Dunhill Records was an American record label started in 1964 by Lou Adler, Jay Lasker, Pierre Cossette and Bobby Roberts as Dunhill Productions to release the music of Johnny Rivers on Imperial Records. It became a record label the following year and was distributed by ABC Records.
The first Dunhill single was "My Prayer/Pretty Please" (catalog D-4001) by Shelley Fabares, who was married to Adler at the time. In mid-1967 Adler sold his shares to ABC Records, creating ABC-Dunhill Records, after which he started yet another label Ode Records (which was first distributed by CBS and later by A&M Records). Until 1975, ABC continued to release records on the Dunhill label, after which all remaining artists were absorbed into the ABC Records roster before MCA Records bought the label outright in 1979.
Buluu Dunhill Records was an offshoot of the ABC/Dunhill days using catalog series B-73001 (45 RPM singles) and B-60001 (LP).
Today, the Dunhill catalog is managed by Geffen Records.
A later independent reissue label called Dunhill Compact Classics was formed in 1986 to reissue recordings on the new CD format. British American Tobacco, a UK tobacco company, sued the company because of the use of the "Dunhill" name, forcing the company to rename itself DCC Compact Classics.
Dunhill label variations 1965–1968—Black label with DUNHILL in white outline letters inside yellow frame 1968—Same as above, but with the "abc" logo added in front of the DUNHILL logo 1968–1969—Black label with 3-compartment multi-color box consisting of smaller DUNHILL logo (now in white letters inside white frame) in the left hand box and the white circular "abc" logo and "RECORDS" in the right hand boxes 1969–1973—Same as above, but with the multicolor "DUNHILL" and "abc RECORDS" boxes separated 1973–1974—Black label with DUNHILL spelled out in children's blocks (followed by a block with the "abc" logo) in white box (This variation only lasted a few months before the label was changed back to the multi-color box logo in which both the "one box" and "two box" variations were used) 1974–1975—Yellow, orange, red and purple label with "abc Dunhill" ("abc" circle logo in black) in between two black lines White labels were used for most promotional issues.
Dunhill (ABC/Dunhill) Records artists
Ranji Steve Allen Andwella Attlee Bangor Flying Circus Birtha Hal Blaine Bobby Bland The Brass Ring Jimmy Buffett The Bully Boys Band Solomon Burke Avalanche Bush Eddie Cano and His Quintet Carmen Cashman & West Zach Clark Colosseum Danny Cox Denny Doherty Cass Elliot Shelley Fabares Mickie Finn Four Tops Ernie Freeman Fresh Start Giorgio Gladstone Grapefruit The Grass Roots Hamilton, Joe Frank & Reynolds The Happy Day Choir Richard Harris Roy Head Headstone The Hello People Thelma Houston Jamme John Kay Thomas Jefferson Kaye Andy Kim B. B. King & Bobby Bland The Artie Kornfeld Tree Kracker Dennis Lambert The Lamp of Childhood Richard Landis Locomotiv GT Magna Carta The Mamas & the Papas Kenneth Mars Tony Martin Gayle McCormick Barry McGuire Mighty Clouds of Joy Mrs. Miller Daniel Moore Murphy's Law Lady Nelson and the Lords Noah Michael Omartian Pacific Gas & Electric Freda Payne John Phillips Pratt & McClain Jim Price Pure Love & Pleasure Genya Ravan Rejoice! Rincon Surfside Band Emitt Rhodes The Road Home The Rock & Roll Revival William St. James Shango Del Shannon P. F. Sloan Smith Sonoma (band) Dusty Springfield The Stapleton-Morley Expression Steppenwolf Alex Taylor Three Dog Night Three's a Crowd Tribe The Trousdale Strings and the Dawn Chorale Van der Graaf Generator The John Verity Band Bengt Arne Wallin Joe Walsh Bobby Whitlock Wings (1968 band) Charles Wright
References
External links The Dunhill Records Story Profile of Dunhill Records at Discogs