Cadence Records

Cadence Records was an American record company based in New York. It was founded by Archie Bleyer (musical director/orchestra leader for Arthur Godfrey) in 1952.

Its first recording star was Godfrey alumnus Julius La Rosa. Other Godfrey alumnae signed to the label included the Chordettes. According to legend, Bleyer was fired from the Godfrey show when he signed someone Godfrey regarded as a rival to a record deal. The label also produced the early hits of Andy Williams and the Everly Brothers. Johnny Tillotson was another of the company's stars. Candid Records was the company's short-lived jazz subsiduary.

Cadence had many hits in the 1950s and into the 1960s. It produced the smash bestseller parody record "The First Family" by Vaughn Meader in 1962, which was to that time the fastest-selling album in history. A follow-up album the next year did not do very well, and shortly thereafter, the president who was its subject had been murdered and the two albums were taken out of print. This, along with the departures of Williams and the Everly Brothers led to the decline of the company by 1964, and Bleyer shut it down and sold the masters to Williams, who was quite interested in keeping Cadence from reissuing his old material in competition with the new material he was recording for Columbia Records. Williams reissued his old albums on Columbia and formed Barnaby Records to manage the Cadence catalogue.

See also