Sacred Records
{{infobox record label
| name = Sacred Records
| image =
| parent =
| founded = 1944
| defunct = 1963
| founder = Earle E. Williams
| country = United States
}}
Sacred Records was a religious music record label founded in 1944 by Earle E. Williams.
History
Earle E. Williams, a minister of youth and music director in the Los Angeles area, decided to start a religious music record label in 1944 as a solution to the problem of obtaining the records he needed for his work, which included broadcasting a weekly half-hour radio program every Sunday at noon on local station KXLA.{{cite journal | date=1947| title=Disk Jockey with a Difference| journal=Sales Management| volume=58| page=26 | issn=0885-9019}}{{cite news | url=https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/55516204/ |url-access=subscription | title=Hollywood Film Shop | newspaper=Traverse City Record-Eagle | page=12 | date=June 10, 1947 | access-date=August 23, 2017}} In a 1947 interview, Williams described to United Press International (UPI), "I sold my car, ray dog, my wife's spinet, a camera and a renovated church organ and borrowed the rest on a note to get the $3,000 I had to have to start production.
Based in Los Angeles, Sacred Records recorded and published religious music.
{{cite book| last=Cheatham| first=Russ| title=Bad Boy of Gospel Music: The Calvin Newton Story| publisher=University Press of Mississippi| location=Jackson, M.S.| edition=1st| year=2003| pages=124, 125| isbn=978-1578065530}} The label merged with Kansas City's White Church Records in 1949, and by the following year the company had opened new offices in Kansas City, Philadelphia, and New York.{{cite magazine | date=December 16, 1950| title=2G Lee Suit vs. Sacred| magazine=Billboard| volume=62| issue=50| pages=12, 38| issn=0006-2510}}{{cite magazine | date=May 27, 1950| title=Sacred Expands, Goes to 45 Wax| magazine=Billboard| volume=62| issue=21| page=13| issn=0006-2510}} Composer and arranger Ralph Carmichael convinced the label to finance Rhapsody in Sacred Music (1958), an instrumental album that featured a full symphony, including four trumpets, four trombones, multiple french horns, woodwinds, a string section of at least 12 violins and four viola, two bass harps, and percussion. "It was the first all-instrumental sacred music recording with that size orchestra", Carmichael said. "It was a scary experiment and I nearly broke the record company."
Sacred Records was acquired by Word Records in 1963.{{cite magazine | date=November 16, 1963| title=Word-Sacred Complete Deal| magazine=Billboard| volume=75| issue=46| page=4| issn=0006-2510}} Williams remained with Word as a salesman and distributor.{{cite magazine | date=November 2, 1963| title=Word May Buy Most of Sacred| magazine=Billboard| volume=75| issue=44| page=6| issn=0006-2510}}
See also
References
{{reflist}}
External links
- {{Discogs label|Sacred Records (4)|Sacred Records}}
{{Authority control}}
Category:Record labels established in 1944
Category:Record labels disestablished in 1963
Category:Record labels based in California
Category:Gospel music record labels
Category:American companies established in 1944
Category:American companies disestablished in 1963
Category:Companies based in Los Angeles