Dot Records
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Dot Records was an American record label which was active between 1950 and 1977. It was founded by Randy Wood who beforehand started a mail order record shop in Gallatin, Tennessee, known for its radio ads on WLAC in Nashville and its R&B (later black gospel) air personality Bill "Hoss" Allen. The label was known for hiring artists with hit records in previous years to record remakes of their hits.
Its original headquarters were in Gallatin, Tennessee but in 1956 the company moved its headquarters to Hollywood, California.
In its early years, the label specialized in artists from around Tennessee, then branched out to musicians and singers from throughout the United States. It offered a variety of country music, rhythm & blues, gospel music, rockabilly, pop music, and early rock & roll. After the move to Hollywood, Dot bought up many recordings by small local independent labels and issued them nationally.
In 1957, Wood sold ownership of the label to Paramount Pictures but he remained the president of the company for another decade, then left to co-found the Ranwood Records label with Lawrence Welk. In 1958 Dot started a subsidiary label, Hamilton Records, for rockabilly and rhythm & blues. They also distributed the only record from Carnival Records, and created three other subsidiary labels: Crystalette, Acta, and Steed. Dot also acquired the DynoVoice label from Bell Records in 1967.
In 1968, after Paramount was bought out by Gulf and Western, the Dot label was rebranded as a country music label under the umbrella of Famous Music Group which included the Paramount, Neighborhood, Blue Thumb and Sire labels. In 1974 the label was bought by ABC/Dunhill Records, which discontinued the label in 1977.
Artitsts whose recordings were issued on Dot included Billy Vaughn, Margaret Whiting, Nervous Norvus, Sonny Knight, The Fontane Sisters, Jimmy Gilmer and The Fireballs, Lonnie Donegan, Louis Prima, Keely Smith, Tab Hunter, Jim Lowe, The Hilltoppers, Sanford Clark, Pat Boone, Lawrence Welk, The Lennon Sisters, Johnny Maddox, Eddie Peabody, Steve Allen, The Surfaris, Vaughn Monroe, Liberace, Donna Fargo, Diana Trask, Roy Clark, Bonnie Guitar, Freddy Fender, the Andrews Sisters, the Mills Brothers, Jimmie Rodgers, Tommy Jackson, Gale Storm, Barbara Mandrell, Leonard Nimoy, and Fear Itself.
