Valley Vue Records was a record label in California founded by

Hillery Johnson Hillery Johnson was a record label owner, record producer, manager and songwriter and vice-president of a major record American record label. Background In 1966, Hillery Johnson along with Leo Austell and Archie Russell founded Brainstorm Records ...

in 1983. Arirts on the label included

Jerry Butler Jerry Butler Jr. (December 8, 1939 – February 20, 2025) was an American soul singer-songwriter, producer, musician, and politician. He was the original lead singer of the R&B vocal group the Impressions, who were inducted into the Rock and ...

, Craig T. Cooper,

Klymaxx Klymaxx is an American all-female pop/ R&B band from Los Angeles, California. The band's classic lineup consisted of Bernadette Cooper, Lorena Porter Shelby, Cheryl Cooley, Robbin Grider, Lynn Malsby, and Joyce "Fenderella" Irby. Klymaxx is bes ...

The Manhattans The Manhattans are an American R&B vocal group. Their songs " Kiss and Say Goodbye", recorded in 1976, and 1980's " Shining Star", both sold millions of copies. The Manhattans have recorded 45 hits on the ''Billboard'' R&B Chart, including tw ...

Johnny "Guitar" Watson John Watson Jr. (February 3, 1935 – May 17, 1996), often known professionally as Johnny "Guitar" Watson, was an American musician. A flamboyant showman and electric guitarist in the style of T-Bone Walker, his recording career spanned 40 year ...

and Michael Wycoff.

Background

It was a small California based record label located in Palm Springs. Its founder Hillery Johnson had produced artists such as

Donny Hathaway Donny Edward Hathaway (October 1, 1945 – January 13, 1979) was an American soul singer, keyboardist, songwriter, backing vocalist, and arranger who ''Rolling Stone'' described as a "soul legend". His most popular songs include " The Ghetto" ...

. Johnson was also vice-president of

Atlantic Records Atlantic Recording Corporation (simply known as Atlantic Records) is an American record label founded in October 1947 by Ahmet Ertegun and Herb Abramson. Over the course of its first two decades, starting from the release of its first recor ...

Staff

In addition to Johnson, the founder there was vice-president and general manager Michael Dion. Dion had founded the Jazz label

ITI Records ITI Records is a record label from Van Nuys, California that specializes in mainly jazz records. Background ITI's original owner was producer Mike Dion.All About Jazz 2012-09-0ITI Records Resurfaces After Many Years Dormant/ref> An article in th ...

in California.

Artists released

's album ''Strike on Computers'' was released on Valley Vue VV69. after having a break from music for about three years, Watson ended up with Johnson in the studio after Johnson who had been a fan of his had suggested they go in and do something. As a result, ''Strike On Computers'' came about and was released on the label. In 1988, Chicago blues and soul singer, Cicero Blake had his album ''Too Hip To Be Happy'' released on the label. In the 1990s, R&B singer Lamarr K. Swing had his debut album which was actually called ''His Debut Album'' released on the label. It was manufactured and marketed by Valley Vue Records. It was produced by Lonnie Reaves and the executive producer was Hillery Johnson.

Reissues

Chuck Brown Charles Louis Brown (August 22, 1936 – May 16, 2012) was an American guitarist, bandleader, and singer known as " The Godfather of Go-Go". Go-go is a subgenre of funk music developed around the Washington, D.C., area in the mid-1970s. While ...

and the Soul Searchers had their album ''Bustin Loose'' reissued in the early 1990s on the label.

's 1994 album ''Simply Beautiful'' was also released on the label.

Artists distributed

Tad Sisler's Jazz album ''So Good To Come Home To'' was distributed by Valley Vue in the US. The album featured

Gerald Albright Gerald Albright (born August 30, 1957) is an American jazz saxophonist. He earned Grammys for the albums ''24/7 (Gerald Albright and Norman Brown album), 24/7'' in 2012 and ''Slam Dunk'' in 2014 and was nominated for ''New Beginnings (Gerald Albr ...

and

Terri Lyne Carrington Terri Lyne Carrington (born August 4, 1965) is an American jazz drummer, composer, producer, and educator. She has played with Dizzy Gillespie, Stan Getz, Clark Terry, Herbie Hancock, Wayne Shorter, Joe Sample, Al Jarreau, Yellowjackets (band), ...

Catalogue (selective)

Albums

* Johnny "Guitar" Watson – ''Strike On Computers'' - Valley Vue Records – ST-72943 (1987) * 101 North - ''101 North'' - Valley Vue Records – C1-90911 (1988) *

- ''Sweet Talk'' - Valley Vue Records – D1-72946 (1989) * Craig T. Cooper - ''Craig T. Cooper Project'' - Valley Vue Records – D1-72947 (1989) * Craig T. Cooper – ''Got-That-Thang'' - Valley Vue Records – D1-72992 (1990) * Wayne Boyer – ''This One's For Me'' - Valley Vue Records – V1-61290 (1990) Discog
Valley Vue Records
/ref> * Gary Taylor - ''Take Control'' - Valley Vue Records - V2-21191 (1991)

References

{{Reflist Record labels based in California