Label founded in 1950 by John Dolphin, founder of the Dolphins Of Hollywood chain of record stores in Los Angeles. Dolphin built up an R&B music empire which laid some of the foundations of a West Coast black music industry.
The label concentrated on jazz and blues music. The 11th release was its first major hit, with R&B singer Illinois Jacquet (”Jacquet Blows the Blues”).
In mid-1951 Dolphin licensed two dozen Recorded in Hollywood masters to Federal Records (2) imprint.
It is difficult to gauge the commercial impact of most RIH releases due to Dolphin's avoidance of normal distribution channels wherever possible, and as a result most of his releases were never acknowledged in industry charts. Dolphin eventually sold the entire Recorded In Hollywood catalogue to Hollywood Records (2)
He went on to concentrate on his new labels, Lucky, Money Records (2), which were marketed more at an emerging white teenage audience into the sounds of black RnB and vocal harmony groups.
For bootleg / counterfeits, see Recorded In Hollywood (2).
