J & S Records

J & S Records was a New York record label started in 1956 and continued through to the early 1970s. The owner was Zelma “Zell” Sanders (1922–1976), one of the few woman label owners in the record business.

In the early 1950s Sanders was managing a girl vocal group, The Hearts. She arranged a contract for them on New York's Baton Records and hired and fired members till she got the mix she wanted. In mid 1956 she decided to start her own label, J & S Records.

The label's first big success came in 1957, with Johnnie and Joe's "Over the Mountain, Across the Sea", a duo which included Sanders' daughter Johnnie Louise Richardson. The song was written by Rex Garvin, who also sang vocal harmonies. Garvin was pianist and musical director with the Hearts, and became J&S’s musical back room boy. As well as writing and producing many of the songs that the label released, he also sang back up vocals when required. "Over the Mountain, Across the Sea" was leased to Chess Records for national distribution.[1]

The Hearts themselves moved over from Baton to J&S in mid 1957. Baby Washington, one of the later members of The Hearts, also recorded under her own name for subsidiary label Neptune Records. Freddie Scott was another early signing in 1956. Sanders leased to many companies who would spread her product better than she was able, including Gone Records and ABC-Paramount Records. Subsidiary labels included Zell's Records, Neptune Records, Sprout Records and Dice Records.

By the early '60s J&S was in financial trouble, although long-standing contacts with Chess managed to keep it afloat. A new label Tuff Records was created with Chess money, and Abner Spector was told to keep an eye on it. In 1963 Spector used The Hearts, renamed as The Jaynetts, and had a big hit with "Sally Go 'Round the Roses". Sanders released music credited to the Hearts, The Jaynetts, The Clickettes, The Poppies, The Z-Debs, The Endeavours, and The Patty Cakes, all made by the same group of girls.

Sanders' (and J&S's) last major production was a psychedelic rock release by Pugsley Munion, the single (JS 0002) and album (SLP-0001) "Just Like You" in 1970.[2][3]

Zell Sanders died in 1976, and her daughter Johnnie Louise Richardson in 1988.

See also

References

  1. ↑ J. C. Marion, Zell Sanders and J & S Records
  2. ↑ Photo of Zell Sanders signing Pugsley Munion with description (Billboard, September 12, 1970, p. 6). Retrieved 2012-05-10.
  3. ↑ Advertisement in Billboard, September 19, 1970, p. 71. Retrieved 2012-05-10.