Most people think that Motown was the 1st independent Black-owned record label in America. The first one happened right here in Chicago, and its founder was a Black woman named Vivian Carter.
Jerry Butler. John Lee Hooker. The Dells. Little Richard. The Four Seasons. Gladys Knight and the Pips. Jimi Hendrix. The Beatles (yep, THOSE BEATLES). All of these artists (and so many more) were acts signed to the Vee-Jay Records label. Vee-Jay Records, the 1st independent Black-owned record company opened in 1953, 6 years before Motown in Detroit, Michigan (founded by Berry Gordy in 1959).
Vivian Carter was born March 25, 1921, in Tunica, Mississippi. When she was six years old, her family moved to Gary, Indiana. In 1948, Vivian traveled to Chicago to compete in a radio contest hosted by Al Benson, a local disc jockey at radio station WGES. She won the competition and given a 15-minute segment at the station, launching her radio career.
She returned to Gary in 1950, opening a record shop called Vivian's Record Shop (formerly located at 1640 Broadway). She created and hosted a 5-hour show called "Living with Vivian," playing records by Black independent artists, most of which were not available commercially. Black and White teenagers would come to the shop after school to watch her play through the windows of the shop and listen to the show through the outdoor loudspeakers. Vivian would also take requests and asked her listeners to review the songs she played.
In 1953, her then-boyfriend Jimmy Bracken knew that the music she played would sell. They borrowed $500.00 from a local pawnshop and started their record label, Vee-Jay Records (using a play-on of their first-name initials "Vivian" and "Jimmy"). They recorded local Black music artists, with the first group signed on their label, The Spaniels. Their first recording, "Goodnight Sweetheart, Goodnight, charted at number 5 on the Billboard Charts and Baby It's You, charted at number #10 on the Billboard's R&B Chart, May 5, 1953, becoming a crossover hit. The song re-recorded by The Andrew Sisters sold more records and made more money than The Spaniels' original recording. This circumstance led Vee-Jay Records to print and register publishing rights to their artists' songs so that they would still make money when other artists covered them. This was the same year that the now-married Brackens moved their operations from Gary, Indiana to Chicago, Illinois.
Vee-Jay Records was the most successful independent record company of the 1950s and 1960s, with such acts under their label as Jerry Butler, Jimmy Reed, The Staple Singers, Gene Chandler, The Dells, The El Dorados, and so many others. They also successfully secured the rights to distribute the first Beatles album in America in 1963 (but eventually lost them to Capitol Records through a series of loopholes and lawsuits). Vivian continued to work as a radio DJ while running the label with her husband, Jimmy Bracken. Due to the rapid growth of the company, legal and financial challenges, and mismanagement, by the mid-1960s, Vee-Jay Records was in dire straights and closed its offices in Chicago to save money. They moved their operations to California in 1964. The company finally went bankrupt, and the label ceased operations in 1966.
Vivian Carter moved back to Gary, Indiana, and continued her work as a late-night radio deejay for WWCA. During the 1980s, her health began to fail, and she died in 1986. As a successful radio deejay, record label mogul, and an early pioneer of recorded music, Vivian Carter was a trailblazer.
Photo 1
Vivian Carter, owner of Vee-Jay Records photo courtesy The Indiana History Blog via the Calumet Regional Archives.
Photo 2
Photo of the former location of Vee Jay Records in 2020 / 1449 S. Michigan Avenue Entrenuity, Mox.E Co Work Space and Overflow Coffee Bar will occupy the space in 2021.
Photo 3
Photo of Vee Jay Records in 1961 / 1449 S. Michigan Avenue photo courtesy the Made In Chicago website.
Photo 4
Vivian Carter (Bracken), Jimmy Bracken and Ewart Abner of Vee Jay Records photo courtesy The Indiana History Blog via the Made In Chicago Museum website.
Photo #2 by Tracy Brown.
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