Gallo Record Company
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Gallo Record Company | |
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| Parent company | Warner Music Group |
| Founded | 1939 |
| Founder(s) | Arnold Golembo and Eric Gallo |
| Distributing label | Gallo Music Publishers (In South Africa) Shanachie Records, Koch Entertainment (In the US) Wrasse Records (UK) |
| Genre(s) | Various |
| Country of Origin | South Africa |
| Website | Official site of Gallo Record Company |
Gallo Record Company is the largest record label in Africa. It is based in Johannesburg, South Africa.
[edit] History
The company owns over 75% of all recordings ever made in South Africa [1], including those by artists such as Ladysmith Black Mambazo, Mahlathini and the Mahotella Queens, Miriam Makeba, Hugh Masekela, Stimela, West Nkosi, and Makgona Tsohle Band among others.
Arnold Golembo founded the Gramophone Record Company (GRC) in Johannesburg in 1939. GRC obtained the South African franchise for Capitol Records label in 1946 but soon obtained the franchise for CBS in 1956.
GRC was incorporated into the Gallo Group, founded as Gallotone Recordings in 1926 by Eric Gallo. The new company was named Gallo-GRC, thus ending the several Gallo Group sub-labels (such as Motella, Ezomdabu, Mavuthela and Gumba Gumba). The company was renamed Gallo Record Company in 1989, the 50th anniversary of the company.
Producers at the record company included West Nkosi, who was an influential and intimidating figure at the company from 1964 until his death in 1997. Nkosi was a member of the Makgona Tsohle Band, which backed up various Gallo artists such as Abafana Baseqhudeni and Mahlathini as well as female groups such as Mahotella Queens and Dark City Sisters. Nkosi set-up the Gallo sub-label Mavuthela Productions in 1970, which controlled smaller Gallo labels such as Motella and Ezomdabu. Nkosi introduced to Gallo some of its most well-known artists; these included Ladysmith Black Mambazo and Mphranyana and the Cannibals.
Other figures at Gallo included talent scouts Robert Bopape and Louis Petierson as well as musician-composer-arrangers such as Shadrack Piliso, Marks Mankwane, Hilda Tloubatla, Lucky Monama, Joseph Shabalala, Simon Nkabinde and Thandi Nkomo. Recently, Helena Paparizou signed to the label for the release of her international album The Game Of Love which released on November 13 in South Africa.
In 2006, Johnnic Communications (the parent company of Gallo Africa Ltd.) was incorporated into Warner Music Group, forming Warner Music Gallo Africa, making Gallo's entire archive digitally available for the first time.
