Dolton Records

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Dolton Records was a record label based in Seattle which was originally known as Dolphin Records. It was owned by Bob Reisdorf and Bonnie Guitar. Success for the label came early with "Come Softly To Me" by The Fleetwoods. Reisdorf was then informed that there was another Dolphin Records in circulation (which was a subsidiary of Laurie Records), so he changed the label to Dolton. The Dolton label retained the fish symbols on the logo associated with the Dolphin name. Other Dolton artists included The Ventures and Vic Dana. It was acquired in 1963 by Avnet and merged with its Liberty Records parent label in 1966. Liberty had distributed Dolton releases when "Come Softly To Me" became a hit. Bonnie Guitar also recorded for the label, recording singles like "Candy Apple Red". Guitar had her own recording career in the late 50s, best remembered for Country-Pop crossover hit "Dark Moon" in 1957.

Liberty discontinued the Dolton label in 1967, with its artists transferred to the parent label. The label's final single released was "Theme From The Wild Angels"/"Kickstand" (DOR-327) by The Ventures. Ironically, they also had the final album released on Dolton: "Guitar Freakout" (BLP-2050/BST-8050)

[edit] Label variations

1958 -- Light blue label with fish symbols at top of label, DOLPHIN shown vertically on left side
1958-1960 -- Same as above, DOLPHIN changed to DOLTON
1960-1965 -- Dark aqua label with new logo on right side, DOLTON shown in various colors
1965-1966 -- Black and dark blue label with "D" logo on left side, DOLTON shown under logo, "A PRODUCT OF LIBERTY RECORDS" shown under DOLTON