surf music.
Vintage Dead is a live album by the rock group the Grateful Dead. It was recorded at the Avalon Ballroom in San Francisco, California, in late 1966, and released in October 1970.
Historic Dead is a live album by the rock group the Grateful Dead. It was recorded at the Avalon Ballroom in San Francisco, California in late 1966, and released in June 1971.
"Chick-A-Boom " is a song written by Janice Lee Gwin and Linda Martin and performed by Daddy Dewdrop. It was featured on his 1971 album, Daddy Dewdrop. The lyrics in the verses are spoken, rather than sung.