Gilda C. Woods

Gilda Woods (pronounced like Jill-da) was a presence in the music scene in Philadelphia long before she started Dionn Records. Her husband Georgie Woods was one of the city's most popular and long-enduring radio personalities. Georgie Woods, like many Philadelphia R&B disc jockeys, started on WHAT-AM radio and graduated to WDAS, where he ruled the prime evening listening hours. Gilda Woods was not involved with her husband's radio life, but she made a presence backstage at the Uptown Theater, where Georgie Woods hosted Philadelphia's nationally renowned version of the Apollo Theater in New York. As a major stop for any aspiring and successful R&B artist, the Uptown made Gilda Woods a national figure as the welcoming hostess of the Uptown. As a result, when she discovered a group of teenage singers at a public playground in the summer of 1967, she had no second thoughts about starting a record label to expose them to the world. She knew the world of record labels and successful record artists, into whose midst she was able to propel Brenda & the Tabulations from their very first recording, "Dry Your Eyes." Dionn Records' other notable artist was Moses Smith, who won a local singing contest at the Uptown Theater as his debut for signing to Dionn Records. Between Brenda & The Tabulations and Moses Smith, Dionn Records had a remarkably high percentage of hit records for its slim output of a dozen releases. Even the non hits by the The Vareeations, The Ordells, and Bill Lucas were high-quality productions that showed off the taste and respect for her audience that always characterized Gilda Woods.