Vee-Jay Records

Vee-Jay was founded in Gary, Indiana in 1953. Its founders were Vivian Carter and James C. Bracken, a husband-and-wife team that used their initals for the label’s name. The label quickly became a major R&B label, with the first song recorded making it to the top ten on the national R&B charts. Vee-Jay Records became bankrupt in 1967.

Major acts on the label included Jimmy Reed, Memphis Slim, John Lee Hooker, Jerry Butler, Gene Chandler, The Four Seasons, Hoyt Axton, Little Richard (who re-recorded his Specialty Records hits in the early 1960s), and, before he became successful, Billy Preston.

The label also released early Beatles material ("Please Please Me", "From Me to You" via Vee-Jay and "Love Me Do" via its subsidiary Tollie Records). The releases were at first unsuccessful, but quickly became big once the British Invasion took off in early 1964, selling 2.6 million Beatles singles in a single month.

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