Cadence Records was an American record company based in

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

whose labels had a picture of a metronome. It was founded by Archie Bleyer, who had been the musical director and

orchestra An orchestra (; ) is a large instrumental ensemble typical of classical music, which combines instruments from different families. There are typically four main sections of instruments: * String instruments, such as the violin, viola, cello, ...

leader for Arthur Godfrey in 1952. Cadence also launched a short-lived

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Its roots are in blues, ragtime, European harmony, African rhythmic rituals, spirituals, h ...

subsidiary, Candid Records. The first recording star for Cadence was a Godfrey alumnus, Julius La Rosa. Other Godfrey alumni signed to the label included the Chordettes. Bleyer had written a few hit 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). In October 1954, Godfrey fired singer Julius La Rosa, causing a storm of controversy. Almost immediately after firing La Rosa, Bleyer was fired from the Godfrey show, for signing Don McNeill, Chicago-based talk host, to a record deal and producing spoken-word records for Cadence featuring. Godfrey considered McNeill a rival. '' Don McNeill's Breakfast Club'' aired on ABC Radio opposite Godfrey's morning show, although McNeill's success was nowhere on a par with that of Godfrey. The label also issued the early recordings of

Andy Williams Howard Andrew Williams (December 3, 1927 – September 25, 2012) was an American singer. He recorded 43 albums in his career, of which 15 have been gold certified and three platinum certified. He was also nominated for six Grammy Awards. He hos ...

and

the Everly Brothers The Everly Brothers were an American rock duo, known for steel-string acoustic guitar playing and close-harmony singing. Consisting of Isaac Donald "Don" Everly and Phillip "Phil" Everly, the duo combined elements of rock and roll, country, ...

, as well as Johnny Tillotson and Lenny Welch. Virtuoso jazz/classical pianist Don Shirley was signed to Cadence in the 1950s and 1960s. One of Cadence's most popular songs in the 1950s was "Eloise", written and sung by Kay Thompson. Cadence charted nearly 100 American singles between 1953 and 1964. The label also released the 1962 bestselling

parody A parody is a creative work designed to imitate, comment on, and/or mock its subject by means of satire, satirical or irony, ironic imitation. Often its subject is an Originality, original work or some aspect of it (theme/content, author, style, e ...

album '' The First Family'', starring comedic actor and impressionist Vaughn Meader. Acclaimed at that time as the fastest-selling album in history, this White House satire on the Kennedy family and Capitol Hill politics remained at #1 on the Billboard 200 for 12 weeks. Featuring Meader's impression of President John F. Kennedy, the sketch revue also included takes on First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy, Soviet Premier

Nikita Khrushchev Nikita Sergeyevich Khrushchev (– 11 September 1971) was the General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, First Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1953 to 1964 and the Premier of the Soviet Union, Chai ...

, and Vice-President Lyndon Johnson. A sequel album, ''The First Family Volume Two'', released in March 1963, reached #4. Both albums were immediately withdrawn following Kennedy's assassination in November, 1963. The departures of the Everly Brothers in 1960 (to Warner Bros. Records) and of Andy Williams in 1961 (to

Columbia Records Columbia Records is an American reco ...

), along with radical changes in public taste and the music business brought on by the British Invasion, led to the rapid decline of Cadence. By 1964, Bleyer opted to shut down the label. Bleyer had competing offers from Kapp Records, Liberty Records and Andy Williams, who initially wanted to purchase just the masters of his own Cadence recordings. Bleyer's sale specified a complete purchase of the entire Cadence catalog (including Candid Records), which Williams accepted. Williams reissued his old Cadence recordings on Columbia and formed Barnaby Records to manage the rest of the Cadence catalog.

References

External links

The Cadence Records StoryCadence Records
on the Internet Archive'
Great 78 Project
{{Authority control American record labels Defunct record labels of the United States Pop record labels Record labels established in 1952 Record labels disestablished in 1964

See also

References

External links