Jerry Blaine

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Jerry Blaine (December 31, 1910 – March 14, 1973) was a bandleader, label owner, record distributor, and singer who recorded 18 sides for the Master and Bluebird labels in 1937-1938.

He was born in New York City, New York. In May of 1946 Herb Abramson founded Jubilee Records and asked Jerry Blaine to become his business partner. In September of 1947, Abramson had Blaine buy him out and Blaine became the sole proprietor of Jubilee. Jubilee was a gospel and Yiddish comedy label. Jubilee's first hit record was in 1948 with the Orioles' song "It's Too Soon To Know" (# 1 R&B, # 14 pop). The song was originally issued on Blaine's It's a Natural label. The label also released a line of "party" risque comedy records; and Kermit Schafer's blooper records of mistakes made on radio and television. Blaine's largest money maker was his record distribution company, Cosnat Distributing. During Alan Freed's payola trial of February 4, 1960 Blaine was implicated in paying to have his music played on the radio. Jubilee went out of business around 1970. The master tapes were sold to Roulette Records. When Morris Levy sold Roulette to Rhino in the late 1980s, and the Jubilee/Josie masters became the property of Rhino Records. Jerry Blaine died in 1973 in Nassau, New York.