ABC Records facts for kids

Quick facts for kids ABC Records
Parent company	American Broadcasting Company
Founded	1955; 70 years ago (1955)
Defunct	1979; 46 years ago (1979)
Status	Sold to MCA Records: Defunct
Distributor(s)	Self-distributed (US), EMI (international), Anchor Records (UK), Sparton Records (Canada), Polydor Records (Canada), GRT (Canada)
Genre	Various
Country of origin	United States
Location	New York City

ABC Records was an American record company started in New York City in 1955. It began as the main music label of the Am-Par Record Corporation. Am-Par also created the Impulse! jazz label in 1960. ABC Records bought many other music labels before it was sold to MCA Records in 1979.

ABC Records released many types of music. These included pop, rock, jazz, country, rhythm and blues, soundtrack, gospel, and polka. Besides making its own records, ABC also got music from other independent producers. It also bought records released in certain areas to sell them across the country.

The label was first called Am-Par Records in 1955. It quickly changed its name to ABC-Paramount Records (1955–1966). Then, in 1966, it became known simply as ABC Records.

The Story of ABC Records

How it Started

In the 1940s and early 1950s, the government took action against large companies. They wanted to stop big movie studios and broadcasting companies from having too much control. This led to the Radio Corporation of America (RCA) selling its Blue Network in 1943.

Edward J. Noble bought the Blue Network. He changed its name to the American Broadcasting Company (ABC) in 1946. In 1953, ABC joined with United Paramount Theatres. This new company was called American Broadcasting-Paramount Theatres (AB-PT). It was led by Leonard Goldenson and based in New York City.

ABC-Paramount Records Begins

ABC Paramount 78rpm record and original sleeve

American Broadcasting-Paramount Theatres started its own record division. This new company was called Am-Par Record Corporation. It was officially formed on June 14, 1955. Samuel H. Clark was its first president.

Even though it was called Am-Par, no records were released until September 1955. That's when the division's name changed to ABC-Paramount.

Eydie Gorme was the first artist to sign with the company. She recorded the first single records, "Sincerely Yours" and "Come Home." The first full album, "Smart Alec" by Alec Templeton, was also recorded in September 1955.

One of Gorme's songs was the first record released in January 1956. "Chain Gang" by Bobby Scott became the company's first national hit in February 1956. George Hamilton IV's "A Rose and a Baby Ruth" was the first song to sell over a million copies in October 1956.

In 1957, two songs sold over a million copies. These were "Diana" by Paul Anka and "At the Hop" by Danny & the Juniors. In May 1958, Am-Paramount Records launched a new smaller label called Apt. Its first big hit was "Little Star" by the Elegants.

Am-Par started distributing records for Chancellor Records in 1957. Chancellor had its first million-selling song in October 1958 with Lloyd Price's "Stagger Lee."

In 1959, Am-Par bought Grand Award Records and its new label, Command Records. The company also started a second label just for jazz music, called Impulse! Records, in November 1960. Impulse released its first four records in January 1961.

The company's artists won three Grammy Awards in 1960. In January 1961, the company bought Westminster Records, which was a classical music label. This meant Am-Par Record had a label for each main type of music.

Am-Par Record Corporation changed its name to ABC-Paramount Records, Inc. on December 7, 1961. The company opened an office in Los Angeles in January 1962. Ray Charles started Tangerine Records in March 1962. He arranged for ABC-Paramount to distribute his records.

In 1965, Samuel Clark was promoted. Larry Newton became the new president of ABC-Paramount Records. Newton's first step was to restart Apt Records. This label focused on music for teenagers.

Becoming ABC Records

In June 1966, the label's name was shortened to ABC Records. The company also bought New Deal Record Service Corp., which helped distribute records.

In 1967, ABC Records bought Dunhill Records from Lou Adler. In 1970, ABC and Dunhill moved their main offices to Los Angeles. Jay Lasker became the president of the combined companies, which were called ABC/Dunhill. At that time, ABC had five other labels: Westminster, Command, Probe, Impulse, and Bluesway.

ABC/Dunhill started new marketing plans in August 1970. They wanted writers to create more music for their catalog. They also relaunched the labels Probe and Apt. Probe handled international rights for ABC's albums. Apt released cheaper cassette tapes and 8-track tapes. Impulse! Records, the jazz label, got a new slogan: "University Series of Fine Recording." Two new series, Audio Treasury and Westminster Gold, were launched for classical and youth music.

By May 1972, ABC created the ABC Leisure Group. This group included ABC Records, Anchor Records, and ABC Records and Tape Sales. It also had a new division for selling records in stores. Jay Lasker left ABC in 1975. Jerry Rubinstein took over as the company head until 1977. In November 1972, ABC bought Cartwheel Records, a country music company.

In 1974, ABC changed its record distribution in the UK from EMI to Anchor Records. This allowed ABC recordings to be released in the UK under the ABC label. Anchor records were also distributed by ABC in the US. Also in 1974, ABC bought Famous Music Records Group. This included Dot Records, based in Nashville. ABC then released country music under the ABC/Dot label until January 1979.

In the 1970s, ABC Records got rid of many original master tapes to save storage space. This meant that when these songs were re-released on compact discs later, the sound quality was sometimes not as good.

The company's last president, Steve Diener, started in 1977. Because of money problems, ABC Records was sold to MCA Records on January 31, 1979, for $30 million. MCA stopped using the ABC Records name on March 5, 1979. Albums from the ABC catalog that were still selling well were re-released under the MCA label.

Companies ABC Records Bought

ABC Records had a smaller label called Apt for releasing single songs. In the early 1960s, it bought Westminster, a label for classical music. For jazz, it created Impulse!. This label became famous for new and exciting jazz music. It released albums by John Coltrane from 1961 until his death in 1967. ABC also created Bluesway for blues music. Tangerine was started by Ray Charles to produce his own albums and others he worked on.

ABC Records bought Dunhill in the summer of 1967. This created ABC Dunhill Records. It also bought Don Robey's record labels, including Duke, Peacock, Back Beat, and Song Bird on May 23, 1973.

In 1974, ABC bought the Famous Music record labels from Gulf and Western. This purchase gave ABC Dot, Blue Thumb, and a deal to distribute records for Sire. Sire released the first album from the band Ramones.

ABC bought all labels from Enoch Light in October 1959. These included Audition, Command, Colortone, and Waldorf Music Hall.

In 1979, MCA bought ABC for $30 million. It was briefly a separate part of MCA. Later, MCA became part of the Universal Music Group. Universal Music Group now distributes music for ABC's current sister company, Disney Music Group, around the world.

This company is not the same ABC Records that works in Australia. That one is run by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Also, it's not the smaller label of Voiceprint.

ABC-Paramount/ABC Records Label Designs

The labels on the records changed over time:

• 1955–1961: Black label with "ABC-PARAMOUNT" written around the top. The letters were yellow, red, and blue. It had a logo with a colorful Möbius strip and a white jagged line, like a sound wave. The bottom said: "A PRODUCT OF AM-PAR RECORD CORP."
• 1961–1966: The label looked the same, but the bottom text changed to: "A PRODUCT OF ABC-PARAMOUNT RECORDS, INC."
• 1966–1967: The label name became ABC Records. It was a black label with a large white circle at the top. Inside the circle was "abc" in black letters with the "Möbius strip and sound wave" logo. This design was only used for singles.
• 1967–1974: Black label with a small white "abc" circle logo in a colorful box at the top. For a short time from 1973 to 1974, they also used a label with three children's blocks spelling out ABC.
• 1974–1978: A "sunburst" label with colors like yellow, orange, red, and purple. The "abc Records" logo was at the top between two black lines. Other ABC labels like Dunhill and Dot also used this design.
• 1978–1979: The same colorful label as above. But it had a music note with "abc" inside it at the bottom. Later records from this time said "Mfg. & Dist. by MCA Distributing Corp..." at the bottom. This was just before ABC Records stopped being used.

Artists Who Recorded with ABC Records

Labels Connected to ABC Records

Who Owns ABC Records' Music Today?

The music from ABC Records and its smaller labels is now owned by Universal Music Group. Universal Music Group also helps distribute music for Disney Music Group. Disney Music Group is owned by The Walt Disney Company, which is ABC's current parent company.

However, there are a few exceptions:

• Paul Anka owns his own music catalog from ABC-Paramount. Universal Music Enterprises helps distribute it.
• The music of Jim Croce is owned by his family and R2M Music. BMG Rights Management distributes it.
• The music of Ray Charles is owned by his family. It is currently licensed to Concord Records, and Universal Music Group distributes Concord's recordings.
• The music of Amazing Rhythm Aces and songs by Marilyn McCoo and Billy Davis Jr. (from The 5th Dimension) that they made for ABC are owned by Sony Music.
• Lawrence Welk bought his Dot recordings before ABC bought the label. These were re-released on his Ranwood Records label. Universal Music Group also distributes Ranwood.

Different types of music from the ABC catalog are now managed by specific labels:

• Pop, rock, R&B music is handled by Geffen.
• Jazz music is handled by Impulse! and Impulse!/Verve.
• Country music is handled by Universal Music Group Nashville.
• Classical music is handled by Deutsche Grammophon.
• Musical theater recordings are handled by Decca Broadway.

These labels also release music from companies that ABC absorbed. For example, MCA Nashville's catalog includes country music from Dot Records. Deutsche Grammophon's catalog includes music from Westminster Records and soundtracks from Dot and Paramount Records.

See Also

In Spanish: ABC Records para niños

• American Broadcasting Company
• List of record labels