Shelter Records was a U.S.

record label "Big Three" music labels A record label or record company is a brand or trademark of Sound recording and reproduction, music recordings and music videos, or the company that owns it. Sometimes, a record label is also a Music publisher, ...

started by Leon Russell and Denny Cordell that operated from 1969 to 1981. The company established offices in both

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

and

Tulsa Tulsa ( ) is the second-most-populous city in the state of Oklahoma, after Oklahoma City, and the 48th-most-populous city in the United States. The population was 413,066 as of the 2020 census. It is the principal municipality of the Tul ...

, Russell's home town, where the label sought to promote a "workshop atmosphere" with a recording studio in a converted church, adjoining houses for artists working at the studio, and other facilities. The Tulsa recording studio was housed in the historic The Church Studio. Russell remained with Shelter until 1976, when he and Cordell fell out. In a settlement, Cordell then became sole owner of the label, while Russell left to start his own label, Paradise Records. The Shelter Records trademark is owned by Teresa Knox of The Church Studio. In addition to Russell, the label signed other talents, such as Tulsa Sound artists

J. J. Cale John Weldon "J. J." Cale (December 5, 1938 – July 26, 2013) was an American guitarist, singer, and songwriter. Though he avoided the limelight, his influence as a musical artist has been acknowledged by figures such as Neil Young, Mark Knopf ...

, Dwight Twilley Band and

the Gap Band The Gap Band was an American Contemporary R&B, R&B and funk band that rose to fame during the 1970s and 1980s. The band consisted of three brothers: Charlie Wilson (musician), Charlie, Ronnie, and Robert Wilson, along with other members; it wa ...

, as well as Alan Gerber, Jesse Barish (of Jesse, Wolff and Whings),

Don Nix William Donald Nix (September 27, 1941 – December 31, 2024) was an American musician, songwriter, and producer. Nix, who was best known for his song "Going Down," was described by AllMusic as "one of the more obscure figures in Southern soul ...

, Freddie King, Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers, Phoebe Snow, Richard Torrance and Eureka, Willis Alan Ramsey, and the Grease Band. Shelter Records also released "Duppy Conqueror", the first American single by

reggae Reggae () is a music genre that originated in Jamaica during the late 1960s. The term also denotes the modern popular music of Jamaica and its Jamaican diaspora, diaspora. A 1968 single by Toots and the Maytals, "Do the Reggay", was the first ...

artist

Bob Marley Robert Nesta Marley (6 February 1945 – 11 May 1981) was a Jamaican singer, songwriter, and guitarist. Considered one of the pioneers of reggae, he fused elements of reggae, ska and rocksteady and was renowned for his distinctive voca ...

Distribution history

Shelter Records was originally distributed by Blue Thumb Records, but then it was distributed by Capitol/ EMI from 1970 until 1973. During this time, the label was red with an egg on top with an inverted Superman logo on the egg. This logo did not sit well with

DC Comics DC Comics (originally DC Comics, Inc., and also known simply as DC) is an American comic book publisher owned by DC Entertainment, a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Discovery. DC is an initialism for "Detective Comics", an American comic book seri ...

, and they sued Shelter for trademark infringement. Shelter then blacked out the Superman logo on subsequent releases until the distribution deal ran out with Capitol/EMI. Afterwards, the Shelter logo was replaced by an egg with a hand-scrawled "S" on it. From 1974 until 1975 (sporting a yellowish label and their new logo), Shelter was then distributed by

MCA Records MCA Records was an American record label owned by MCA Inc. established in 1972, though MCA had released recordings under that name in the UK from the 1960s. The label achieved success in the 1970s through the 1980s, often by acquiring other ...

. Afterwards from 1975 to 1977, the label was distributed by

ABC Records ABC Records was an American record label founded in New York City in 1955. It originated as the main popular music label operated by the Am-Par Record Corporation. Am-Par also created the Impulse! jazz label in 1960. It acquired many labels bef ...

(the first label being yellow; the second one was reddish-orange with the Shelter egg inside a Saturn-style ring with a crescent Man in the Moon at the bottom of the label). In 1977, Shelter transferred distribution to Arista (principally for the Dwight Twilley Band), but the rights to Tom Petty and J. J. Cale were retained by ABC. Shelter continued as an active label until 1979, when ABC was sold to MCA. MCA released one more album using the Shelter label (a J.J. Cale album), then all remaining Shelter recordings held by ABC were put on another MCA subsidiary entitled Backstreet Records. The Shelter/Arista deal terminated in 1981, which was the effective end of Shelter Records. Shortly after the label's demise, the catalog was purchased by Dunhill Compact Classics (later known as DCC), which reissued several Shelter catalog LPs and compilations. DCC (which issued mostly compilation CDs mostly licensed from other labels, many remastered by respected recording engineer Steve Hoffman) later went out of business. In 1991, the Shelter music publishing catalog was sold to Rondor Music. During 1993, the Shelter catalogue was bought out by Capitol/ EMI, and their imprint The Right Stuff reissued many titles (except for Tom Petty and J. J. Cale albums, as the Tom Petty Shelter albums are controlled by Petty's estate and currently distributed by Rhino, owned by the

Warner Music Group Warner Music Group Corp., commonly abbreviated as WMG, is an American Multinational corporation, multinational entertainment and record label Conglomerate (company), conglomerate headquartered in New York City. It is one of the "Record label#M ...

, also owners of Petty's former label Reprise Records, and the J. J. Cale Shelter albums are controlled by

Universal Music Group Universal Music Group N.V. (often abbreviated as UMG and referred to as Universal Music Group or Universal Music) is a Netherlands, Dutch–United States, American multinational Music industry, music corporation under Law of the Netherlands, ...

, the successor to MCA). In the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

, records on the Shelter label were distributed by

Island Records Island Records is a multinational record label owned by Universal Music Group. It was founded in Jamaica by Chris Blackwell, Graeme Goodall, and Leslie Kong in 1959, and was eventually sold to PolyGram in 1989. Island and A&M Records, another ...

in the late 1970s.

References

External links

Shelter Records discography
{{Authority control American record labels Record labels established in 1969 Record labels disestablished in 1981 American companies established in 1969 American companies disestablished in 1981 Companies based in Tulsa, Oklahoma Companies based in Los Angeles

Distribution history

See also

References

External links