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Columbia Records Founded As American Graphophone
While working on refining the telegraph in 1887, Thomas Alva Edison hit on the idea of transcribing sounds on a cylinder wrapped in tinfoil, and the patent for his “phonograph” was issued on February 19, 1878. With this technology and the leadership of Edward Denison Easton, the Columbia Phonograph and the American Graphophone Company became the beginnings of what would evolve to be Columbia Records. Becoming an American flagship recording label that produced many notable artists. -
Bert Williams- NOBODY
Bert Williams - Nobody Born in the Bahamas, Williams entered show business in a minstrel troupe in San Francisco and eventually teamed up with George Walker, another young performer, billing themselves as “Two Real Coons.” Williams, who was light-skinned, appeared in blackface, a common device among black performers that was both an extension and an inversion of the familiar white minstrels’ act. Williams was especially adept at using the black-on-black routine—in which a genuine black man sto -
Arthur Collins - Alexander's Ragtime BandThe veteran “coon” singer had a number of hit cylinder songs with Edison’s National Phonograph Company early in the 20th century. In 1911, he teamed with Byron Harlan to record Irving Berlin’s new song
The veteran “coon” singer had a number of hit cylinder songs with Edison’s National Phonograph Company early in the 20th century. In 1911, he teamed with Byron Harlan to record Irving Berlin’s new song “Alexander’s Ragtime Band” for Columbia. -
Original Dixieland Jass Band - Darktown Strutters' Ball
The Original Dixieland Jass Band was a New Orleans band that made the first jazz recordings in early 1917. Their most notable contribution to jazz music was the song “Darktown Strutters’ Ball,” which was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2006. -
Rosa Ponselle, soprano opera singer for Metropolitan Opera, is signed with Columbia
Ponselle, a young woman from Meriden, Connecticut, had an untrained but opulent soprano voice that had carried her from vaudeville to a stunning, historic debut with the Metropolitan Opera, opposite Enrico Caruso, in La Forza del Destino in November 1918. At the coaxing of her manager, Ponselle immediately signed with Columbia, for whom she recorded her first release only two weeks after her debut. Over the ensuing five years she would record nearly fifty more sides for the label, before leaving -
Bessie Smith - Downhearted Blues
Born in Chattanooga in 1894, Smith was already a well-known performer on the black theater circuit by the time Columbia found her. In February 1923, Smith began cutting her first sides for Columbia Records, and would continue to record for Columbia into the 1930s. Smith’s debut, “Downhearted Blues,” written by Alberta Hunter, became an enormous hit. Today many critics regard it as one of the most important popular recordings ever made, a timeless lament of a mi -
Louis Amstrong was Born
Louis Armstrong was merely a musican he was popularized for his debut "scat" singing and would later have an immense influence on popular music. He was an American jazz trumpeter, singer, and a influential figure in jazz music. Louis Armstrong first appeared as an accompanist on tracks like W.C. Handy’s “St. Louis Blues” and Fletcher Henderson and His Orchestra’s “Sugar Foot Stamp,” but the label quickly realized his presence on the tracks was making them more popular. -
Frank Sinatra officially signs as solo artist with Columbia
Sinatra had joined the Tommy Dorsey band in 1939, but his rising popularity and his troubled financial relations with Dorsey forced a difficult decision about whether he should set out on his own. In January 1942, Sinatra recorded his first solo session without the Dorsey band. Sinatra’s talents were already recognized by many: in May 1941, he was at the top of the polls in both Billboard and DownBeat. But “Sinatrauma,” as the newspapers were to dub it, was just beginning to erupt, as hordes of -
Billie Holiday - Lady in Satin
Billie Holiday was first discovered as a seventeen-year-old last-minute replacement for Monette Moore. Holiday’s recording debut came on some sessions with Benny Goodman, whom she was dating at the time, that began on November 27, 1933, just three days after Bessie Smith’s last session. The young Holiday was intimidated, but the sessions produced a halting yet promising version of “Your Mother’s Son-in-Law,” as well as Holiday’s first hit, “Riffin’ the Scotch.” Holiday continued to record with A -
Bob Dylan signs with Columbia Records
Dylan’s self-titled debut on Columbia consisted largely of traditional folk songs and blues, sold poorly, and earned him the nickname “Hammond’s folly,” in honor of the man who had signed him in the first place. But Columbia stuck with him and Dylan stuck with Columbia. Their relationship continued through his rapid evolution into and out of the topical, politically charged songwriting of The FreeWheelin’ Bob Dylan and The Times They Are A-Changin’, to the more personal, inwardly reflective song -
Barbra Streisand signs with Columbia Records
Barbra Streisand signs with Columbia Records Barbra Streisand came to Columbia in 1962, in connection with her arresting debut in the small part of Miss Marmelstein in the Broadway musical I Can Get It for You Wholesale. Barely out of Brooklyn, she had just turned twenty, but she had been hard at work for years, singing in nightclubs, performing in summer stock, and landing television spots. Then Columbia president Goddard Lieberson was advised to sign Streisand to Columbia right away, but he -
Barbra Streisand - The Barbra Streisand Album
This was Barbra Streisand’s first major label release. Having secured the contractual privilege of complete creative control, Streisand skillfully chose and recorded eleven standards by the likes of Rodgers and Hart. Released in late February to critical acclaim, the album eventually won Grammy Awards for Album of the Year and Best Vocal Performance, Female (as well as Best Non-Classical Album Cover, for Columbia designer John Berg). The album also reached number nine on the Billboard chart and -
Barbra Streisand - The Second Barbra Streisand Album
Four months after the release of The Barbra Streisand Album, Streisand recorded another eleven tracks, a selection this time heavy on the music of Harold Arlen. The Second Barbra Streisand Album, released in October, topped at number two.