Hi Records

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Hi Records

Parent company	ABS Entertainment Inc.
Founded	1957
Founder	Ray Harris, Joe Cuoghi, Bill Cantrell, Quinton Claunch
Distributing label	EMI (In the US) Crimson Productions (in the UK)
Genre	rockabilly, soul music
Country of origin	US
Official website	http://hirecords.com

Hi Records was a Memphis soul and rockabilly label started by singer Ray Harris, record store owner Joe Cuoghi, Bill Cantrell, and Quinton Claunch in 1957 (see 1957 in music).

Hi's first big hit was "Smokie Part 2", an instrumental by The Bill Black Combo in 1959. Black was a bass player with Elvis Presley and a long time friend of founder Harris. Founder Claunch quit the label, selling his share to Carl McVoy in 1960,the same year that Willie Mitchell was brought in as musical director. Hi's most successful years were in the 1960s and 1970s, with albums for internationally known acts like Al Green, O. V. Wright and Ann Peebles. When founder Joe Cuoghi died in 1970, musician/music producer Willie Mitchell took over running the label. The label's music was mostly recorded at Mitchell's Royal Recording studio in Memphis, Tennessee and distributed nationally by London Records. The label used a house backing band of local session musicians, known as the Hi Rhythm Section, on its numerous hit recordings of the 1970s. The popularity of disco music in the late 1970s led to an eventual decline in the popularity of the label's Memphis soul style.

In 1977, Willie Mitchell sold the label to Cream Records owned by Al Bennett. Today it is operated by his daughter, Adalah Bennett Shaw. Licensed distribution is by Crimson Productions in Europe; EMI is the licensee in Canada and the United States.