Cadence Records

For the label associated with Cadence Magazine, see Cadence Jazz.

Cadence Records was an American record company based in New York City whose labels had a picture of a metronome. It was founded by Archie Bleyer, who had been the musical director and orchestra leader for Arthur Godfrey in 1952. Bleyer had written a few hot songs in 1932–34 (Fletcher Henderson's "Business in F" is a good example) and had a band that recorded for ARC in 1934 and 1935 (his records were issued on Vocalion, Melotone, Perfect and Romeo).

The first recording star for Cadence was Godfrey alumnus Julius La Rosa. Other Godfrey alumnae signed to the label included the Chordettes. According to legend, Bleyer was fired from the Godfrey show when he signed someone Godfrey regarded as a rival to a record deal. (Godfrey later fired singer Julius La Rosa in October 1954, causing a storm of controversy at the time.) The label also produced the early hits of Andy Williams and the Everly Brothers, as well as Johnny Tillotson and Lenny Welch. Virtuoso jazz/classical pianist Don Shirley was signed with Cadence in the 1950s and 1960s. Candid Records was the company's short-lived jazz subsidiary. One of Cadence's most popular songs in the 1950s was "Eloise", written and sung by Kay Thompson.

Cadence had nearly 100 charted American singles during the 1950s and into the 1960s. It produced the 1962 smash bestseller parody album, The First Family by Vaughn Meader, which was, to that time, the fastest-selling album in history,[1] #1 on Billboard 200 for 12 weeks, featuring impressions of President John F. Kennedy, wife Jackie Kennedy, and newsmakers like Nikita Khrushchev, and Senator Hubert Humphrey. A follow-up album, The First Family, volume two, released in March 1963, reached #4, but the two albums were taken out of print following the assassination of Kennedy in Dallas. The departures of the Everly Brothers in 1960 (to Warner Bros. Records) and of Andy Williams in 1961 (to Columbia Records), along with radical changes in public taste and the music business brought on by the British Invasion, led to the rapid decline of the company by 1964. Bleyer opted to shut down Cadence,[2] and sold Williams' masters to the singer, which he bought mainly because he wanted to keep any other buyer (Kapp Records and Liberty Records were two companies mentioned interested in buying the Cadence catalog) from reissuing his old material in competition with his new material. Bleyer wanted Williams to buy the entire Cadence catalogue, which he did.[3][4] Williams reissued his old albums on Columbia and formed Barnaby Records to manage the Cadence catalogue.

References

  1. ↑ Nielsen Business Media, Inc. (2 February 1963). Billboard. Nielsen Business Media, Inc. pp. 12–. ISSN 0006-2510.
  2. ↑ Nielsen Business Media, Inc. (12 September 1964). Billboard. Nielsen Business Media, Inc. pp. 8–. ISSN 0006-2510.
  3. ↑ Nielsen Business Media, Inc. (7 November 1964). Billboard. Nielsen Business Media, Inc. pp. 6–. ISSN 0006-2510.
  4. ↑ Nielsen Business Media, Inc. (19 September 1964). Billboard. Nielsen Business Media, Inc. pp. 1–. ISSN 0006-2510.

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