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Total Experience Records was a record label founded by
Lonnie Simmons Lonnie Simmons (December 12, 1944 – February 6, 2019) was an American record producer from Los Angeles, California. He was founder and president of the now defunct Total Experience Records. As a composer, he co-wrote several #1 R&B songs for ...
. Its two major acts were
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 ...
and Yarbrough & Peoples. It originally began in 1975 as a production company with the first release being a 45 with the Semper led group New Experience on Ariola Records. By the fall of 1978, the production company signed a label deal with
Mercury Records Mercury Records is an American record label owned by Universal Music Group. It had significant success as an independent operation in the 1940s and 1950s. Smash Records and Fontana Records were sub labels of Mercury. Mercury Records released ...
, before Simmons decided to transform the production company into a label in 1981. From its inception in 1981 to late 1983, Total Experience was a subsidiary label of Mercury's parent company, PolyGram. In 1984, the label became independent, changing its distribution from PolyGram to RCA Records.


History

In the
1970s File:1970s decade montage.jpg, Clockwise from top left: U.S. President Richard Nixon doing the V for Victory sign after his resignation from office following the Watergate scandal in 1974; The United States was still involved in the Vietnam War ...
,
Lonnie Simmons Lonnie Simmons (December 12, 1944 – February 6, 2019) was an American record producer from Los Angeles, California. He was founder and president of the now defunct Total Experience Records. As a composer, he co-wrote several #1 R&B songs for ...
operated a club on Crenshaw Boulvevard in South Central Los Angeles called ''The Total Experience'', similar to the West-Hollywood Roxy Theatre. Eventually he invested in a recording studio sourced, brokered, and designed by George Semper who was musical director at the Total Experience club and friendly with Ron Kass (the Beatles Manager). The recording studio was previously occupied by Sound Recorders Studios on the corner of Yucca St. and Argyle Ave. in Hollywood and the Beatles US based studio. Simmons then launched his production company, named after the nightclub, with the first release being a single titled "Soul Music" by New Experience. The studio quickly became profitable, with artists such as L.T.D. and the Jacksons recording albums there. Simmons met the Gap Band in 1977 through a friend, singer
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. He then had the idea to reduce the official lineup of the group from twelve members to its sibling trio of Ronnie, Charlie and Robert Wilson. After signing the Gap Band to Total Experience Productions, and securing the production company a label deal with Mercury Records in late 1978, Simmons himself personally produced the Gap Band's albums during their tenure, and co-wrote their breakthrough song, "
Oops Up Side Your Head "I Don't Believe You Want to Get Up and Dance (Oops!)" (re-titled "Oops Up Side Your Head" on the single as well as being known by other titles such as "Oops Upside Your Head") is a 1979 song recorded by the Funk group the Gap Band. Released off t ...
". While in Texas, Gap Band leader Charlie Wilson discovered Alisa Peoples & Calvin Yarbrough, who were performing as part of the band, Grand Theft. Charlie convinced Lonnie to give the couple a chance, which paid off in 1980, when they released the song " Don't Stop the Music", which topped the R&B charts. This was immediately following the Gap Band #1 R&B song " Burn Rubber on Me (Why You Wanna Hurt Me)". Both of those albums went
gold Gold is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol Au (from Latin ) and atomic number 79. In its pure form, it is a brightness, bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile metal. Chemically, gold is a transition metal ...
, and two of the Gap Band's albums went
platinum Platinum is a chemical element; it has Symbol (chemistry), symbol Pt and atomic number 78. It is a density, dense, malleable, ductility, ductile, highly unreactive, precious metal, precious, silverish-white transition metal. Its name origina ...
. The first three Simmons-produced Gap Band albums, as well as Yarbrough and Peoples debut album '' The Two of Us'' were successful enough to give Simmons credibility to establish the production company as a full label, and after negotiations with PolyGram, he officially launched Total Experience Records in 1981.
Gap Band IV ''Gap Band IV'' is the sixth studio album by the Gap Band, released in 1982 on Total Experience Records. The album reached No. 1 on the Black Albums chart and No. 14 on the Pop Albums chart, achieved platinum status, and is considered their most ...
, released in early 1982, was the first Total Experience album release. The success of Gap Band IV, Robert "Goodie" Whitfield's debut album '' Call Me Goodie'' (also released in 1982), 1983's '' Gap Band V: Jammin''' and Yarbrough and Peoples' ''Heartbeats'' resulted in a lucrative distribution deal with
RCA Records RCA Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Group Corporation. It is one of Sony Music's four flagship labels, alongside Columbia Records (its former longtime rival), Arista Records and Epic R ...
in early 1984. At the tail-end of 1984, ''A Total Experience Christmas'' was released, featuring songs by five of the label's acts, as well as two of the label's writers.''A Total Experience Christmas'' a
Discogs
/ref> Even though the Gap Band and Yarbrough & Peoples still had high charting records through the mid-80s, the successes were ephemeral and they resulted in far fewer sales. Lonnie signed a plethora of new acts in 1984-85 and two established acts:
Switch In electrical engineering, a switch is an electrical component that can disconnect or connect the conducting path in an electrical circuit, interrupting the electric current or diverting it from one conductor to another. The most common type o ...
and
Billy Paul Paul Williams (December 1, 1934 – April 24, 2016), known professionally as Billy Paul, was an American soul music, soul singer, known for his 1972 Record chart, No. 1 single "Me and Mrs. Jones". His 1973 album and single ''War of the Gods (alb ...
. None of these acts managed to have any success with Total Experience. The Gap Band released 4 albums: '' Gap Band VI'', '' Gap Band VII'', '' Gap Band 8'', and '' Straight from the Heart'' before moving on to
Capitol Records Capitol Records, LLC (known legally as Capitol Records, Inc. until 2007), and simply known as Capitol, is an American record label owned by Universal Music Group through its Capitol Music Group imprint. It was founded as the first West Coast-base ...
in 1989. Yarbrough and Peoples left the label in 1986, and moved back to Texas, where they married in 1987. In 1987 Total Experience ended its distribution deal with RCA and carried on via self distribution, faltering soon after. The label's post 1984 holdings now belong to Minder Music, while its PolyGram-distributed holdings belong to
Universal Music Enterprises Universal Music Enterprises (UME, stylized as UMe) is the catalogue division of Universal Music Group. It includes Hip-O Records, Universal Chronicles, and UM3 or UMC (which is the international division of the company). Under various divisions, ...
.


Personnel


ActsDiscogs Page
/ref>

*
Bernie Hamilton Bernard Hamilton (June 12, 1928 – December 30, 2008) was an American actor. He is best known as Captain Dobey in ''Starsky & Hutch'' (1975–1979). Biography Hamilton was born in East Los Angeles; his brother was jazz drummer Chico Hamilto ...
& the Inculcation Band (1985) s * Billy & Baby Gap (1985) s *
Billy Paul Paul Williams (December 1, 1934 – April 24, 2016), known professionally as Billy Paul, was an American soul music, soul singer, known for his 1972 Record chart, No. 1 single "Me and Mrs. Jones". His 1973 album and single ''War of the Gods (alb ...
s * Eddie "E.T." Towns (1985) s *
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 ...
(1977–1988) m * Robert "Goodie" Whitfield (1982–1985) m * Pattie Howard (1985) s * Pennye Ford (1984) s * Prime Time (1984) m * Prophet (1985) s * Sparkle s *
Switch In electrical engineering, a switch is an electrical component that can disconnect or connect the conducting path in an electrical circuit, interrupting the electric current or diverting it from one conductor to another. The most common type o ...
(1984) s * Will King (1985) s * Yarbrough and Peoples (1980–1985) m An m indicates the group released multiple full-length albums on Total Experience.
An s indicates the performer either only released one full-length album on Total Experience, or released multiple singles and no album at all.


Key Producers

*Jonah Ellis p *
Lonnie Simmons Lonnie Simmons (December 12, 1944 – February 6, 2019) was an American record producer from Los Angeles, California. He was founder and president of the now defunct Total Experience Records. As a composer, he co-wrote several #1 R&B songs for ...
*Oliver Scott p *Suha Gur


Key Writers

* Charlie Wilson p *Jonah Ellis p *Lonnie Simmons *Malvin Vice *Oliver Scott p *Raymond Calhoun *Robert Wilson p *Ronnie Wilson p *Rudolph Taylor *Greg C Jackson p A p indicates a writer/producer who also performed at least one song on the label.


See also

* Charlie Wilson *
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 ...
* Yarbrough & Peoples


References

{{Authority control American record labels Soul music record labels Rhythm and blues record labels Record labels established in 1977 Culture of Hollywood, Los Angeles