Recorded In Hollywood

Label founded in 1950 by John Dolphin, founder of the Dolphins Of Hollywood chain of record stores in Los Angeles. Dolphin built up an R&B music empire which laid some of the foundations of a West Coast black music industry. The label concentrated on jazz and blues music. The 11th release was its first major hit, with R&B singer Percy Mayfield’s “Two Years of Torture" and other releases included crooner Jesse Belvin(”Dream Girl”) and tenor saxophonist Illinois Jacquet (”Jacquet Blows the Blues”). In mid-1951 Dolphin licensed two dozen Recorded in Hollywood masters to King Records (3) in a nationwide distribution deal on King’s Federal Records (2) imprint. It is difficult to gauge the commercial impact of most RIH releases due to Dolphin's avoidance of normal distribution channels wherever possible, and as a result most of his releases were never acknowledged in industry charts. Dolphin eventually sold the entire Recorded In Hollywood catalogue to Decca. The label itself was sold to Don Pierce (2) in 1953, who renamed it Hollywood Records (2) He went on to concentrate on his new labels, Lucky, Cash Records (4) and Money Records (2), which were marketed more at an emerging white teenage audience into the sounds of black RnB and vocal harmony groups. For bootleg / counterfeits, see Recorded In Hollywood (2).