Valiant Records was an independent record company co-owned by Four Star Television which was sold in 1967 to Warner Bros. Records.[1]
Valiant Records was never fully independent, for most of its existence, its distributor was ABC Records before Warners took it over distribution in 1965 and then acquired the label in 1967.
Formed in 1960 by songwriter Barry DeVorzon, Valiant charted with its first release, Shelby Flint's "Angel On My Shoulder." Flint scored again six years later with a soft vocal version of "Cast Your Fate To The Wind." DeVorzon's own group, Barry & The Tamerlanes, hit in 1963 with "I Wonder What She's Doin' Tonight." In 1966 DeVorzon rescued folk-rockers The Association from obscurity at Jubilee Records, and they debuted on Valiant (which had just ended a very brief distribution stint with Four Star Television, the distributor of such shows as Burke's Law and Honey West) with a non-charting version of "One Too Many Mornings." The next handful of records - "Along Comes Mary," "Cherish," "Pandora's Golden Heebie Jeebies" and "No Fair At All" - helped establish The Association as one of the premier Sunshine Pop acts of the '60s.
In 1967, after a little over 110 singles and 11 albums (seven under Warner Bros. and four under Four Star/independent distribution), the label itself ceased to exist and was folded into Warner Bros. Records. Its output remains desirable to collectors, with the early years featuring a string of obscure but worthwhile white pop titles, and the later years an intriguing mix of slick Southern California psych and pop.
Collectors should note that Valiant singles sported two separate numbering series. For singles, the 6000 series (6001-6062) ran from 1960–1966, then the 700 series (701-762) followed in the year 1966-1967. Some numbers from 6002-6013 were shared with a Montclare Records, a very short-lived Warner subsidiary, as well as several one-shot labels such as Elloma and Burbank. The first 10 numbers of the 700 series were reserved for reissues of the most popular singles of the 6000 series. It appears the following numbers were never released: 706, 707, 708, 710, 722, and 746. Albums were also given different numbering sets. The seven Valiant albums distributed by Warner Bros. were numbered from W/WS 401-407, the four albums under Four Star/independent were issued VLM 5001-5004 for mono, VLS 25001-25004 for stereo. Warner Bros. reissued the Four Star/independent albums using numbers W (mono)/WS (stereo) 1701-1704 in alignment with the original issues.
Valiant also re-released some albums originally on the Somerset Records label.
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