[78-L] An American Decca query

[David Lennick]

The claim is almost valid, actually. Decca began recording almost 
simultaneously in New York, Chicago and Los Angeles in August 1934. Charles 
Bourne recorded in NY on August 2nd and 3rd and none of the sides was released. 
Hamblen made the first LA recordings on the 3rd, and Chicago didn't start 
recording activity till the following week. Bing Crosby and the Sons of the 
Pioneers had sessions in LA on the 8th, then Guy Lombardo and the Dorsey 
Brothers recorded in NY a few days later. Whether or not Hamblen had the first 
contract, he seems to have made the first recordings to be issued.

dl

Harold Aherne wrote:
> MCA was founded as a talent agency for musicians and bands in 1924, but I don't 
> believe it had a direct stake in the record business until it acquired Universal (and
> therefore Decca) in 1962. Hamblen was probably among the first to sign a contract
> with Kapp; his 3 August 1934 recordings have matrix numbers of DLA1 and 2--although
> I'd have to do more research before I'd feel comfortable asserting that he was
> *the* first, especially in a published work.
>  
> -Harold

David Weiner wrote:
> Absolutely not - the first artists on Decca were Bing Crosby, Glen Gray and
> the Casa Loma Orchestra, the Dorsey Brothers Orchestra, Guy Lombardo, Ted
> Lewis, Arthur Tracy, Frank Crumit, Ethel Waters and the Mills Brothers. 
> 
> Dave W.
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: 78-l-bounces at klickitat.78online.com
> [mailto:78-l-bounces at klickitat.78online.com] On Behalf Of RAY KILCOYNE
> Sent: Tuesday, December 16, 2008 4:36 PM
> To: 78-l at 78online.com
> Subject: [78-L] An American Decca query
> 
> This is a quote from the Wikipedia article on Stuart Hamblen, "He was the
> first artist signed by MCA Records in 1934."
> Obviously wrong since there was no MCA at that time, but is there any truth
> at all here?  Was he the first or near first to be signed to Decca?
> RayK
> _____________________________________________