Decca Records began as a British record label established in 1929 by Edward Lewis. Its U.S. label was established in late 1934; however, owing to World War II, the link with the British company was broken for several decades.^[1]

The British label was renowned for its development of recording methods, while the American company developed the concept of cast albums in the musical genre. Both wings are now part of the Universal Music Group which is owned by Vivendi, a media conglomerate headquartered in France. The American Decca label was the foundation label which evolved into UMG.

Label name[link]

The name "Decca" dates back to a portable gramophone called the "Decca Dulcephone" patented in 1914 by musical instrument makers Barnett Samuel and Sons. That company was eventually renamed The Decca Gramophone Co. Ltd. and then sold to former stockbroker Edward Lewis in 1929. Within years, Decca Records Ltd. was the second largest record label in the world, calling itself "The Supreme Record Company". The name "Decca" was coined by Wilfred S. Samuel by merging the word "Mecca" with the initial D of their logo "Dulcet" or their trademark "Dulcephone."^[2] Samuel, a linguist, chose "Decca" as a brand name as it was easy to pronounce in most languages.

Decca bought the UK branch of Brunswick Records and continued to run it under that name.

In the 1950s the American Decca studios were located in the Pythian Temple in New York City.^[3]

Popular music[link]

US Decca label from 1934 (a late 1930s reissue label) featuring the band of trumpet star Henry Busse.

For a list of artists on the Decca label see List of Artists under the Decca Records label.

In Britain, Decca bought out the bankrupt UK branch of Brunswick Records in 1932, which added such stars as Bing Crosby and Al Jolson^[4] to its roster. Decca also bought out the Melotone and Edison Bell record companies. In late 1934, a United States branch of Decca was launched. In establishing the American unit, the founders bought the former Brunswick Records pressing plants in New York City and Muskegon, Michigan, which were shut down in 1931, from Warner Bros. in exchange for a financial interest in the new label.^[5] Decca became a major player in the depressed American record market thanks to its roster of popular artists, particularly Bing Crosby, the shrewd management of former US Brunswick General Manager Jack Kapp, and the decision to price Decca at 35 cents. The US label also brought back the discontinued Champion label (from Gennett), as well as a short-lived version of the Broadway label. The following year, the pressing and Canadian distribution of US Decca records was licensed to Compo Company Ltd. in Lachine, Quebec, a breakaway and rival of Berliner Gram-o-phone Co. of Montreal, Quebec. (Compo was acquired by Decca in 1951 although its Apex label continued in production for the next two decades.) By 1939, Decca and EMI were the only record companies in the UK. American Decca acquired Brunswick Records and its sublabel Vocalion Records in 1941 from Warner Bros., which had a financial interest in Decca.^[6][7]

In 1939, British Decca head Edward Lewis sold his interest in American Decca because of World War II. In 1942, stock in American Decca began trading on the New York Stock Exchange as Decca Records Inc.^[6] Therefore, the two Deccas became separate companies and remained so until American Decca's parent company bought British Decca's parent company in 1998. Artists signed to American Decca in the 1930s and 1940s included Louis Armstrong, Charlie Kunz, Count Basie, Jimmie Lunceford, Jane Froman, The Boswell Sisters, Billie Holiday, The Andrews Sisters, Ted Lewis, Judy Garland, The Mills Brothers, Billy Cotton, Guy Lombardo, Chick Webb, Louis Jordan (the #1 R&B artist of the 1940s), Bob Crosby, The Ink Spots, Dorsey Brothers (and subsequently Jimmy Dorsey after the brothers split), Connee Boswell and Jack Hylton, Victor Young, Earl Hines, Claude Hopkins, and Sister Rosetta Tharpe, the original 'soul sister' of recorded music.

In 1940, American Decca released the first album of songs from the 1939 film The Wizard of Oz. However, it was not a soundtrack album but a cover version featuring only Judy Garland from the film, with other roles taken by the Ken Darby Singers.

In 1942, American Decca released the first recording of "White Christmas" by Bing Crosby. He recorded another version of the song in 1947 for Decca; to this day, Crosby's recording of "White Christmas" for Decca remains the best-selling single worldwide of all time.^[8] In 1943, American Decca ushered in the age of the original cast album in the United States, when they released an album set of nearly all the songs from Rodgers and Hammerstein's Oklahoma!, performed by the same cast who appeared in the show on Broadway, and using the show's orchestra, conductor, chorus, and musical and vocal arrangements. The enormous success of this album was followed by original cast recordings of Carousel and Irving Berlin's Annie Get Your Gun, both featuring members of the original casts of the shows and utilising those shows' vocal and choral arrangements. Because of the technical restrictions of recording on 78 rpm records, none of these scores were recorded totally complete; they were shorter than cast albums made after LPs were introduced. But Decca had made history by recording Broadway musicals, and the influence of these releases in the recording of theatrical shows in the U.S continues to this day - in Decca's home country, the UK original cast albums had been a fixture for years. Columbia Records followed with musical theatre albums, starting with the 1946 revival of Show Boat. In 1947, RCA Victor released the original cast album of Brigadoon. By the 1950s, many recording companies were releasing Broadway show albums recorded by their original casts, and the recording of original cast albums had become standard practice whenever a new show opened.^[9]

Decca throughout the 1930s and early-to-mid 1940s was a leading label of blues and jump with such best selling artists as Sister Rosetta Tharpe and Louis Jordan (who was the best selling R&B artist of the 1940s). In 1954, American Decca released "Rock Around the Clock" by Bill Haley & His Comets. Produced by Milt Gabler, the recording was initially only moderately successful, but when it was used as the theme song for the 1955 film Blackboard Jungle, it became the first international rock and roll hit, and the first such recording to go to No. 1 on the American musical charts. According to the Guinness Book of Records, it went on to sell 25 million copies, returning to the US and UK charts several times between 1955 and 1974.

American Decca embraced the new post-war record formats adopting the LP in 1949 and the 45 rpm record around a year later while continuing to sell 78s.^[1] During the 1950s, American Decca released a number of soundtrack recordings of popular motion pictures, notably Mike Todd's production of Around the World in Eighty Days (1956) with the music of veteran film composer Victor Young. Since Decca had access to the stereophonic tracks of the Oscar-winning film, they quickly released a stereo version in 1958. Because American Decca bought Universal Pictures in 1952, many of these soundtrack albums were of films released by what was then called Universal-International Pictures.

In 1961, American Decca released the soundtrack album of Flower Drum Song, Universal Pictures's film version of the 1958 Rodgers and Hammerstein musical. In a reversal of the usual situation, in which American Decca had released original Broadway cast albums of three Rodgers and Hammerstein shows, this was the only film soundtrack album of a Rodgers and Hammerstein show ever released by Decca, while the Broadway cast album had been released by Columbia Masterworks.

The American RCA label severed its longtime affiliation with EMI's His Master's Voice (HMV) label in 1957, which allowed British Decca to market and distribute Elvis Presley's recordings in the UK on the RCA label (later RCA Victor).^[10]

British Decca had several missed opportunities. In 1960, they refused to release "Tell Laura I Love Her" by Ray Peterson and even destroyed thousands of copies of the single. A cover version by Ricky Valance was released by EMI on the Columbia label, and it went to #1 on the British charts for three weeks.^[11] In 1962, British Decca executive Dick Rowe turned down a chance to record The Beatles in favour of local beat combo Brian Poole and the Tremeloes.^{[citation needed]} Dick Rowe, head of the pop division, famously told the Beatles' manager Brian Epstein: "We don’t like their sound, and ‘guitar music’ is on the way out" (see The Decca audition), a historic mistake. Other refusals of note include The Yardbirds and Manfred Mann. Decca had earlier accepted London-born pioneer rock'n'roll singer Terry Dene, who was later known as the British Elvis Presley, and another Merseyside singer, Billy Fury. Delia Derbyshire, an early pioneer of Electronic Music and one of the founders of the BBC Radiophonic Workshop, was refused an interview for a sound engineer's job because Decca would not employ a woman in such a post.^{[citation needed]}

The turning down of The Beatles led indirectly to the signing of one of Decca's biggest 1960s artists, The Rolling Stones. Dick Rowe was judging a talent contest with George Harrison, and Harrison mentioned to him that he should take a look at the Stones, whom he had just seen live for the first time a couple of weeks earlier. Rowe saw the Stones, and quickly signed them to a contract.

Staff producer Hugh Mendl (1919–2008)^[12] worked for Decca for over 40 years and played a significant role in its success in the popular field from the 1950s to the late 1970s. His first major production credit was pianist Winifred Atwell. He produced "Rock Island Line", the breakthrough skiffle hit for Lonnie Donegan, and he is credited as the first executive to spot the potential of singer-actor Tommy Steele. Mendl's other productions included the first album by humorist Ivor Cutler, Who Tore Your Trousers? (1961), Frankie Howerd at The Establishment (1963), a series of recordings with Paddy Roberts (best known for "The Ballad of Bethnal Green"), numerous "original cast" and soundtrack albums including Oh! What a Lovely War and even an LP record of the 1966 Le Mans 24-hour race, inspired by his life-long passion for motor-racing. Mendl was a driving force in the establishment of Decca's progressive Deram label, most notably as the executive producer of The Moody Blues' groundbreaking 1967 LP Days of Future Passed. He is credited with battling against Decca's notorious parsimonious treatment of their artists, ensuring that the Moody Blues had the time and resources to develop beyond their beat group origins into progressive rock, and he also used profits for pop sales to cross-subsidise recordings by avant garde jazz artists like John Surman.

British Decca lost a key source for American records when Atlantic Records switched British distribution to Polydor Records in 1966 in order for Atlantic to gain access to British recording artists which they did not have under Decca distribution.^[13][14][15] The Rolling Stones left the label in 1970, and other artists followed. Decca's deals with numerous other record labels began to fall apart: RCA Records, for instance, abandoned Decca to set up its own UK office in 1971. The Moody Blues were the only international rock act that remained on the label. The company's fortunes declined slightly during the 1970s, and it had few major commercial successes; among those were Dana's 1970 two-million selling single, "All Kinds of Everything", issued on their subsidiary label, Rex Records.

Although Decca had set up the first of the British "progressive" labels, Deram Records, in 1966, with such stars as Cat Stevens and The Moody Blues, by the time the punk era set in 1977, Decca had pop success with such acts as John Miles, novelty creation Father Abraham and The Smurfs, and productions by longtime Decca associate Jonathan King. King had a hit, "Everyone's Gone to the Moon", on Decca, while he was an undergraduate at Trinity College, Cambridge, Sir Edward Lewis's alma mater; they became good friends and Lewis adopted King as his "mascot", allowing him to run the label in all but name twice for long periods of time.^[16] Decca became dependent on re-releases from its back catalogue. Contemporary signings, such as Slaughter & The Dogs and the pre-stardom Adam and the Ants (whose sole single with Decca, Young Parisians, would later be a UK Top 10 hit on the back of the band's success at CBS),^[17][18] were second division when compared to the likes of PolyGram, CBS, EMI, and newcomer Virgin's rosters of hitmakers.

Spoken word[link]

American Decca also released several notable spoken word albums, such as a recording of Charles Dickens's A Christmas Carol starring Ronald Colman as Scrooge, and a recording of the Christmas chapter from The Pickwick Papers read by Charles Laughton. These two separate 78-RPM albums were later combined onto one LP. Other spoken word albums included Lullaby of Christmas, narrated by Gregory Peck, a twenty minute version of Moby Dick, with Charles Laughton as Captain Ahab, and The Littlest Angel, narrated by Loretta Young. British Decca released on LP, in 1968, the most complete version of Man of La Mancha ever put on vinyl records, a 2-LP album featuring most of the dialogue and all of the songs, performed by the show's original London cast. Keith Michell starred as Don Quixote and Cervantes, and Joan Diener was Aldonza/Dulcinea.

Country music[link]

In 1934, Jack Kapp established a country & western line for the new Decca label by signing Frank Luther, Sons of the Pioneers, Stuart Hamblen, The Ranch Boys, and other popular acts based in both New York and Los Angeles. Louisiana singer/composer Jimmie Davis began recording for Decca the same year, joined by western vocalists Jimmy Wakely and Roy Rogers in 1940.^{[citation needed]} From the late 1940s on, the US arm of Decca had a sizable roster of Country artists, including Kitty Wells, Johnny Wright, Ernest Tubb, Webb Pierce, Wilburn Brothers, Bobbejaan Schoepen, and Red Foley. In the late 1950s, Patsy Cline was signed to the US Decca label from 4 Star Records. As part of a leasing deal, Patsy's contract was owned by 4 Star; though she recorded for Decca as part of this deal, she recorded an album but saw little money. In 1960, she signed with Decca outright and released two more albums and numerous singles while she was alive and several more albums and singles produced after her untimely death in a 1963 plane crash. The Wilburn Brothers were ultimately signed to a lifetime contract with Decca. Doyle Wilburn of the Wilburn Brothers obtained a recording contract for Loretta Lynn who signed to Decca in the early 1960s and remained with the label for the next several decades. Owen Bradley was the A&R man for all of these artists. Decca quickly became the main rival of RCA Records as the top label for American country music by the early 1950s and remained so for decades.

Decca's country music branch was revived in 1994, with Dawn Sears being the first act signed to the newly-reformed label.^[19] Other artists signed to the label would include Rhett Akins, Gary Allan, Mark Chesnutt, and Lee Ann Womack; of these, all but Sears would be shifted to the MCA Nashville roster after parent Universal Music absorbed PolyGram in 1998 and shut down Decca Nashville.

In 2008, the Decca country division was revived, with One Flew South becoming the first act signed to the newly re-established label.

Classical music[link]

In classical music, Decca had a long way to go from its modest beginnings to catch up with the established HMV and Columbia labels (later merged as EMI). Decca's emergence as a major classical label may be attributed to three concurrent events: the emphasis on technical innovation (first the development of the FFRR technique, then the early use of stereophonic recording), the introduction of the long-playing record, and the recruitment of John Culshaw to Decca's London office.

For many years, Decca's British classical recordings were issued in the US under the London Records label because British Decca was not allowed to use its name there, there already being an American Decca. When the MCA and PolyGram labels merged in 1999 and created Universal Music, the practice was eliminated.

Decca released the stereo recordings of Ernest Ansermet conducting L'Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, including, in 1959, the first stereo LP album of the complete Nutcracker, as well as Ansermet's only stereo version of Manuel de Falla's The Three-Cornered Hat, which the conductor had led at its first performance in 1919.

The pre-war classical repertoire on Decca was not extensive, but was select. The 3-disc 1929 recording of Delius's Sea Drift, arising from the Delius Festival that year, suffered by being crammed onto six sides and was withdrawn before 1936, probably as a result of the standardisation on 78 revolutions per minute. However, it won Decca the loyalty of the baritone Roy Henderson, who went on to record for them the first complete Dido and Aeneas of Purcell with Nancy Evans and the Boyd Neel ensemble (Purcell Club, 14 sides, pre-1936); and Henderson's famous pupil Kathleen Ferrier was recorded and issued by Decca through the period of transition from 78 to LP (1946–1952). Heinrich Schlusnus made important pre-war lieder recordings for Decca.

John Culshaw, who joined Decca in 1946 in a junior post, rapidly became a senior producer of classical recordings. He revolutionised recording – of opera, in particular. Hitherto, the practice had been to put microphones in front of the performers and simply record what they performed. Culshaw was determined to make recordings that would be ‘a theatre of the mind’, making the listener's experience at home not second best to being in the opera house, but a wholly different experience. To that end he got the singers to move about in the studio as they would onstage, used discreet sound effects and different acoustics, and recorded in long continuous takes. His skill, coupled with Decca engineering, took Decca into the first flight of recording companies. His pioneering recording (begun in 1958) of Wagner's Der Ring des Nibelungen conducted by Georg Solti was a huge artistic and commercial success (to the chagrin of other companies). In the wake of Decca's lead, artists such as Herbert von Karajan, Joan Sutherland and later Luciano Pavarotti were keen to join the company's roster.

Until 1947, American Decca issued British Decca classical music recordings. Afterwards, British Decca took over distribution through its new American subsidiary London Records. American Decca actively re-entered the classical music field in 1950 with distribution deals from Deutsche Grammophon and Parlophone.^[20] American Decca began issuing its own classical music recordings in 1956 when Israel Horowitz joined Decca to head its classical music operations.^[21] Among the classical recordings released on Decca's "Gold Label" series^[22] were albums by Leroy Anderson, the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra conducted by Max Rudolf and guitarist Andrés Segovia. American Decca shut down its classical music department in 1971.^[23] Today Decca makes fewer major classical recordings, but still has a full roster of stars including, Cecilia Bartoli and Renée Fleming. Its back catalogue remains one of the glories of classical music. The Solti Ring was voted best recording of all time by readers of the influential magazine The Gramophone^{[citation needed]} and Luciano Pavarotti remained an exclusive Decca artist throughout his recording career.

Technology developments[link]

ffrr[link]

ffrr (full frequency range recording) was a spin-off devised by Arthur Haddy^[24] of British Decca's development during the Second World War of a high fidelity hydrophone capable of detecting and cataloging individual German submarines by each one's signature engine noise, and enabled a greatly enhanced frequency range (high and low notes) to be captured on recordings.^[25] Critics regularly commented on the startling realism of the new Decca recordings. The frequency range of ffrr was 80–15000 Hz, with a signal-to-noise ratio of 60dB. While Decca's early ffrr releases on 78-rpm discs had some noticeable surface noise, which diminished the effects of the high fidelity sound, the introduction of long-playing records in 1949 made better use of the new technology and set an industry standard that was quickly imitated by Decca's competitors. Nonetheless titles first issued on 78rpm remained in that form in the Decca catalogues into the early 1950s. The ffrr technique became internationally accepted and considered a standard. The Ernest Ansermet recording of Stravinsky's Petrushka was key in the development of full frequency range records and alerting the listening public to high fidelity in 1946.^[26]

The LP[link]

The Long-Playing record was launched in the USA in 1948 by Columbia Records (not connected with the British company of the same name at the time). It enabled recordings to play for up to half an hour without a break, compared with the 3 to 5 minutes playing time of the existing records. The new records were made of vinyl (the old discs were made of brittle shellac), which enabled the ffrr recordings to be transferred to disc very realistically. In both the UK and the US Decca took up the LP promptly and enthusiastically, in 1949,^[27] giving the British arm an enormous advantage over EMI, which for some years tried to stick exclusively to the old format, thereby forfeiting competitive advantage to Decca, both artistically and financially.

British Decca recorded high fidelity versions of all the symphonies of Ralph Vaughan Williams except for the ninth, under the personal supervision of the composer, with Sir Adrian Boult and the London Philharmonic Orchestra. Benjamin Britten conducted recordings of many of his compositions for Decca, from the 1940s through the 1970s; most of these recordings have been reissued on CD.

Stereo (ffss)[link]

The British Decca recording engineers Arthur Haddy, Roy Wallace and Kenneth Wilkinson developed in 1954 the famous Decca tree, a stereo microphone recording system for big orchestras. Decca started recording in stereo on 14–28 May 1954, in Victoria Hall in Geneva, the first European record company to do so, only three months after RCA Victor began recording in stereo in the U.S. Decca archives show that Ernest Ansermet and the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande recorded Tamara by Mily Balakirev; the overture to Benvenuto Cellini by Hector Berlioz; Stenka Razin by Alexander Glazunov; and Anatoly Liadov's Baba-Yaga, Eight Russian Folksongs, and Kikimora. These performances were initially issued only in monaural sound; the stereo versions were finally issued in the 1960s as part of the "Stereo Treasury" series.^[28] The Decca Stereo format was called (in succession to ffrr), "ffss", i.e. "full frequency stereophonic sound". with most competitors not using stereo until 1957, the new technique was a distinctive feature of Decca's. Even after stereo became standard and into the 1970s, Decca boasted a special, spectacular sound quality, characterised by aggressive use of the highest and lowest frequencies, daring use of tape saturation and out-of-phase sound to convey a lively and impactful hall ambiance, plus considerable bar-to-bar rebalancing by the recording staff of orchestral voices, known as "spotlighting." In the 1960s and 1970s, the company developed its "Phase 4" process which produced even greater sonic impact through even more interventionist engineering techniques. Big-band leader Ted Heath was an early pioneer of the Decca "Phase 4" sound. Decca recorded some quadrophonic masters that were released in Sansui's quadraphonic system called QS Regular Matrix.

Digital recording & mastering[link]

Starting in the late 1970s, British Decca developed their own digital audio recorders used in-house for recording, mixing, editing, and mastering albums. Each recorder consisted of a modified IVC model 826P open-reel 1-inch VTR, connected to a custom codec unit with time code capability (using a proprietary time code developed by Decca), as well as outboard DAC and ADC units connected to the codec unit. The codec recorded audio to tape in 16 bits (although later versions of the system used 20 bits). With the exception of the IVC VTRs (which were modified to Decca's specifications by IVC's UK division in Reading), all the electronics for these systems were developed and manufactured in-house by Decca (and by contractors to them as well). These digital systems were used for mastering most of Decca's classical music releases to both LP and CD, and were used well into the late 1990s. After the start of the new century, Decca became actively involved in pioneering a new generation of high-resolution and multi-channel recordings, including "Super Audio CD" (SACD) and "DVD-Audio" (DVD-A) formats. Decca is now routinely mastering new recordings in these formats.

Decca Special Products[link]

Decca Special Products developed a number of products for the audio marketplace. These include:

• The Decca Ribbon Tweeter
• Decca London phonograph cartridges: The Decca phono cartridges were a unique design, with fixed magnets and coils. The stylus shaft was composed of the diamond tip, a short piece of soft iron, and an L-shaped cantilever made of non-magnetic steel. Since the iron was placed very close to the tip (within 1 mm), the motions of the tip could be tracked very accurately. Decca engineers called this "positive scanning". Vertical and lateral compliance was controlled by the shape and thickness of the cantilever. Decca cartridges had a reputation for being very musical; however, early versions required more tracking force than competitive designs - making record wear a concern
• The Decca International tone arm: The Decca International tone arms were fluid-damped unipivot designs. They were designed to complement the Decca phono cartridges. They would enjoy a brief renaissance in the 21st century as they were almost a drop-in replacement for the pick-up arms of Lenco GL75 record turntables from the 1970s. The arm damping was via a viscous silicon fluid held in a well, and magnetic repelling force supported the arm, and provided anti-skate (bias compensation). New Old Stock arms rapidly sold out by 2008 as vintage hifi enthusiasts sought them for refurbishment projects.
• The Decca Record Brush.

Decca Special Products was spun off, and is now known as London Decca.

The American branch of Decca also marketed its own line of home audio equipment.^[29]

Later history[link]

American Decca bought Universal-International in 1952, and eventually merged with MCA in 1962, becoming a subsidiary company under MCA. Dissatisfied with American Decca's promotion of British Decca recordings and because American Decca held the rights to the name Decca in the US and Canada, British Decca sold its records in the United States and Canada under the label London Records beginning in 1947. In Britain, London Records became a mighty catch-all licensing label for foreign recordings from the nascent post-WW II American independent and semi-major labels such as Cadence, ABC-Paramount, Atlantic, Imperial and Liberty. Conversely, British Decca retained a non-reciprocal right to license and issue American Decca recordings in the UK on their Brunswick Records (US Decca recordings) and Coral Records (US Brunswick and Coral recordings) labels; this arrangement continued through 1967 when a UK branch of MCA was established utilising the MCA Records label, with distribution fluctuating between British Decca and other English companies over time.

In Canada, the Compo Company was reorganised into MCA Records (Canada) in 1970.^[31] In Taiwan, PolyGram acquired 60% of Linfair Magnetic Sound (founded in 1961) in 1992, and renamed to Decca Records Taiwan. The name remains until 2002, when it decided to sell its 60 percent stake, and changed its name to Linfair Records, making the company independent from Universal Music. In addition to Decca label, Linfair Records also distribute V2 Records' releases, and some independent labels. However, Linfair Records' releases outside Taiwan will continue to be released internationally via Universal Music.

The Decca name was dropped by MCA in America in 1973 in favour of the MCA Records label. The first-run American Decca label went out with a big bang with its final release, "Drift Away" by Dobie Gray in 1973 (label #33057), reaching #5 on the Billboard chart and receiving gold record status.

PolyGram acquired the remains of Decca UK within days of Sir Edward Lewis's death in January 1980. British Decca's pop catalogue was taken over by Polydor Records. Ironically, PolyGram descended from British Decca's former Dutch distributor Hollandsche Decca Distributie.

In the mid-1990s, MCA Nashville Records revived Decca in the US as a country music label. The Decca label is currently in use by Universal Music Group worldwide; this is possible because Universal Studios (which officially dropped the MCA name after the Seagram buyout in 1997) acquired PolyGram, British Decca's parent company in 1998, thus consolidating Decca trademark ownership. In the US, the Decca country music label was shut down and the London classical label was renamed as it was able to use the Decca name for the first time because of the merger that created Universal Music. In 1999, Decca absorbed Philips Records to create the Decca Music Group (half of Universal Music Classics Group in the USA, with Deutsche Grammophon being the other half).

Today, Decca is a leading label for both classical music and Broadway scores although it is branching out into pop music from established recording stars: its most recent hit was Motown: A Journey Through Hitsville USA (2007) by Boyz II Men, which reached #27 on the Billboard Top 200 Albums chart. In 2007 they won the race to sign English teen jazz sensation Victoria Hart and released her first album 'Whatever Happened to Romance' in July.^[32] In December 2007, it was announced that Morrissey would be joining the Decca roster. In August 2009, it was revealed that American Idol alum, Clay Aiken, had signed with Decca.^[33] It reentered the American country music scene in 2008. There are two Universal Music label groups now using the Decca name. The Decca Label Group is the US label whereas the London-based Decca Music Group runs the international classical and pop releases by such world famous performers as Andrea Bocelli and Hayley Westenra. The London Records pop label that was established in the UK in 1990, run by Roger Ames, and distributed by PolyGram became part of WEA in 2000 when he was hired to run that company.

It is also the distributing label of POINT Music, a joint venture between Universal and Philip Glass's Euphorbia Productions that folded shortly after the merger that created Universal Music. Ironically, the American Decca classical music catalogue is managed by sister Universal label Deutsche Grammophon. They include the recordings of guitarist Andrés Segovia.^[34] Before Deutsche Grammophon founded its own American branch in 1969, it had a distribution deal with American Decca until 1962 when distribution switched to MGM Records.^[35] Éditions de l'Oiseau-Lyre is a wholly owned subsidiary specialising in European classical music of the 15th to 19th centuries. American Decca's jazz catalogue is managed by GRP Records, an imprint of Verve Records. The American Decca rock/pop catalogue is managed by Geffen Records. The Decca Broadway imprint is used for both newly recorded musical theatre songs and Universal Music Group's vast catalogues of musical theatre recordings from record labels UMG and predecessor companies acquired over the years.

On January 10, 2011, Universal Music Group, which owns the masters to Decca Records, announced that it was donating 200,000 of its master recordings from the 1920s to the 1940s to the United States Library of Congress. The collection of master recordings will be cleaned and digitized. Included in this group are Bing Crosby's original recording of 'White Christmas' and thousands more by Louis Armstrong, Ella Fitzgerald, Billie Holiday, Judy Garland, Tommy Dorsey, Jimmy Dorsey, the Andrews Sisters and other famous and lesser-known musicians who recorded during this time period. Because of this transaction, once the Library has organized and cleaned the collection, the public will eventually have some degree of access to thousands of recordings that have been commercially unavailable for decades. According to the Los Angeles Times, "[a]s part of the agreement between UMG and the library, Universal retains ownership of the recording copyrights and the right to exploit the cleaned-up and digitized files for commercial purposes."^[36]

See also[link]

• Decca Studios, London, England
• Category: Decca Records artists
• Category: Decca Records albums
• Category: Decca Records singles
• List of artists under the Decca Records label
• List of record labels
• The Decca audition by The Beatles in 1962
• Point Music
• Decca Broadway
• MCA Records

Notes[link]

References[link]

• Culshaw, John (1981). Putting the Record Straight:the autobiography of John Culshaw. London: Secker & Warburg: Secker & Warburg. ISBN 0-436-11802-5. 

• Lipman, Samuel (1984). The House of Music: Art in an Era of Institutions. ISBN 0-87923-475-X.  - See the chapter on "Getting on Record", pp. 62–75, about the early record industry and Fred Gaisberg and Walter Legge and ffrr (Full Frequency Range Recording).

• Shepherd, Marc (2001). "Explanation of the Word "Decca"". A Gilbert and Sullivan Discography. http://www.concentric.net/~oakapple/gasdisc/decca_meaning.htm. Retrieved 2006-03-28. 

External links[link]

• Decca - official site
• Decca Classics - official site
• Decca Label Group (US) official site
• Decca Broadway official site
• A page about Decca's digital audio recording system
• Decca's classical discography from 1951
• The Judy Garland Online Discography Decca Records Section

Keith Green
Background information
Birth name	Keith Gordon Green
Born	(1953-10-21)October 21, 1953 Sheepshead Bay, New York, U.S.
Died	July 29, 1982(1982-07-29) (aged 28), Garden Valley, Texas, U.S.
Genres	Gospel, CCM, Rock'n'Roll
Occupations	Singer, songwriter, musician, minister
Instruments	Piano, guitar, bass guitar, percussion
Labels	Pretty Good Records Sparrow Records Decca Records

Keith Gordon Green (October 21, 1953 – July 28, 1982) was an American gospel singer, songwriter, musician, and Contemporary Christian Music artist originally from Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn, New York.^[1] Beyond his music, Green is best known for his strong devotion to Christian evangelism and challenging others to the same. Often considered controversial for his frequently confrontational lyrics and spoken messages, he wrote some notable songs alone or with his wife, Melody Green, including "Your Love Broke Through", "You Put This Love in My Heart", and "Asleep in the Light". Green is also known for numerous popular modern hymns, including "O Lord, You're Beautiful" and "There is a Redeemer", written by his wife, Melody.

Early life[link]

Keith took to music at a young age, beginning with the ukulele at age three, the guitar at five, and the piano at seven years of age.^[2] His talents were noted by a major newspaper by the time he was only eight years old. Following a performance of Arthur Laurents' The Time of the Cuckoo, a local review by the Los Angeles Times wrote that "roguish-looking, eight-year-old Keith Green gave a winning [character] portrayal"^[3] as "the little Italian street urchin, Mauro";^[4] another review commented that he "stole the show". The show was Keith's first appearance in live theater, which was held in Chatsworth, California, in September 1962.^[2] According to the LA Times, Green had already "done a number of television commercials and...made a TV pilot."^[4]

At 10 years old, Green went on to play the role of "Kurt von Trapp" in a local community theatre production of The Sound of Music at the Valley Music Theater in Woodland Hills, California.^[2]

Keith Green's first disc release. The other side has the song The Way I Used To Be.

In February 1965, with forty original songs already written by him, Green and his father, Harvey, signed a five-year contract with Decca Records with Harvey as business manager. The first song released on disc was A Go-Go Getter in May 1965 (produced by Gary Usher),^[5] which he had earlier composed and published before signing on with Decca. Upon publication of this song, Green became the youngest person ever to sign with the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP).^[2]

Decca Records planned to make Green a teen idol, regularly getting the young pre-teenager featured in fanzines like Teen Scene and on popular television shows like The Jack Benny Show and The Steve Allen Show. Keith was a guest on the television game show I've Got a Secret on May 3, 1965. His secret was "I just signed a five-year contract as a rock-'n'-roll singer." The segment included a live performance of We'll Do a Lot of Things Together.

By the time Green was twelve, he had written ten more songs, and Time magazine ran a short piece about Green in an article about aspiring young rock-'n'-roll singers, referring to him as Decca Records' "prepubescent dreamboat".^[6] However, after national attention envisioned by Decca Records failed to materialize for Keith, Donny Osmond captured the attention of pre-teens and teenagers, eclipsing Keith's newfound stardom, and Keith was quickly forgotten by the public.^[7]

Spiritual experience[link]

Keith had a Jewish heritage and was raised in Christian Science. He grew up reading the New Testament and called the mixture of being Jewish and learning about Jesus "an odd combination" that left him open minded but deeply unsatisfied. He began doing drugs and became interested in eastern mysticism and "free love." After experiencing what Green described as a "bad trip," he abandoned drug use and became interested in philosophy and theology. "When Keith was 19 he met a fellow seeker/musician named Melody. They were inseparable and got married a year later -- now he had a partner as his spiritual quest continued."^[8] Green later stated, however, that in the midst of his skepticism, he had, "been lost in a fantasy, till [God's] love broke through."^[9] and he became a follower of Jesus, a Christian believer in Jesus the Messiah. Soon afterward, Keith's wife Melody, whom he had married in 1973 and was also Jewish, also became a Christian believer in Jesus. It was during this time that the newlyweds became involved with the Vineyard Christian Fellowship in Southern California.

Ministry[link]

In 1975, the Greens began an outreach program in the suburbs of Los Angeles, California, in the San Fernando Valley. The ministry started when Keith invited close friend, Randy Stonehill, to stay with his wife and him at what would later be dubbed "The Greenhouse",^[10] Stonehill, who was struggling at the time, moved in with them. From that point, the Greens continued to invite guests into their home.^[11] They eventually ran out of space and, purchasing the home next door to their own and renting an additional five in the same neighborhood, Keith and Melody provided an environment of Christian teaching for a group of young adults, the majority of whom were of college age. Much to the consternation of neighbors, those living in the Green's homes included former drug addicts, the homeless and prostitutes, who had been referred to the Greens by other ministries and shelters. In 1977, the Greens outreach was officially named Last Days Ministries.^[12]

Keith Green's initial tone of ministry was largely influenced by Leonard Ravenhill, who pointed Keith to Charles Finney, a nineteenth century revivalist preacher who preached the law of God to provoke conviction in his hearers. During his concerts he would often exhort his listeners to repent and commit themselves more wholly to following Christ. Green later softened his approach, and this transition is evident in his music beginning with So You Wanna Go Back To Egypt in 1980. He described the changes he went through in his next-to-last article for the Last Days Magazine.^[13]

Recording[link]

Green was signed to Contemporary Christian music label Sparrow Records in 1976 and worked on the album Firewind (1976) with Christian artists 2nd Chapter of Acts, Terry Talbot, John Michael Talbot, and Barry McGuire. Prior to Keith's signing with Sparrow Records and two years before the release of "No Compromise", Tommy James (of Tommy James and the Shondells) released "Don't Wanna Fall Away From You" on his 1976 Fantasy album titled "In Touch".

His first solo project, For Him Who Has Ears to Hear, was released in 1977 and his second solo release, No Compromise, followed in 1978. In 1979, after negotiating a release from his contract with Sparrow, Green initiated a new policy of refusing to charge money for concerts or albums. Keith and Melody mortgaged their home to privately finance Green's next album, So You Wanna Go Back To Egypt. The album, which featured a guest appearance by Bob Dylan, was offered through mail-order and at concerts for a price determined by the purchaser. By May 1982, Green had shipped out more than 200,000 units of his album – 61,000 for free. Subsequent albums included The Keith Green Collection (1981) and Songs For The Shepherd (1982).

When his music was carried by Christian bookstores, a second cassette was included free of charge for every cassette purchased to give away to a friend to help spread the Gospel.

Last Days Ministries[link]

In 1978, Last Days Ministries (LDM) began publishing the Last Days Newsletter. Originally printed on a few pages of loose paper, the newsletter grew in content to eventually become a "small, colorful magazine" and was renamed in mid-1985 as the Last Days Magazine.^[14] The magazine featured articles by Green and his wife as well as contemporary Christian authors David Wilkerson, Leonard Ravenhill, and Winkie Pratney, all of whom lived in the area. The publication also later included the reprinted works of classic Christian authors such as Charles Finney, John Wesley, and William Booth and his wife Catherine. Most of the articles were reprinted as tracts. By the mid-1980s, the Last Days Magazine was sent out to over 500,000 people worldwide.^[15]

In 1979, the ministry relocated from the San Fernando Valley to a 40-acre (160,000 m²) plot of land in Garden Valley, Texas,^[16] a crossroads community about nine miles (14 km) west of Lindale, Texas. Within a few years, Last Days purchased additional land, bringing the total to 140 acres (0.6 km²).

Plane crash[link]

Gravesite at Garden Valley Cemetery

Along with eleven others, Keith Green died on July 28, 1982, when the Cessna 414 leased by Last Days Ministries crashed after takeoff from the private airstrip located on the LDM property. The small two-engine plane was carrying eleven passengers and the pilot, Don Burmeister for an aerial tour^[16] of the LDM property and the surrounding area. Green and two of his children, three year old Josiah and two year old Bethany, were on board the plane, along with visiting missionaries John and Dede Smalley and their six children.

The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) determined that the crash was caused by the pilot in command (PIC) allowing the aircraft to be loaded beyond its operating limitations. The required pre-flight weight and balance computations would have shown it was dangerously overloaded and also outside its weight and balance operating envelope. Don Alan Burmeister was a former United States Marine Corps aviator, but FAA records show he had very limited experience / training in flying conventional (vs. centerline thrust) twin engine aircraft. Records show it was only a short time prior to the accident (6/9/82) that he completed a check-ride to remove the "centerline thrust" restriction from his pilot's certificate. This check-ride should have fully evaluated his ability to fly a conventional multi-engine aircraft throughout its designed range of operations, but the flight examiner was decertified the next month (7/10/82) by the FAA due to a "history of incomplete or substandard check-rides". Additionally, the insurance carrier (Ideal Mutual Insurance Co.) required Burmeister to log 1,045 hrs of flying time, attend a Cessna ground and flight training course, as well as log 15 hours in a Cessna 414 (C-414) prior to acting as the PIC of the leased aircraft. The NTSB record shows he failed to accomplish all of these requirements, with disastrous results. With pilot and eleven passengers, the aircraft was overloaded by an estimated 445 pounds (202 kg), and the location of the center of gravity was found to be 4.5 inches (110 mm) beyond the maximum aft limit. Combined with an air temperature of 90 degrees, the C-414 could do little but struggle into the air, and once airborne was left virtually uncontrollable. These factors prevented the aircraft from ever attaining sufficient altitude, and it crashed into trees less than a mile from the airport. References: Ideal Mutual Insurance Co. vs. Last Days Evangelistic Association; U.S. Court of Appeals, 5th Circuit; 783 F.2d 1234 (1986); Goldberg; Circuit Judge.^[17] NTSB Brief of Accident: File No. 3323 (07/28/1982); FTW82AA299. NTSB Factual Aviation Report; NTSB ID: FTW82AA299.^[18]

Keith, Josiah, and Bethany Green are interred at Garden Valley Cemetery behind the Garden Valley Baptist Church,^[19] less than a half-mile from the LDM property. He was survived by his wife and two daughters, the youngest of whom was born after Green's death.

Legacy[link]

Two full albums of original Green songs were released posthumously: The Prodigal Son (1983) and Jesus Commands Us to Go! (1984). Another release, I Only Want to See You There (1983) contained mostly previously released material. A compilation of his recorded work, The Ministry Years, was released as a two-volume set in 1987 and 1988 and included five previously unreleased songs.

Another unreleased Christian song known to have been recorded by Green was "Born Again," which was finally released in 1999, 17 years after his death, on the First Love compilation video and CD. Both feature a two-song tribute to Green by other Christian artists.

In 2008, Last Days Ministries and Sparrow Records partnered together and released The Live Experience - Special Edition, a CD/DVD combination of 16 live recordings and 4 hours of DVD footage including video of live performances as well as details regarding Green's life and his passing.^[20] A "Greatest Hits" album was also released at the same time, including 17 of Green's most popular songs and one more previously unreleased Christian song, "Your Love Came Over Me".

On November 23, 2009, the EP Happy Birthday to You Jesus was released, containing a talk by Keith about Christmas and another previously unreleased song, "Happy Birthday to You Jesus".

A prolific personal journalist, Green's writings were published as excerpts in the books A Cry In The Wilderness (Sparrow, 1993), If You Love the Lord (Harvest House, 2000), and Make My Life a Prayer (Harvest House, 2001).

Tribute recordings[link]

In 1992, several artists joined together to re-record many of Green's best-known songs for a tribute album called No Compromise: Remembering the Music of Keith Green under the Sparrow Records label. Artists contributing to the recording include Petra, Charlie Peacock, Susan Ashton, Margaret Becker, Michael Card, GLAD, Rich Mullins, Steven Curtis Chapman, Steve Green, and Russ Taff.

In 2001, BEC Records released a second tribute record Start Right Here: Remembering the Life of Keith Green. Produced by Derri Daugherty, the album included performances by new contemporary Christian artists MxPx, Joy Electric, Starflyer 59, among others.

At the twentieth anniversary of Keith's death, Sparrow Records released another tribute album, Your Love Broke Through: The Worship Songs of Keith Green. The 2002 album contains re-recordings by Rebecca St. James, Michelle Tumes, Chris Tomlin, Twila Paris, Darlene Zschech, Jason Upton, Martin Smith, Charlie Hall, Joanne Hogg, Matt Redman, Paul Oakley, and Sarah Sadler. The album contains contemporary Christian and mainstream artist Michael W. Smith's version of the song There Is One, an unfinished work by Keith Green. Composition of the song was completed by Smith, along with British songwriter and Christian music artist Martin Smith.

Last Days Ministries property[link]

The LDM property was sold in 1996 and is now occupied by Teen Mania Ministries.^[21] Teen Mania has dedicated one of its dormitories, Green Hall, in memory of Keith. Melody Green continues to operate Last Days Ministries from Oceanside, California.

Honors[link]

On November 27, 2001, Keith Green was inducted into the Gospel Music Hall of Fame.

On April 3, 2006, Green was honored with the ASCAP Crescendo Award at the 28th annual ASCAP Christian Music Awards presentation dinner.^[22] His widow, Melody Green, was present to receive the award for her late husband.

Movie[link]

On April 21, 2010, Melody Green announced on the Last Days Ministries website that a feature film about Keith's life is in development.^[23] On February 26, 2011 the producers who optioned the film rights failed to exercise their contract. All film rights reverted back to Melody Green, who is currently developing the film, and gathering a new production team.

Quotes[link]

"It's time to quit playing church and start being the Church (Matt. 18:20)" — Keith Green, as quoted by Melody Green in the introduction to A Cry in the Wilderness, Sparrow Press, 1993.

"I repent of ever having recorded one single song, and ever having performed one concert, if my music, and more importantly, my life has not provoked you into Godly jealousy or to sell out more completely to Jesus!" — Keith Green

"You shouldn't go to college unless God has definitely called you to go." — Keith Green, 'Why YOU should go to the mission field', 1982

"No Compromise is what the whole Gospel of Jesus is all about... 'For I tell you...no man can serve two masters...' (Matt. 6:24). In a day when believers seem to be trying to please both the world and the Lord (which is an impossible thing), when people are far more concerned about offending their friends than offending God, there is only one answer...Deny yourself, take up your cross and follow Him!" — Keith Green, No Compromise album, 1978.

"If your heart takes more pleasure in reading novels, or watching TV, or going to the movies, or talking to friends, rather than just sitting alone with God and embracing Him, sharing His cares and His burdens, weeping and rejoicing with Him, then how are you going to handle forever and ever in His presence? You’d be bored to tears in heaven, if you’re not ecstatic about God now!!" — Keith Green

"The only music minister to whom the Lord will say, "Well done, thy good and faithful servant," is the one whose life proves what their lyrics are saying, and to whom music is the least important part of their life. Glorifying the only worthy One has to be a minister's most important goal!!!" — Keith Green

"He, being dead, yet speaketh." — Leonard Ravenhill, Keith's mentor, borrowing from Hebrews 11:4 (KJV) in his 1990 2-page Memories of Keith tribute from a computer file, part of the Enhanced CD version of No Compromise by Melody Green with David Hazard.

Discography[link]

Career releases: 1965-1982[link]

Mainstream recordings[link]

Besides the first disc release in May 1965 (pictured above), two more Decca disc releases occurred before Donny Osmond took the spotlight.

Girl Don't Tell Me, Decca 31859, released October 1965. The other song was How To Be Your Guy.

Home Town Girls, Decca 31973, released July 1966. The B-Side song was You're What's Happening Baby.

-

Christian recordings[link]

• For Him Who Has Ears to Hear (May 20, 1977)
• No Compromise (November 9, 1978)
• So You Wanna Go Back to Egypt (May 7, 1980)
• The Keith Green Collection (August 11, 1981)
• Songs for the Shepherd (April 12, 1982)

Posthumous releases[link]

Christian recordings[link]

• I Only Want To See You There (March 21, 1983)
• The Prodigal Son (August 15, 1983)
• Jesus Commands Us to Go! (July 20, 1984)
• The Ministry Years, Volume One (1977-1979) (1987)
• The Ministry Years, Volume Two (1980-1982) (1988)
• The Early Years (1996)
• Best of Keith Green: Asleep in the Light (1996)
• Because of You: Songs of Testimony (1998)
• Here Am I, Send Me: Songs of Evangelism (1998)
• Make My Life a Prayer to You: Songs of Devotion (1998)
• Oh Lord, You're Beautiful: Songs of Worship (1998)
• The Ultimate Collection (DVD/CD Release) (2002)
• Live Experience (CD Release) (April 29, 2008)
• Live Experience Special Edition (CD/DVD Release) (April 29, 2008)
• Greatest Hits (April 29, 2008)
• Happy Birthday to You Jesus (Nov 23, 2009)

Mainstream recordings[link]

• Keith Green Live (His Incredible Youth) (1995)
• The Early Word (February 13, 2009)

Tribute albums[link]

• No Compromise: Remembering the Music of Keith Green (1993)
• Start Right Here: Remembering the Life of Keith Green (2001)
• Your Love Broke Through: The Worship Songs Of Keith Green (2002)

Bibliography[link]

(All released posthumously)

• No Compromise: The Life Story of Keith Green (1989)
• A Cry In The Wilderness: Twelve Bold Messages About Uncompromising Faith (1993)
• If You Love The Lord (2000)
• Make My Life A Prayer (2001)

References[link]

External links[link]

• KeithGreen.com
• Last Days Ministries
• Adorando Por Siempre Worship For Ever, A Spanish Website from Argentina, dedicated to the Music, Life and Ministry of Keith Green
• Keith Green's Music (Rhapsody Playlist)
• Index of Articles from the Last Days Newsletter
• Memories of Keith Green Yahoo! Group
• NTSB Report of Crash
• Aircraft Incident and Accident report (contains text of above NTSB report and a great deal more information)
• Famous People Who Died in Aviation Accidents, 1980s (This ties Keith Green to the Aircraft Registration Number in the NTSB report)
• Keith Green's Burial Site
• High Altitude Aerial Photo of Garden Valley, with a view of private runway inside the Last Days Ministries property (1995 satellite photo)
• The Keith Green Story, video documentary

The Mighty Hannibal
Hannibal at the 2011 Tribeca Film Festival
Background information
Birth name	James Timothy Shaw[1]
Also known as	Hannibal, King Hannibal
Born	(1939-08-09) August 9, 1939 (age 72) Atlanta, Georgia, United States
Genres	R&B, soul, funk[2]
Occupations	Singer, songwriter, record producer
Instruments	Vocals
Years active	1954–present
Labels	Various
Associated acts	Johnny "Guitar" Watson

The Mighty Hannibal (born James Timothy Shaw, August 9, 1939, Atlanta, Georgia, United States) is an American R&B, soul and funk singer, songwriter and record producer.^[2][3] Known for his showmanship, and outlandish costumes often incorporating a pink turban, several of his songs carried social or political themes.^[3] His biggest hit was "Hymn No.5," a banned from radio comment on the effects on servicemen participating in the Vietnam War.^[2]

Biography[link]

Shaw was born to parents Corrie Belle and James Henry Shaw, and raised in the Vine City neighborhood of Atlanta.^[3] He started singing doo-wop as a teenager, and in 1954 he joined his first group, The Overalls. The outfit contained Shaw and Robert Butts plus Edward Patten and Merald "Bubba" Knight. The latter two later tasted success as part of Gladys Knight's backing group, The Pips.^[2] From that time, Shaw credited Grover Mitchell as his singing voice mentor. In 1958 Shaw moved to Los Angeles where, under the name of Jimmy Shaw, he recorded his debut solo single, "Big Chief Hug-Um An' Kiss-Um," a novelty song issued on the Concept label.^[3] This was followed by further releases including "The Biggest Cry," and "I Need a Woman ('Cause I'm a Man)."^[2]

Subsequently working as a singer with Johnny Otis, Shaw went on to sing in another group featuring H. B. Barnum and Jimmy Norman. At this time he befriended both Johnny "Guitar" Watson and Larry Williams, before in 1959, and at the suggestion of Aki Aleong, adopting the name 'Hannibal'. He then released a small number of singles on the Pan World label. In 1962 he joined King Records, who released four further singles, the biggest seller being "Baby, Please Change Your Mind". Between 1962 and 1965 Hannibal also worked as a pimp in Los Angeles, a lifestyle that saw him dropped by King.^[3]

He returned to Atlanta, and was recruited as the frontman by Dennis St. John and the Cardinals, who supported Tommy Roe at one gig.^[4] They ultimately backed Hannibal on most of his subsequent recordings with the Shurfine label, and played live engagements with Hannibal around Atlanta. Hannibal's first release with Shurfine was "Jerkin' the Dog," (1965) a modest success for a basic teen dance record. The similarly framed "Fishin' Pole" followed in 1966.^[3] The same year Hannibal adopted a more socially conscious stance. He stated "Me and my wife were watching the news and Walter Cronkite was talking about how all the soldiers were coming back from Vietnam addicted to opium." The couple penned "Hymn No. 5" in a short time space, and it duly became his best known recording, reaching # 21 on the Billboard R&B chart.^[2][4][5] The success the track brought however fueled a growing heroin addiction, and Hannibal spent eighteen months in prison for failing to pay a tax bill. Released from jail and free of drugs, he restarted his recording career in the early 1970s now billed as King Hannibal. He issued a number of singles and an album, Truth, (1973) on the Aware label.^[3] His singles included "I'm Coming Home," another social comment on the ongoing Vietnam situation, and the anti-drug song, "The Truth Shall Make You Free (St. John 8:32)," a # 37 R&B hit in 1973.^[2][5]

Finding a new direction with gospel based recordings, his songwriting nevertheless suffered in the late 1970s. Hannibal was employed as a cameo role actor, and on the staff as a record producer at Venture Records, before working on the Atlanta Voice newspaper.^[2] Hannibal recalled his odd blend of country, gospel and disco finding some success in the Netherlands with "Hoedown Disco" in the mid 1970s, but worse fortunes followed as Hannibal remained in relative obscurity until 1998. A CD album release, titled Who Told You That, gave his career some momentum, and in 2001 Norton Records released Hannibalism, a compilation album of songs written between 1958 and 1973.^[4] The cult film, Velvet Goldmine, also included fragments of his work.^[2]

Hannibal lost his eyesight in 2002 because of glaucoma. He was the subject of a documentary film, Showtime! (2009) directed by Ezra Bookstein.^[4] In December 2005, Hannibal was the Master of Ceremonies at Norton Records' New Year's Eve Rock N' Roll Show & Dance at Union Pool in Brooklyn. He continues to perform live, and enjoyed a seventieth birthday celebration on stage in 2009. He contributed the following year to Elton John and Leon Russell's first album together, The Union.

Family life[link]

Hannibal is the cousin of Vernon Jordan, and is married to fellow soul singer, Delia Gartrell.^[2][4]

Discography[link]

Albums[link]

• Truth (1973)
• Who Told You That (1998)
• Hannibalism (2001) (compilation album)
• The Resurrection of the Mighty Hannibal (2007)^[6][7]

Chart singles[link]

• "Hymn No. 5" (1966) - US R&B chart #21
• "The Truth Shall Make You Free" (1973) - US R&B chart #37^[8]

References[link]

External links[link]

• Discography at Soulfulkindsmusic.net
• Discography at Koti.mbnet.fi
• Review of Hannibalism from The Tuscaloosa News at News.google.com

Clay Aiken
Clay Aiken during the Jukebox Tour in Merrillville, IN, August 23, 2005
Background information
Birth name	Clayton Holmes Grissom[1]
Born	(1978-11-30) November 30, 1978 (age 33) Raleigh, North Carolina, United States
Genres	Pop, pop rock
Occupations	Singer, actor
Years active	2003–present
Labels	RCA (2003–2008) Decca (2009–present)
Website	clayaiken.com

Clayton Holmes "Clay" Aiken (born November 30, 1978) is an American singer, songwriter, actor, producer and author who began his rise to fame on the second season of the television program American Idol in 2003. RCA Records offered him a recording contract, and his multi-platinum debut album Measure of a Man was released in October 2003. He released four more albums on the RCA label: Merry Christmas with Love (2004), A Thousand Different Ways (2006), and the Christmas EP, All is Well (2006).^[2][3] His fourth studio album (the first album of original material since 2003's Measure of a Man), On My Way Here was released on May 6, 2008.^[4]

After the release of On My Way Here, Aiken left RCA and later signed with Decca Records. His first album with Decca, Tried and True, was released June 1, 2010 and his second Steadfast, was released March 26, 2012.^[5][6]

In the years following his American Idol appearance, Aiken has launched ten tours, authored a New York Times best-selling book Learning to Sing: Hearing the Music in Your Life with Allison Glock, and was the executive producer for a 2004 televised Christmas special, A Clay Aiken Christmas and his televised live concert special in 2010 on PBS Tried & True Live!. He has been a frequent talk show guest, particularly on The Tonight Show and Jimmy Kimmel Live. He appeared as a guest star on Scrubs, Drop Dead Diva, 30 Rock and participated in comedy skits on numerous other shows.

Aiken created the National Inclusion Project (formerly the Bubel/Aiken Foundation) in 2003, accepted a UNICEF ambassadorship in 2004, and in 2006 was appointed for a two-year term to the Presidential Committee for People with Intellectual Disabilities.^[7][8][9]

Aiken made his Broadway debut playing the role of Sir Robin in Monty Python's Spamalot in January 2008.^[10] His run ended in May but he rejoined the cast as Sir Robin in September and remained through January 4, 2009.^[11]

Early life[link]

Clay Aiken was born and raised in Raleigh, North Carolina. As a young boy, Aiken sang in the Raleigh Boychoir, and as a teenager, he sang in school choirs, church choir, musicals and local theatre productions.^[12] After high school, he sang lead with a local band, Just By Chance, cohosting and performing with the band at "Just by Chance and Friends" shows in Dunn, North Carolina.^[13] He was also MC and performer at the Johnston Community College Country Showcase in Smithfield, and at the North Carolina Music Connection and Hometown Music Connection shows in Garner, and Benson. He performed the national anthem numerous times for the Raleigh IceCaps and the Carolina Hurricanes hockey teams,^[12] and performed it at the 2011 NHL All-Star Game at the RBC Center in Raleigh.

Three demo albums of Aiken's vocals were created before American Idol with the aid of studio time given as a birthday gift by his mother: a cassette called Look What Love Has Done (by Clayton Grissom), a cassette and CD entitled Redefined (by Clayton Aiken), and a CD that combined some songs from each of the previous demos: "Look What Love Has Done, Vol 2" (by Clay Aiken).^[14][15] Estranged from his birth father Vernon Grissom and with his mother's and grandfather Alvis Aiken's permission, at the age of 19 he legally changed his surname from Grissom to his mother Faye's maiden name, Aiken.^[1]

Aiken attended Raleigh's Leesville Road High School and took courses at Campbell University before enrolling at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. He found his interest in special education while directing YMCA children's camps as a teenager, and at age 19, he served as a substitute teacher for a classroom of students with autism at Brentwood Elementary School in Raleigh. While attending college in Charlotte, he took a part-time job as an assistant to a boy with autism, and it was this child's mother, Diane Bubel, who urged him to audition for American Idol. Although his American Idol activities temporarily delayed his academic pursuits, Aiken completed his course work while on tour and graduated with a bachelor's degree in special education in December 2003.^[16]

Personal life[link]

On August 8, 2008, Aiken announced, on his personal blog, the birth of his son in North Carolina: "My dear friend, Jaymes, and I are so excited to announce the birth of Parker Foster Aiken."^[17] The child's mother, Jaymes Foster, is the sister of record producer David Foster and the executive producer of Aiken's last three albums on the RCA label. "The little man is healthy, happy, and as loud as his daddy," Aiken wrote. "Mama Jaymes is doing quite well also."^[18] Aiken said in his book, Learning to Sing: Hearing the Music in Your Life, that "It's a Southern tradition to be given your first name from your grandmama's maiden name."^[19] Aiken's middle name came from his paternal grandmother's maiden name; using instead the married surnames of their mothers, he and Foster followed that tradition in choosing their son's name.

After several years of public speculation, Aiken disclosed that he is gay in a September 2008 interview with People magazine.^[20] In April 2009, Aiken was honored by the Family Equality Council advocacy group at its annual benefit dinner in New York City.^[21]