Photo credit: Jamelle Dolphin - Own work/Wikipedia.org
Usage: CC BY-SA 4.0

John Dolphin was also known as Lovin John, was an African American businessman, independent record label owner, concert promoter and music producer, who established Dolphin’s of Hollywood, an influential record store that remained open 24 hours a day.

John’s record store Dolphin’s of Hollywood was opened in 1948 on Central Avenue in Los Angeles Central Ave was a hub for jazz music in Los Angeles and attracted figures such as Duke Ellington, Nat King Cole, Louis Armstrong, Joe Turner, Billy Holiday, Sam Cooke, and Charlie Parker. Hits like “Earth Angel by the doo-whoop, the Penguins, we’re first released during a live broadcast inside Dolphin’s of Hollywood. So it was like having a radio station inside of a record store. He had the idea of having a record label that would produce out of the record store.

In 1950, Dolphin started his first record label titled Recorded in Hollywood. Dolphin worked with artists such as Sam Cooke, Percy Mayfield, and Harry Caesar just to name a few. Dolphin produced several famous records under the Recorded in Hollywood label, and eventually created other labels.

The sad thing about John Dolphin is he was murdered in 1958 by an angry singer and shipping clerk Percy Ivy. He was upset because Dolphin wouldn’t give him a record deal. His wife, Ruth Dolphin, took over Dolphins of Hollywood after John’s death. She died in 2005.

John Dolphin’s Recorded In Hollywood was before Berry Gordy and Motown. You’re listening to Sound Flave ( Radiae Applis). I’m your host, Gail Nobles.