Song Bird Records
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Song Bird Records was started at the end of 1963 as a second gospel music subsidiary of Houston, Texas based Duke/Peacock Records. Significant artists on this record label included the powerful contralto Inez Andrews (formerly of The Caravans), The Gospelettes with Liz Dargan (formerly of Andrews’ group The Andrewettes), mixed vocal group The Kansas City Melodyaires (later known as Mildred Clark & The Melodyaires), The Jackson Southernaires and their younger siblings The Williams Brothers, and Reverend Oris Mays, all of whom continued with the label into the 1970’s. The label also featured a one-off album (It's Gospel Time) by The Sons Of The Birds, being the sons of the famous Peacock group The Dixie Hummingbirds. Andrews scored a small hit on the rhythm and blues singles charts in April 1973 with the title track of her album Lord Don’t Move The Mountain. That same year, the Duke/Peacock family of labels (which also included Back Beat and Sure Shot) was sold to ABC Records of Los Angeles, with label founder Don Robey staying with ABC as a consultant until his death in 1975. The label name was changed to ABC/Songbird in 1974.
After ABC was sold to MCA Records in 1979, MCA briefly operated an MCA/Songbird label with new signings including Little Anthony (of Little Anthony & The Imperials) and Dan Peek (formerly of the group America), the previous rosters of both ABC-Peacock and ABC-Songbird having been dropped (MCA later reissued several Peacock and Song Bird albums at budget price). Along with the MCA back catalog, the Peacock and Song Bird masters are now controlled by the Geffen Records unit of Universal Music Group.
[edit] References
Gart, Galen, and Ames, Roy C., with Funk, Ray; Bowman, Rob; Booth, David (1990). Duke/Peacock Records: An Illustrated History with Discography. Big Nickel Publications, Milford, New Hampshire. ISBN 0-936433-12-4.
Hayes, Cedric J., and Laughton, Robert (1992). Gospel Records 1943 – 1969, A Black Music Discography (Volumes One and Two). Record Information Services, London, England. ISBN 0 907872 28 X (Volume One), ISBN 0 907872 29 8 (Volume Two).
Whitburn, Joel (2000). Joel Whitburn Presents Top R & B Singles 1942 – 1999. Record Research, Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin. ISBN 0-89820-136-5.
