Music History Events: Record Deals
June 6, 1979 A gig at a British club gets a good review and leads to a record deal for Def Leppard.
February 23, 1978 The Police sign with A&M Records.
May 6, 1977 The Boomtown Rats sign their first major label recording contract.
May 10, 1974 Led Zeppelin launch their record label, Swan Song, with lavish parties in London and Los Angeles. Bad Company and Dave Edmunds both record for the label, which shuts down in 1983.
January 8, 1974 Kiss sign their first recording deal, with Casablanca Records.
February 1, 1973 Gladys Knight & the Pips leave Motown's Soul label for a new career at Buddah.
August 5, 1972 Music mogul Clive Davis catches Aerosmith's act at Max's Kansas City in New York and immediately signs them with CBS Records for $125,000.
June 9, 1972 After several years playing the New Jersey bar scene, Bruce Springsteen signs with Columbia Records and begins recording his first album, Greetings From Asbury Park, N.J.
May 13, 1971 Motown child prodigy Stevie Wonder turns 21, and is by law released from his recording contract and given $1 million of the $30 million he has earned while at the label. Nevertheless, after gaining complete artistic control, Wonder re-signs to Tamla.
April 7, 1971 The Rolling Stones announce their own record label, Rolling Stones Records, which they vow to make a "small operation we can handle" so as not to suffer the pitfalls of The Beatles' Apple Records.
August 22, 1970 Elton John signs with Uni, a division of MCA, as a solo act.
July 29, 1970 The Rolling Stones' contract with Decca expires, and the group takes the opportunity to split with notorious manager Allen Klein. Delivering one more song to the label to fulfill its obligation, the famously unreleasable "C--ksucer Blues" (aka Schoolboy Blues), they also begin the process of forming their own label, Rolling Stones Records (which features their new "tongue and lips" logo).
July 4, 1969 Grand Funk Railroad, which formed just a few months earlier, play to a huge crowd at the Atlanta Pop Festival. Lead singer Mark Farner sheds his shirt because of the heat and gets such a reaction from the crowd that he decides to play every show shirtless.
June 6, 1969 Rod Stewart signs to the Mercury label.
January 31, 1969 Billy Preston signs with Apple Records.
July 23, 1968 The up-and-coming UK band The Iveys sign to the Beatles' label Apple Records, which rechristens them Badfinger. They become the first signing to generate hits for the label, but their story does not end well as Apple falls apart and Badfinger ends up in a legal hell that drives two members to suicide.
July 23, 1968 The Jackson 5 audition for Motown Records, with 9-year-old Michael singing lead and doing some sweet dance moves on James Brown's "I Got The Feelin'." The label signs them three days later.More
December 16, 1967 The Rolling Stones announce that they have signed Mick Jagger's girlfriend, Marianne Faithfull as the first act on their new Mother Earth record label.
December 10, 1967 The previously unknown San Francisco group The Steve Miller Blues Band signs to Capitol for an unprecedented $750,000, dropping "Blues" from their name in the process.
May 11, 1967 The Donna Reed Show's Paul Petersen signs with Motown Records (but never has a US hit with them).
February 28, 1967 Pink Floyd get their first record deal, signing with EMI Records.
October 15, 1965 Jimi Hendrix signs his first recording contract. The 3-year deal with PPX productions gives him one dollar plus one percent of his royalties on his records. The deal causes major legal issues in the years to come.
August 28, 1965 The Rolling Stones sign with Decca records and ink a management contract with Allen Klein.
August 13, 1965 Jefferson Airplane make their stage debut at San Francisco's new club The Matrix (3138 Fillmore). The group gets a record deal after receiving a positive review in the San Francisco Chronicle.
August 13, 1963 The Four Seasons sue their struggling first label, Vee Jay, for non payment of royalties and move to Mercury/Philips Records. This would be the first of a long line of incidents that would doom the label.
May 23, 1963 Paul Revere and the Raiders sign their first major label contract with Columbia Records.
April 6, 1963 With his contract with Imperial Records expiring, Fats Domino signs with ABC-Paramount and begins recording in Nashville.
October 1, 1962 Barbra Streisand signs with Columbia Records.
July 16, 1962 The Beach Boys sign to Capitol Records, which has already released the group's single "Surfin' Safari."
January 29, 1962 Peter, Paul and Mary sign with Warner Brothers Records.
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