Dunhill Records was started by Lou Adler

Lou Adler

Lou Adler is an American record producer, manager, and director.-Life and career:Adler was born in Chicago, Illinois in December 1933, and raised in East Los Angeles. In 1964, Adler founded and co-owned Dunhill Records. He was President of the label as well as the chief record producer from 1964...

, Al Bennett, Pierre Cossette

Pierre Cossette

Pierre Maurice Joseph Cossette was a television executive producer and Broadway producer who brought the Grammy Awards to television. Cossette produced the first television broadcast of the Grammy Awards in 1971....

 and Bobby Roberts

Bobby Roberts

Bobby Roberts is a Scottish-born former footballer and manager, who played as a Midfielder.He joined from the Edinburgh Norton junior club, and went on to make almost 100 league appearances for them. He was made player of the year by the supporter's association for 1962. Bobby moved to play in...

in 1964

1964 in music

-Events:*January 1 – Top of the Pops is broadcast for the first time, on BBC television.*January 3 – Footage of the Beatles performing a concert in Bournemouth, England is shown on The Jack Paar Show....

 as Dunhill Productions, originally for the purpose of releasing Johnny Rivers

Johnny Rivers

Johnny Rivers is an American rock and roll singer, songwriter, guitarist, and record producer. His styles include folk songs, blues, and revivals of old-time rock 'n' roll songs and some original material...

 recordings on Imperial Records

Imperial Records

Imperial Records is a United States based label started in 1947 by Lew Chudd and reactivated in 2006 by label owner EMI.- The independent and Liberty Records years :...

. It became a record label in 1965 and was distributed by ABC Records

ABC Records

ABC Records was an American record label, founded in New York City in 1955 as ABC-Paramount Records. It originated as the main popular music label operated the Am-Par Record Corporation, the music subsidiary of the American Broadcasting Company . ABC-Paramount Records' first president was Samuel H....

. The first Dunhill single released (catalog #D-4001) was "My Prayer/Pretty Please" by Shelley Fabares

Shelley Fabares

Michele Ann Marie "Shelley" Fabares is an American actress and singer. Fabares is known for her roles as Donna Reed's oldest child, Mary Stone, on The Donna Reed Show , and as Craig T. Nelson's love interest and eventual wife, Christine Armstrong Fox, on the sitcom Coach. She also was Elvis...

, who was Adler's wife at the time. Adler sold his shares to ABC Records

ABC Records

ABC Records was an American record label, founded in New York City in 1955 as ABC-Paramount Records. It originated as the main popular music label operated the Am-Par Record Corporation, the music subsidiary of the American Broadcasting Company . ABC-Paramount Records' first president was Samuel H....

 in the summer of 1967

1967 in music

The summer of 1967 is "The Summer of Love" in San Francisco. It also became an important year for psychedelic rock, with releases from The Beatles The summer of 1967 is "The Summer of Love" in San Francisco. It also became an important year for psychedelic rock, with releases from The Beatles The...

, this created ABC Dunhill Records. Afterwards Adler launched Ode Records

Ode Records

Ode Records was a record label, started by Lou Adler in 1967 after he sold Dunhill Records to ABC Records. It was distributed by CBS Records until 1969. Between 1970 and 1976 the label was distributed by A&M Records, from 1976 onward it was again distributed by CBS Records.Adler deactivated the...

. ABC continued to release records on the Dunhill label until 1975, after which all remaining artists were absorbed into the ABC Records roster before MCA Records

MCA Records

MCA Records was an American-based record company owned by MCA Inc., which later gave way to the larger MCA Music Entertainment Group , of which MCA Records was still part. MCA Records was absorbed by Geffen Records in 2003...

 bought ABC Records in 1979.

An offshoot of the ABC/Dunhill days was the label Buluu Dunhill Records using (catalog #B-73001).

The Dunhill catalogue is today managed by Geffen Records

Geffen Records

Geffen Records is an American record label, owned by Universal Music Group, and operated as one third of UMG's Interscope-Geffen-A&M label group.-Beginnings:...

.

A later independent reissue label called Dunhill Compact Classics was formed in 1986 to reissue recordings on the new compact disc format. British American Tobacco

Dunhill (cigarette)

Dunhill cigarettes are a luxury brand of cigarettes made by the British American Tobacco company. They are usually priced above the average for cigarettes in the region where they are sold...

, a UK

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 tobacco

Tobacco

Tobacco is an agricultural product processed from the leaves of plants in the genus Nicotiana. It can be consumed, used as a pesticide and, in the form of nicotine tartrate, used in some medicines...

 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

• Steve Allen
  Steve Allen
  Steve Allen may refer to:*Steve Allen , American musician, comedian, and writer*Steve Allen , presenter on the London-based talk radio station LBC 97.3...
  
  
• Andwella
  Andwella
  Andwella was a British/Irish band formed in 1969, originally as 'The Method' and then 'Andwella's Dream'. The trio was fronted by Dave Lewis , with Nigel Smith and Gordon Barton ....
  
  
• Barry McGuire
  Barry McGuire
  Barry McGuire is an American singer-songwriter best known for the hit song "Eve of Destruction", and later as a pioneering singer and songwriter of Contemporary Christian Music.-Early life:...
  
  
• Attlee
  Clement Attlee
  Clement Richard Attlee, 1st Earl Attlee, KG, OM, CH, PC, FRS was a British Labour politician who served as the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1945 to 1951, and as the Leader of the Labour Party from 1935 to 1955...
  
  
• Bangor Flying Circus
  Bangor Flying Circus
  Bangor Flying Circus was a progressive rock trio from Chicago, USA, formed in mid-1967 and breaking up in 1969. It is notable for being formed by members of the Shadows of Knight and H.P...
  
  
• Birtha
• Hal Blaine
  Hal Blaine
  Hal Blaine is an American drummer and session musician. He is most known for his work with the Wrecking Crew in California. Blaine played on numerous hits by popular groups, including Elvis Presley, John Denver, the Ronettes, Simon & Garfunkel, the Carpenters, the Beach Boys, Nancy Sinatra, and...
  
  
• Bobby "Blue" Bland
• Brass Ring
  Brass ring
  A brass ring is a small grabbable ring that a dispenser presents to a carousel rider during the course of a ride. Usually there are a large number of iron rings and one brass one, or just a few. It takes some dexterity to grab a ring from the dispenser as the carousel rotates. The iron rings can be...
  
  
• Jimmy Buffett
  Jimmy Buffett
  James William "Jimmy" Buffett is a singer-songwriter, author, entrepreneur, and film producer. He is best known for his music, which often portrays an "island escapism" lifestyle. Together with his Coral Reefer Band, Buffett's musical hits include "Margaritaville" , and "Come Monday"...
  
  
• The Bully Boys Band
• Solomon Burke
  Solomon Burke
  Solomon Burke was an American singer-songwriter, entrepreneur, mortician, and an archbishop of the United House of Prayer For All People. Burke was known as "King Solomon", the "King of Rock 'n' Soul", and as the "Bishop of Soul", and described as "the Muhammad Ali of soul", and as "the most...
  
  
• Bush
  Bush (Canadian band)
  Bush was a Canadian rock band in the early 1970s, which evolved from the respected club act Mandala. The latter had a minor Canadian hit with the song "Love-Itis". Bush consisted of ex-Mandala bandmates Domenic Troiano, Roy Kenner, Hugh Sullivan and Pentti Glan, plus Prakash John. The group...
  
  
• Eddie Cano and His Quintet
  Eddie Cano
  Edward "Eddie" Cano was an Afro-Cuban jazz and Latin jazz pianist born in Los Angeles, California. He began his musical career with Miguelito Valdés and his orchestra. Cano has worked with many other notable musicians including Bobby Ramos, Les Baxter, Jack Costanzo, Buddy Collette, and Tony...
  
  
• Carmen
  Carmen (rock band)
  Carmen was a British-American band active from 1970–1975. Their style was a fusion of rock music and flamenco music and dance. While the band achieved some success in recording and performance, its greatest significance lies in later contributions of its members to more famous rock...
  
  
• Cashman & West
  Terry Cashman
  Terry Cashman is a record producer and singer-songwriter, best known for his 1981 hit, "Talkin' Baseball." While the song is well recognized today, it was all but ignored by typical Top 40 radio during its chart life, making only the Billboard Adult Contemporary chart.Cashman was the lead singer...
  
  
• Colosseum
  Colosseum (band)
  Colosseum is a pioneering British progressive jazz-rock band, mixing progressive rock and jazz-based improvisation.-History 1968 - 1971:The band was formed in September 1968 by drummer Jon Hiseman, tenor sax player Dick Heckstall-Smith and bass player Tony Reeves, who had previously worked together...
  
  
• Danny Cox
  Danny Cox (musician)
  Danny Cox is a folk singer and songwriter best known for his 1974 LP album Feel So Good.-Life and career:Danny Cox was born in Cincinnati, Ohio and moved to Kansas City, Kansas in 1963...
  
  
• Denny Doherty
  Denny Doherty
  Dennis Gerrard Stephen Doherty was a Canadian singer and songwriter. He was most widely known as a founding member of the 1960s musical group The Mamas & the Papas.-Early career:...
  
  
• Shelley Fabares
  Shelley Fabares
  Michele Ann Marie "Shelley" Fabares is an American actress and singer. Fabares is known for her roles as Donna Reed's oldest child, Mary Stone, on The Donna Reed Show , and as Craig T. Nelson's love interest and eventual wife, Christine Armstrong Fox, on the sitcom Coach. She also was Elvis...
  
  
• Mickie Finn
• Four Tops
  Four Tops
  The Four Tops are an American vocal quartet, whose repertoire has included doo-wop, jazz, soul music, R&B, disco, adult contemporary, hard rock, and showtunes...
  
  
• Ernie Freeman
  Ernie Freeman
  Ernie Freeman was an American pianist, organist and arranger.In 1935 he began playing in local Cleveland area nightclubs, and also formed a classical music trio for local social functions with his father and his sister Evelyn...
  
  
• Fresh Start
• Giorgio
  Giorgio Moroder
  Hansjörg "Giorgio" Moroder is an Italian record producer, songwriter and performer based in Los Angeles. When in Munich in the 1970s, he started his own record label called Oasis Records, which several years later became a subdivision of Casablanca Records...
  
  
• Gladstone
• Grapefruit
  Grapefruit (band)
  Grapefruit was a London-based British band of the late 1960s. Their brand of music was a typical late 1960s blend of rock, which they often fused with psychedelic effects such as phasers and vocoders, or classical arrangements.-Biography:...
  
  
• The Grass Roots
  The Grass Roots
  The Grass Roots is an American rock band that charted between 1966 and 1975 as the brainchild of songwriting duo P. F. Sloan and Steve Barri.In their career, The Grass Roots achieved two gold albums, one gold single and charted singles a total of 21 times. Among their charting singles, they...
  
  
• Hamilton, Joe Frank & Reynolds
  Hamilton, Joe Frank & Reynolds
  Hamilton, Joe Frank & Reynolds was a 1970s AM soft rock trio from Los Angeles. The original members were Dan Hamilton , Joe Frank Carollo , and Tommy Reynolds , all of whom had previously played in The T-Bones, a 1960s band noted for the instrumental hit "No Matter What Shape ".The group first hit...
  
  
• The Happy Day Choir
• Richard Harris
  Richard Harris
  Richard St John Harris was an Irish actor, singer-songwriter, theatrical producer, film director and writer....
  
  
• Roy Head
  Roy Head
  Roy Head is an American singer, best known for his hit "Treat Her Right."-Career:Head achieved fame as a member of a musical group out from San Marcos, Texas known as The Traits. The group's sponsor landed their first recording contract in 1958 with TNT Music in San Antonio, Texas while they were...
  
  
• Headstone
• The Hello People
• Thelma Houston
  Thelma Houston
  Thelma Houston is an American singer-songwriter and actress. She scored a number-one hit in 1976 with her cover version of the song "Don't Leave Me This Way", which won the 1978 Grammy Award for Best Female R&B Vocal Performance.-Early life & career:Houston is the daughter of a cotton picking mother...
  
  
• Jamme
• John Kay
  John Kay (musician)
  John Kay is a German-Canadian singer, songwriter and guitarist known as the frontman of Steppenwolf...
  
  
• Thomas Jefferson Kaye
  Thomas Jefferson Kaye
  Thomas Jefferson Kaye was an American record producer, singer-songwriter and musician...
  
  
• Andy Kim
  Andy Kim
  Andrew Youakim, performing as Andy Kim, is a Lebanese Canadian pop rock singer and songwriter. He grew up in Montreal, Quebec in Canada. Kim is known for a number of hit singles that he released in the late 1960s and early 1970s such as "Rock Me Gently", which topped the US singles charts. In 1968,...
  
  
• B. B. King
  B. B. King
  Riley B. King , known by the stage name B.B. King, is an American blues guitarist and singer-songwriter.Rolling Stone magazine ranked him at No.3 on its list of the 100 greatest guitarists of all time. According to Edward M...
  
   & Bobby Bland
  Bobby Bland
  Robert Calvin Bland better known as Bobby "Blue" Bland, is an American singer of blues and soul. He is an original member of the Beale Streeters, and is sometimes referred to as the "Lion of the Blues"...
  
  
• The Artie Kornfeld Tree
  Artie Kornfeld
  Artie Kornfeld is an American musician, record producer and music executive. He is perhaps best known as the music promoter for the Woodstock Festival held in 1969.- History :...
  
  
• Kracker
  Kracker
  Kracker were an American rock band active in the 1970s.-Biography:The band was originally formed in South Florida in 1970, but moved to Chicago in April 1971, where they were introduced to producer Jimmy Miller. With Miller, they recorded their first album, La Familia, which was released on ABC...
  
  
• Dennis Lambert
• The Lamp of Childhood
  The Lamp of Childhood
  The Lamp of Childhood was a short-lived American folk rock band formed in Los Angeles in 1966. The band release three singles which failed to chart and disbanded in 1967, but had several notable members.-History:...
  
  
• Richard Landis
• Magna Carta
  Magna Carta (band)
  Magna Carta is a folk rock group originally formed in London in April 1969; their first concert was on 10 May 1969, by Chris Simpson , Lyell Tranter , and Glen Stuart ....
  
  
• The Mamas & the Papas
  The Mamas & the Papas
  The Mamas & the Papas were a Canadian/American vocal group of the 1960s . The group recorded and performed from 1965 to 1968 with a short reunion in 1971, releasing five albums and 11 Top 40 hit singles...
  
  
• Cass Elliot
  Cass Elliot
  Cass Elliot , born Ellen Naomi Cohen and also known as Mama Cass, was an American singer and member of The Mamas & the Papas. After the group broke up, she released five solo albums. Elliot was found dead in her room in London, England, from an apparent heart attack after two weeks of sold-out...
  
  
• Kenneth Mars
  Kenneth Mars
  Kenneth Mars was an American television, movie, and voice actor. He may be best-remembered for his roles in several Mel Brooks films: the insane Nazi playwright Franz Liebkind in 1968's The Producers, and the relentless Police Inspector Hans Wilhelm Fredrich Kemp in 1974's Young Frankenstein...
  
  
• Gayle McCormick
  Gayle McCormick
  Gayle McCormick was born in St. Louis in 1949 and her recording and performing career stretched from 1965 to 1976. McCormick had started her career singing songs by Tina Turner and Etta James.-Smith:...
  
  
• Barry McGuire
  Barry McGuire
  Barry McGuire is an American singer-songwriter best known for the hit song "Eve of Destruction", and later as a pioneering singer and songwriter of Contemporary Christian Music.-Early life:...
  
  
• Mighty Clouds of Joy
  Mighty Clouds of Joy
  The Mighty Clouds of Joy is an American gospel quartet.-Career:The Mighty Clouds of Joy were formed in 1960 and started out in a tradition-based style. Eventually they added soul, R&B, and rock flourishes into their musical mix without diluting the essential religious essence of their material...
  
  
• Daniel Moore
  Daniel Moore (Musician)
  Daniel Moore is an American musician, singer and songwriter.He co-wrote the song "My Maria" with B. W. Stevenson. Recorded by the latter, the song was a pop hit in 1973. Moore also wrote the song "Shambala", a song which was a hit for both B. W. Stevenson and Three Dog Night that same year...
  
  
• Murphy's Law
• Lady Nelson and the Lords
• Noah
• Michael Omartian
  Michael Omartian
  Michael Omartian is an Armenian-American singer-songwriter, keyboardist, and music producer. He has been a participant in over 350,000,000 albums and CD’s sold worldwide, as a producer, arranger, artist or musician, during a career that has spanned over 38 years...
  
  
• Pacific Gas & Electric
  Pacific Gas & Electric (band)
  Pacific Gas & Electric was an American blues rock band in the late 1960s and early 1970s, led by singer Charlie Allen. Their biggest hit was "Are You Ready?"-Career:...
  
  
• Freda Payne
  Freda Payne
  Freda Charcilia Payne Some sources give a birth year of 1945, but this appears to be an error as all sources agree that she is older than her sister Scherrie, born 1944. is an American singer and actress best known for her million selling, 1970 hit single, "Band of Gold". She was also an actress in...
  
  
• John Phillips
  John Phillips (musician)
  John Edmund Andrew Phillips , was an American singer, guitarist, songwriter and promoter . Known as Papa John, Phillips was a member and leader of the singing group The Mamas & the Papas...
  
  
• Pratt & McClain
  Pratt & McClain
  Pratt & McClain was a 1970s-era rock and roll band, originally called Brother Love, consisting of Jerry McClain and Truett Pratt, along with various sidemen. They scored a Billboard #5 hit in 1976 with Theme to Happy Days.-Band history:...
  
  
• Jim Price
  Jim Price (musician)
  Jim Price was, together with Bobby Keys and Jim Horn, one of the most in demand horn session players of the 1970s. He toured extensively with The Rolling Stones from 1970 until 1973, including their 1972 American Tour, and appears on the albums, Sticky Fingers, Exile on Main St. and Goats Head Soup...
  
  
• Pure Love & Pleasure
• Genya Ravan
  Genya Ravan
  Genya Ravan, aka Goldie Zelkowitz is an American rock singer and producer. She is the former lead singer of The Escorts, Goldie & the Gingerbreads, and Ten Wheel Drive....
  
  
• Rejoice!
• Rincon Surfside Band
• Emitt Rhodes
  Emitt Rhodes
  Emitt Lynn Rhodes is an American singer/songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and recording engineer born February 25, 1950 in Decatur, Illinois. When he was five his family moved to Hawthorne, California. Considered by many as "the one man Beatles," his solo recordings of the early 1970s show a clear...
  
  
• The Road Home
• The Rock & Roll Revival
• William St. James
• Shango
  Shango (rock group)
  Shango was a rock quartet in the late 1960s, led by Tommy Reynolds, later of Hamilton, Joe Frank & Reynolds, which included actor Stuart Margolin....
  
  
• Del Shannon
  Del Shannon
  Del Shannon was an American rock and roll singer-songwriter who had a No. 1 hit, "Runaway", in 1961.- Biography :...
  
  
• P. F. Sloan
  P. F. Sloan
  P.F. Sloan is an American pop-rock singer and songwriter. He was very successful during the mid-1960s, writing, performing and producing Billboard top 20 hits for artists such as Barry McGuire, Jan & Dean, Herman's Hermits, Johnny Rivers, The Grass Roots and the Mamas and the Papas...
  
  
• Smith
  Smith (band)
  Smith were an American rock band, formed in Los Angeles, California in 1969. They had a blues based sound and had a Top 5 hit in 1969 with a cover of the song "Baby It's You", with the lead vocals sung by Gayle McCormick...
  
  
• Sonoma
• Dusty Springfield
  Dusty Springfield
  Mary Isobel Catherine Bernadette O'BrienSources use both Isabel and Isobel as the spelling of her second name. OBE , known professionally as Dusty Springfield and dubbed The White Queen of Soul, was a British pop singer whose career extended from the late 1950s to the 1990s...
  
  
• The Stapleton-Morley Expression
• Steppenwolf
  Steppenwolf (band)
  Steppenwolf are a Canadian-American rock group that was prominent in the late 1960s. The group was formed in 1967 in Los Angeles by vocalist John Kay, guitarist Michael Monarch, bassist Rushton Moreve, keyboardist Goldy McJohn and drummer Jerry Edmonton after the dissolution of Toronto group The...
  
  
• Alex Taylor
  Alex Taylor (musician)
  Alex Taylor was an American singer. Alexander Taylor was the eldest child of Dr. Isaac Taylor and Gertrude Taylor. He was a member of a family which produced a number of musicians, the most famous of whom is James Taylor, but also includes Livingston, Hugh and Kate Taylor.Alex Taylor had two sons,...
  
  
• Three Dog Night
  Three Dog Night
  Three Dog Night is an American rock band best known for their music from 1968 to 1975. During that time the band charted 21 Billboard top 40 hits in America, three of which reached Number One...
  
  
• Three's a Crowd
• The Trousdale Strings and the Dawn Chorale
• Van der Graaf Generator
  Van der Graaf Generator
  Van der Graaf Generator are an English progressive rock band, formed in 1967 in Manchester. They were the first act signed to Charisma Records. The band achieved considerable success in Italy during the 1970s...
  
  
• The John Verity Band
  John Verity
  John Verity was an English guitarist with the band Argent from 1973 to 1976.When Argent split up, he formed Phoenix with Bob Henrit and Jim Rodford. The band recorded three albums with CBS Records and toured Europe before disbanding. Rodford joined the Kinks, Verity and Henrit joined Charlie, to...
  
  
• Bengt Arne Wallin
• Joe Walsh
  Joe Walsh
  Joseph Fidler "Joe" Walsh is an American musician, songwriter, record producer, and actor. He has been a member of three commercially successful bands, the James Gang, Barnstorm, and the Eagles, and has experienced notable success as a solo artist and prolific session musician, especially with B.B...
  
  
• Bobby Whitlock
  Bobby Whitlock
  Robert Stanley 'Bobby' Whitlock is a songwriter and performer, best known as a member of Derek and the Dominos.- Biography :...
  
  
• Wings
• Charles Wright
  Charles Wright & the Watts 103rd Street Rhythm Band
  Charles Wright & the Watts 103rd Street Rhythm Band is a pioneering American soul and funk band. Formed in the early 1960s, they had the most visibility from 1967 to 1973 when the band had 9 singles reach Billboard's pop and/or rhythm and blues Hot 100 lists, such as "Do Your Thing" , "Till You Get...