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Legendary Los Angeles R&B producer John Dolphin was one of the first and most notorious black independent record label owners, his contributions to the formative years of rock & roll are often overlooked. A mini-mogul who had nearly every facet of the record business covered. A former car salesman, Dolphin first entered the music business as a retailer — sometime during the Korean War. In 1948 he opened Dolphin’s on Hollywood, a record store on Vernon Avenue that remained open 24 hours a day to cater to the late-shift workforces necessitated by the conflict overseas. Dolphin’s of Hollywood record store even featured a DJ broadcasting over local station KRKD from inside the store’s walls, beginning with Ray Robinson and most famously including Hunter Hancock and Dick “Huggy Boy” Hugg — this enterprising spin on payola would serve Dolphin well in the years to follow, as he could instruct the DJs on his payroll to play the records his labels produced. (His motto: “We’ll record you today and have you a hit tonight.”) |
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Dolphin’s of Hollywood record store soon became the most famous record shop in America and the Dolphin’s of Hollywood show the most popular black radio show in America. Recording artist appeared at the store and preformed live on-air interviews as well as greet and signed autographs for customers. Dolphins of Hollywood record store was the first business to open 24 hours even on Sundays, also first to offer “Buy One Get One Free” for purchases of any record in the store. Dolphin eventually operated a group of record stores, each was named Dolphin's of Hollywood. Despite the fact that the main store, and the first to use the name, was actually located in South Central/Watts area of Los Angeles on East Vernon Ave, near the corner of Central Avenue. The name Dolphin’s of Hollywood was arise from the fact that Hollywood wouldn’t let any blacks own or operate any businesses in Hollywood, so this was Dolphin’s way bringing Hollywood to the hood. On Saturday nights about midnight there would be 500 plus people all outside dancing in the street in front of the Dolphin’s of Hollywood record shop.
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The creator and innovator of the crossover music concept he knew white teenagers loved black music. He went on white radio station KRKD and played a black music format, marketing black music to whites. White kids would pack the Dolphin’s of Hollywood record shop in the all black neighborhood of Watts, nightly. Dolphin hired a white deejay the most famous Dick "Huggy Boy" Hugg, who drew white teenagers to the shop in ever increasing numbers. Dolphin’s of Hollywood radio show featuring Huggy Boy as deejay was the first to play and break the song “Earth Angel” by the Penguins and within weeks of its release it shot to the top of the charts. Artist would appear at Dolphin’s of Hollywood record shop for in-store promotion, artist such as Billie Holiday, Lionel Hampton, Sarah Vangh, Little Richard, James Brown “the Godfather of Soul”, Sam Cooke, Marvin Gaye, Quincy Jones, B.B. King, Aretha Franklin, Etta James, Ike and Tina Turner, Fifth Dimension, Solomon Burke just to name a few.
Dolphin mounted his own label, Recorded in Hollywood, in 1950. Inaugurated via jazz pianist Erroll Garner’s “Lotus Blue,” the imprint scored its first major hit with its sophomore release, R&B singer Percy Mayfield’s “Two Years of Torture.” He would go on an mount several small record labels, a few with appropriately inspired names revealing Dolphin's penchant for making money above all else: Cash, Money, Lucky, and Recorded in Hollywood Records (which they weren't!). John Dolphin was the epitome of the record business hustler. A big man with a big cigar, big talk and big promises, he was the kind of hustler that often gave the record business a bad reputation. He was one of the first black independent record label owners and probably also the most notorious one.
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Records from crooner Jesse Belvin (”Dream Girl”) and tenor saxophonist Illinois Jacquet (”Jacquet Blows the Blues”) followed in the months to come, and in mid-1951 Dolphin cut a licensing deal with King Records that resulted in close to two dozen Recorded in Hollywood masters earning national release on King’s Federal imprint. But the commercial impact of most of the records released under Dolphin’s watch is impossible to gauge — the quintessential cigar-chomping hustler, he bypassed distributors whenever possible, delivering boxes of records direct to rival retailers’ doors. As a result, few Recorded in Hollywood releases made the industry trade charts, but Dolphin’s empire flourished nevertheless, and in 1953 he scored again with Little Caesar’s “The River,” a record later banned by New York’s influential WINS for fear its emotional intensity might have led listeners to contemplate suicide. Dolphin sold Recorded in Hollywood and its catalog in 1954 to Decca, soon after founding a new label, Lucky. This new venture proved short-lived, releasing only nine singles including efforts from the Hollywood Flames, Joe Houston, and Jimmy Wright.
A pair of additional labels, Money and Cash, soon took Lucky’s place — Money was the more successful of the two, notching local smashes including Ernie Freeman’s “Jivin’ Around,” Johnny Fuller’s “Mean Old World,” and Don Julian & the Meadowlarks’ “The Jerk.” Dolphin sold Money and its holdings in 1956 to Don Pierce’s Hollywood Records.
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On February 2, 1958, Percy Ivy, a disgruntled songwriter in search of royalties, shot Dolphin dead behind the desk of his Hollywood office. The murder was witnessed by a pair of white kids — future session drummer Sandy Nelson and latter-day Beach Boy Bruce Johnston - who'd traveled to South Central in the hopes of interesting Dolphin in their songs. The shop was taken over by Dolphin's assistant, Rudy Ray Moore who you might know as Dolemite, and continued to run it until 1970. His widow, Ruth Dolphin, later reactivated Money Records, which would serve as a springboard for the great soul chanteuse Bettye Swann and her 1967 smash hit single, “Make Me Yours.” |
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