Grand Award

US label associated with Grand Award Record Corp. 1955 to 1959 and Grand Award Record Co., Inc. 1959 to 197x. Label Code: LC 00753 Many release show statements starting with "Grand Award Records" and "Grand Award Stereophonic Tapes". Please note that these are not labels. Under specific circumstances Grand Award Records may be used for a company credit, see that profile. Grand Award began life as Waldorf Music Hall records in the early 1950s. The label was devoted to the pop music of the day - largely anonymous musicians recording imitations of the popular styles of the time. A small number are jazz, mainly small group swing. Around 1955 the company began to transform into Grand Award. By this point Enoch Light was a major player in the company, both as a recording artist and as a company officer. For the next five years Grand Award recording had a distinctive cover design consisting of a fake frame of black and white around a well-drawn illustration in the middle. Early ones carried the slogan "Great Music - Great Art", to emphasize the importance of the cover. Classical music was added to the roster. Most of the classical records had reproductions of European masters for the illustrations. The pop records had illustrations by American illustrators of the day. The company was sold to Am-Par Record Corp. in 1959 which became ABC-Paramount Records, Inc. in 1962 then ABC Records, Inc. in 1967. By 1970, the history of Waldorf Music Hall / Grand Award / Command came to an end. A few LP reissues with dual branding carrying both Grand Award and ABC Records logos kept the music alive until about 1977. On these releases ABC Records should be entered as a second label.