Capitol Records
On the 2nd of February 1942, songwriter Johnny Mercer met with Glenn Wallichs at a restaurant in Hollywood to discuss an investment from Paramount Pictures. This meeting marked the beginning of Capitol Records, which would become the first major West Coast record label in the United States. The company was officially incorporated on the 27th of March 1942, initially under the name Liberty Records before changing its name to Capitol Records in May. By the 6th of April 1942, Mercer supervised the label's very first recording session where Martha Tilton recorded the song "Moon Dreams". Just three weeks later, Bobby Sherwood and his orchestra cut two tracks in the studio. On May 21, Freddie Slack and his orchestra recorded three songs including one with Ella Mae Morse called "Cow-Cow Boogie". That same month, the label opened its first office in a second-floor room south of Sunset Boulevard. On June 5, Paul Whiteman and his Orchestra recorded four songs at the studio. By June 12, the orchestra had recorded five more songs including "Trav'lin' Light" with Billie Holiday. Tex Ritter recorded two songs for his first Capitol session on June 11, creating what became the label's 110th produced record. The earliest roster included co-owner Mercer, Johnnie Johnston, Jo Stafford, the Pied Pipers, and Margaret Whiting. Capitol's first gold single was Morse's "Cow Cow Boogie" released in 1942. Their first album A-1 featured a four-disc set with recordings by Mercer, Stafford, and the Pied Pipers all backed by Weston's orchestra.
In 1946, writer-producer Alan W. Livingston created Bozo the Clown for the company's children's record library using Pinto Colvig as the voice actor. Mel Blanc reprised cartoon roles including Bugs Bunny and Woody Woodpecker while Don Wilson narrated several Disney records. Notable albums from that era include Sparky's Magic Piano and Rusty in Orchestraville. The label also developed a noted jazz catalog featuring the Capitol Jazz Men and issued Miles Davis's album Birth of the Cool. Capitol released classical albums in the 1940s with heavily embossed leather-like covers on the 78 rpm format before reissuing them on LP in 1949. These recordings included Heitor Villa-Lobos' Choros No. 10 conducted by Werner Janssen and Symphony No. 3 by Reinhold Moritzovich Glière. By the 1950s, Capitol had become a huge label concentrating primarily on popular music. The label began recording rock and roll acts such as The Jodimars and Gene Vincent. Comedy records appeared from Stan Freberg, Johnny Standley, and Mickey Katz. On the 2nd of August 1952, Billboard magazine published a chronicle titled "The Record Decade, 1942-42" covering the label's first ten years. In 1956, Capitol introduced The Capitol of the World series which ran into the 1970s containing over 400 albums including German Beer Drinking Songs and Modern Music of the Belgian Congo. Many were produced by Dave Dexter Jr. During this period, Capitol also issued Christmas music recordings from various countries outside the United States.
In 1955, the British record company EMI purchased Capitol Records for $8.5 million acquiring 96% of its stock. This acquisition ended the mutual distribution agreement between EMI and RCA Victor in the Western Hemisphere which lasted until 1957. EMI built a studio at Hollywood and Vine to match their state-of-the-art Abbey Road Studios in London. In October 1979, EMI merged with Thorn Electrical Industries to form Thorn EMI. Shareholders voted to demerge on the 16th of August 1996 creating the EMI Group. In June 1997, Capitol together with Virgin Records absorbed EMI USA which then folded. Some American recordings originally owned by Capitol by international artists such as Tina Turner and Joe Cocker were merged with EMI Records/Parlophone years before the sale of EMI Group to Universal Music. These were included in the Parlophone Label Group and sold to Warner in 2013. In 2012, the recorded music operations of EMI were sold to the Universal Music Group. The world headquarters were re-established in the Capitol Tower in Hollywood as part of the subsequent reorganization of the Capitol Music Group. Steve Barnett previously an employee of Columbia was hired as chairman and CEO of the division. In 2014, PGH Live Music joined the team while Katy Perry founded Metamorphosis Music starting a label venture with Capitol. That same year, Capitol rose to number two market share and won four categories at the Grammy Awards for music by Beck and Sam Smith.
Designed by Welton Becket with Louis Naidorf serving as project designer, the thirteen-story earthquake-resistant Capitol Records Tower became the world's first circular office building. Completed in April 1956, the structure sits north of the intersection of Hollywood and Vine. Its wide curved awnings and tall narrow tower mimic the appearance of a stack of gramophone records atop a phonograph. Although not intended as a tribute to record players, the design achieved that effect naturally. The building was commissioned by EMI after its acquisition of Capitol Records in 1955. It was nicknamed "The House That Nat Built" after the financial success of Capitol singer Nat King Cole. The rectangular ground floor is a separate structure joined to the tower after it was completed. In September 2006, EMI announced it had sold the tower and adjacent properties for $50 million to New York-based developer Argent Ventures. A controversy erupted in mid-2008 over a plan to build a condominium complex next door fearing compromise to the building's acoustic properties specifically its underground echo chambers. Steve Barnett became chairman and CEO of Capitol Music Group in November 2012 and would be based at the Capitol Records Building. Capitol and artist Richard Wyatt Jr. restored his Hollywood Jazz Mural on the south wall of the Capitol Records Building.
Capitol's recording studios were designed to minimize noise and vibration which were newly important goals in the high-fidelity sound era. An inner wall floating on layers of rubber and cork was erected inside the building's concrete exterior walls leaving a one-inch air gap to provide complete sound isolation. The facility also features subterranean echo chambers that allow engineers to add reverberation during the recording process. Eight trapezoidal chambers are located underground with 10-inch concrete walls and concrete ceilings. Speakers on one side and microphones on the other permit an echo effect of up to five seconds. Studios A and B can be combined for the recording of orchestral music and symphonic film soundtracks. The first album recorded in the tower was Frank Sinatra Conducts Tone Poems of Color. These engineering innovations allowed Capitol to achieve superior audio quality compared to competitors. The floating wall system prevented external vibrations from entering the studio while the echo chambers provided natural reverb without electronic processing. This technology became a hallmark of the label's sound throughout the decades.
In 1949, Capitol opened a branch office in Canada and purchased KHJ Studios on Melrose Avenue adjacent to Paramount in Hollywood. Capitol modified albums originally released in other countries on other labels to suit American markets. Albums released in the United States contained fewer tracks usually no more than 11 or 12 compared to albums released in the United Kingdom due to differences in how publishing royalties were calculated. In the American market it was expected that albums would include the current hit single whereas British albums typically did not duplicate songs released as singles. Beginning in 1948, Capitol Records were released in the UK on the Capitol label by Decca. After its 1955 acquisition of Capitol, EMI took over distribution in 1956. EMI's Parlophone unit handled Capitol label marketing in the UK in later years. In 2012, Universal Music started Capitol as an autonomous label in the UK with rights to the Beatles' catalog marking the first time that Capitol operated as an autonomous label there. Capitol Latin focuses on Latin music artists in Latin America and the United States founded in 1989 as EMI Latin and renamed to Capitol Latin in 2009. Capitol Records of Mexico was founded in 1965 as the Mexican division of Capitol. Since 2012 after Universal Music Group purchased EMI, the Mexican EMI brand is owned by Universal Music México.
Continue Browsing
Common questions
When was Capitol Records founded and by whom?
Capitol Records was founded on the 2nd of February 1942 when songwriter Johnny Mercer met with Glenn Wallichs to discuss an investment from Paramount Pictures. The company was officially incorporated on the 27th of March 1942 under the name Liberty Records before changing its name to Capitol Records in May.
What is the history of the Capitol Records Tower building design?
The thirteen-story Capitol Records Tower was designed by Welton Becket with Louis Naidorf serving as project designer and completed in April 1956. It sits north of the intersection of Hollywood and Vine and features a circular shape that mimics a stack of gramophone records atop a phonograph.
How did EMI acquire Capitol Records and what happened after the purchase?
EMI purchased Capitol Records for $8.5 million in 1955 acquiring 96% of its stock which ended the mutual distribution agreement between EMI and RCA Victor in the Western Hemisphere until 1957. In June 1997 Capitol together with Virgin Records absorbed EMI USA which then folded and recorded music operations were sold to Universal Music Group in 2012.
When did Capitol Records open international branches and how did they differ from US releases?
Capitol opened a branch office in Canada in 1949 and began releasing albums in the UK on the Capitol label by Decca starting in 1948. Albums released in the United States contained fewer tracks usually no more than 11 or 12 compared to albums released in the United Kingdom due to differences in how publishing royalties were calculated.
What engineering innovations made Capitol Studios unique during the high-fidelity sound era?
An inner wall floating on layers of rubber and cork was erected inside the building's concrete exterior walls leaving a one-inch air gap to provide complete sound isolation. The facility also features eight trapezoidal subterranean echo chambers located underground with 10-inch concrete walls that allow engineers to add reverberation during the recording process.