record label
A record label, or record company, is a brand or trademark of music recordings and music videos, or the company that owns it. Sometimes, a record label is also a publishing company that manages such brands and trademarks, coordinates the prod ...
extant from 1963 to 1966. Despite only being in business for a few years, the label was described by the ''Encyclopedia of Popular Music'' as "one of the legendary labels of the soul era"."Constellation Records". Colin Larkin, ed. ''Encyclopedia of Popular Music''. Oxford University Press.
Constellation was founded by
Ewart Abner
Ewart Gladstone Abner, Jr. (May 11, 1923 – December 27, 1997) was a major American record company executive who was President of Motown Records from 1973 to 1975 and was personal and business manager for Stevie Wonder for 10 years. In his e ...
in 1963 after he was forced from
Vee-Jay Records
Vee-Jay Records is an American record label founded in the 1950s, located in Chicago and specializing in blues, jazz, rhythm and blues and rock and roll.
The label was founded in Gary, Indiana in 1953 by Vivian Carter and James C. Bracken, a ...
. His business partners included
artist and repertory
Artists and repertoire (colloquially abbreviated to A&R) is the division of a record label or music publishing company that is responsible for talent scouting and overseeing the artistic development of recording artists (singers, instrumentalist ...
man Bunky Sheppard and investor Art Sheridan. The label's most successful artist was
Gene Chandler
Gene Chandler (born Eugene Drake Dixon; July 6, 1937) is an American singer, songwriter, music producer, and record-label executive. Chandler is nicknamed "the Duke of Earl" or, simply, "the Duke." He is best known for his most successful son ...
. While it was a prominent releaser of Chicago soul music, it also released many singles from
Collectables Records
Collectables is a reissue record label founded in 1980 by Jerry Greene. Jerry Greene formed Lost Nite and Crimson record labels. Soul Survivors gained the hit "Expressway to Your Heart" (1967) while on Crimson Records.
History
It maintains a ca ...
in later decades.
Artists
*
Gene Chandler
Gene Chandler (born Eugene Drake Dixon; July 6, 1937) is an American singer, songwriter, music producer, and record-label executive. Chandler is nicknamed "the Duke of Earl" or, simply, "the Duke." He is best known for his most successful son ...
*
Billy "The Kid" Emerson
William Robert Emerson (born December 21, 1925), known during his recording career as Billy "The Kid" Emerson and more recently as Rev. William R. Emerson,''Juke Blues'' magazine, # 58, 2005, pp.11-21, Interviews with Emerson is an American preac ...
Dee Clark
Dee Clark (November 7, 1938 – December 7, 1990) was an American soul singer best known for a string of R&B and pop hits in the late 1950s and early 1960s, including the song "Raindrops", which became a million-seller in the United States in 1 ...
*
Lee Dorsey
Irving Lee Dorsey (December 24, 1924 – December 1, 1986) was an American pop and R&B singer during the 1960s. His biggest hits were " Ya Ya" (1961) and " Working in the Coal Mine" (1966). Much of his work was produced by Allen Toussaint, with ...
*
Frankie Ford
Frankie Ford (August 4, 1939 – September 28, 2015) was an American rock and roll and rhythm and blues singer, best known for his 1959 hit " Sea Cruise".
Biography
He was born in Gretna, Louisiana, as Vincent Francis Guzzo, across the Mississipp ...
*The Freedoms
*
Wilbert Harrison
Wilbert Huntington Harrison (January 5, 1929 – October 26, 1994) was an American rhythm and blues singer, pianist, guitarist and harmonica player.
Biography
Born in Charlotte, North Carolina, Harrison had a Billboard #1 record in 1959 with ...
*
Sonny Holliday
Sonny is a common nickname and occasional given name. Often it can be a derivative of the English word "Son", a name derived from the Ancient Germanic element *sunn meaning "sun", a nickname derived from the Italian name Salvatore (especially in N ...
*
Sandra Lynn
Sandra or SANDRA may refer to:
People
* Sandra (given name)
* Sandra (singer) (born 1962), German pop singer
* Margaretha Sandra (1629–1674), Dutch soldier
* Sandra (orangutan), who won the legal right to be defined as a "non-human person"
Pla ...
*
Johnny Lytle
Johnny Dillard Lytle (October 13, 1932 in Springfield, Ohio – December 15, 1995 in Springfield) was a jazz drummer and vibraphonist.
Life and career
Lytle grew up in Springfield, Ohio in a family of musicians, the son of a trumpeter father ...
Roscoe Robinson
Roscoe Robinson Jr. (October 11, 1928 – July 22, 1993) was the first African American to become a four-star general in the United States Army. He served as the United States representative to the NATO Military Committee. Robinson previousl ...
*
The Sheppard
''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things that are already or about to be mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in ...
*
Gerri Taylor
Gerri may refer to:
*Gerri, a feminine given name:
**Gerri Elliott (21st century), American businesswoman
**Gerri Green (born 1995), American football player
**Gerri Lawlor (21st century), American actress
**Gerri Peev (21st century), Bulgarian-Br ...
*
Carol Vega
Carol may refer to:
People with the name
*Carol (given name)
* Henri Carol (1910–1984), French composer and organist
* Martine Carol (1920–1967), French film actress
*Sue Carol (1906–1982), American actress and talent agent, wife of actor A ...