Roulette Records was an American record company and label founded in 1957 by George Goldner, Joe Kolsky, Morris Levy, Morris Gurlek and Phil Kahl, with creative control given to producers and songwriters Hugo Peretti and Luigi Creatore. Levy was appointed director.
The label had known ties to New York City mobsters. Levy ran the label with an iron fist. In 1958 Roost Records was purchased. Goldner subsequently bowed out of his partnership interest in Roulette and, to cover his gambling debts, sold his record labels Tico, Rama, Gee and—years later—End and Gone to Levy, who grouped them into Roulette. Peretti and Creatore later left Roulette and worked as freelance producers for RCA Victor throughout the 1960s. They co-founded Avco Records in 1969. In 1971 Roulette took over the catalog of Jubilee Records.
History During the late 1950s, Roulette scored hits by Buddy Knox, Jimmy Bowen, the Playmates, Jimmie Rodgers, Ronnie Hawkins, the Delicates, and Frankie Lymon as well as releasing albums by Pearl Bailey, Dinah Washington and Count Basie.
During the early 1960s, Roulette issued recordings connected to the twist dance craze, such as "Peppermint Twist" by Joey Dee and the Starliters. They also released a rare album of "twist songs" by Bill Haley & His Comets, Twistin' Knights at the Roundtable. Other major 1960s hits for the label include "Two Faces Have I" by Lou Christie. A group of United States Marines called the Essex recorded the hit "Easier Said Than Done" while based at Camp Lejeune, NC, in 1963. In 1964, Stephen Stills and Richie Furay first recorded together on Roulette while in the nine-member Au Go Go Singers, the house band for the Cafe Au Go Go in New York City.
In the UK, Roulette's records were issued on EMI's Columbia label. In April 1965, the UK music magazine NME reported that Roulette had agreed to offer a sponsored show to the UK pirate radio radio station Radio Caroline. The hour-long show, recorded in the US by disc jockey Jack Spector, was to be broadcast five evenings a week. The contract covered a two-year period and was worth over £10,000 to the station.
According to Tommy James of Tommy James and the Shondells, whose "Hanky Panky", "I Think We're Alone Now", "Mirage", "Mony Mony", "Crimson and Clover" and many others were released during his time at the label, Roulette was a front business for the Genovese crime family. His band was essentially forced into signing with the label after Jerry Wexler of Atlantic Records mentioned that Levy scared off competitors who had interest in the group, including Atlantic, by claiming "Hanky Panky". James estimates that the label kept $30 million-$40 million of the group's royalties but afforded it total artistic freedom, whereas another label would have tampered with its formula and might have dropped the group early on. Throughout the 1960s and 1970s, Roulette was one of the industry's major distributors, handling records for many leading labels.
Levy was the key financial backer for the rap music label Sugar Hill Records, which was founded in 1979 by the husband-and-wife team Joe and Sylvia Robinson. Sugar Hill released the first Top 40 rap single, "Rapper's Delight", in 1979. In the early 1980s, the Robinsons bought Levy out.
In 1981, Henry Stone turned to Levy to help prevent the demise of TK Records, so they set up Sunnyview Records under the Roulette umbrella. In 1986, Levy was arrested, tried and convicted for extorting money from an FBI informant, John LaMonte, but he died in Ghent, New York, before serving any time in prison. In 1989, Roulette Records was sold to a consortium of EMI and Rhino Records, the latter of which was later acquired by Warner Music Group. Rhino would control Roulette’s pop catalogue in the USA, Canada and Mexico, while EMI acquired Roulette’s jazz catalogue worldwide, plus the international distribution of Roulette’s pop catalogue. As of 2013, Warner Music Group now has worldwide rights to the Roulette catalogue as a result of acquiring EMI’s Parlophone label.
Following their 1989 acquisition, Rhino and EMI began issuing large royalty checks to former Roulette artists. Tommy James recalled that his checks were in amounts in six or seven digits. Roulette was notorious for not paying royalties to its artists, who had to rely on concerts and personal appearances for their income.
Until 2013, EMI used the Roulette name for the reissue of old Roulette-label material. In the US, Blue Note Records handled the Roulette jazz catalogue for release on the Roulette Jazz label until 2013. It was one of the units of Parlophone that Universal Music was required to sell to Warner Music Group to comply with international regulators.
Roulette Records artists
Alive N Kickin' Louis Armstrong Arzachel (US and Canada) Au Go Go Singers Pearl Bailey The Barry Sisters Count Basie Jimmy Bowen Jo Ann Campbell Cathy Carr Betty Carter Marilyn Chambers The Choir Lou Christie The Cleftones Dave "Baby" Cortez Sammy Davis, Jr.
Joey Dee and the Starliters The Delicates The Detergents The Devotions Tom Rizzi Ecstasy, Passion & Pain Duane Eddy Harry "Sweets" Edison The Essex The Exciters Maynard Ferguson The Fireflys The Fireflies Bill Haley & His Comets Herman's Hermits Ronnie Hawkins The Hullaballoos Tommy James Tommy James & the Shondells Truth
Jackie Kannon Buddy Knox Little Anthony & the Imperials Frankie Lymon Machito Deidre McCalla Lou Monte Jim Neske, aka Chance Eden Esther Phillips The Playmates The Regents The Rock-A-Teens Jimmie Rodgers Sam & Dave Jeri Southern The Teenagers The Three Degrees Sarah Vaughan Dinah Washington Joe Williams Eddie Palmieri Chuck Wood
Discography
25000 Popular Series Roulette Records 25000 Popular Series of LP records began in 1957 and ran until 1968.Edwards, D. & Callahan, M., Roulette Album Discography, Part 1 , accessed November 9, 2015 Catalog Album Artist Notes25001Calypso with the Playmates25002Barrelhouse25003Buddy Knox25004Jimmy Bowen25005Italy25006Charleston25007Memories of Hal Kemp Orchestra25008Showplace of the NationRadio City Music Hall Orchestra25009Tyree Glenn at the Embers25010Dorothy Donegan at the Embers25011Polka25012Pearl Bailey A Broad25013Frankie Lymon at the London Palladium25014Kay Martin and Her Bodyguards25015DixiecatsJazz All Stars25016Pearl Bailey Sings for Adults Only25017Copa Girl25018Songs My Mother Loved25019Hi-Fi Harmonica25020Jimmie Rodgers25021Pajama PartyVarious Artists25022Accordion in Hi-Fi25023Musical Themes of Hollywood U.S.A. & Symphony of the Air25024Let's Dance and Orchestra25025Jamaica25026The Long Hot Summer (Soundtrack)25027Guy Pastor and His Dad and Orchestra25028Italy Revisited with the Tony Dannon Orchestra25029Curtain Going UpOriginal Dukes of Dixieland25030Gospel SongsStamps-Baxter Quartet25031Let's Do the Polka Orchestra25032Oriental Delight Sextet25033The Number One Ballads25034David Niven Reads the World's Most Famous Love Letters25035Cowboy & the Riders of the Purple Sage 25036Rock 'n Roll25037St. Louis Blues25038Dixieland at Carnegie HallVarious Artists25039Coffee, Cigarettes and Memories25040Emil Coleman at the Waldorf Astoria25041With LoveTwo tracks arranged by Astor Piazzolla25042Jimmie Rodgers Sings Folk Songs25043At Play with the Playmates25044When Good Fellows Get TogetherHugo & Luigi with Their Family Singers25045Noro Morales at the Harvest Moon Ball 25046Song Stylist Extraordinaire25047On My Way to Heaven & Wayfarers25048Buddy Knox and Jimmy Bowen/Jimmy BowenSplit album25049Greece Orchestra25050Tyree Glenn at the Roundtable25051Italia con Pier Angeli25052A Long, Long Kiss25053Steve Allen at the Roundtable25054Love Songs a LaRosa25055La Guitarra: The Genius of Rolando Valdes-Blain25056Hello Nice People Orchestra25057His Golden Year 25058Swingin' My Way Through College Orchestra25059Rock and Roll Record HopVarious Artists 25060At Home with the Barry Sisters25061Emotions of Jose DuvalArranged by Astor Piazzolla25062Cha Cha Italiana25063Pearl Bailey Sings Porgy and Bess and Other Gershwin Melodies25064Swingin' Marchin' Whistlin| and his Golden Echo Music
|25065 |Lennie Hayton Introduces Scandinavian Suite No. 1
|25066 |Hawaiian Luau | Orchestra
|25067 |Woody Herman Sextet at the Roundtable | Sextet
|25068 |Cuttin' Capers
|25069 |Honky Tonk Piano
|25070 |Dixieland in High Society | and the Knights of the Roundtable
|25071 |TV Favorites Volume 1
|25072 |Basie Swings, Bennett Sings | and Tony Bennett
|25073 |Themes from the Hip | Orchestra
|25074 |Folk Songs of Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee | and Brownie McGhee
|25075 |Try a Little Tenderness | with Strings
|25076 |Turk Murphy and His Jazz Band at the Roundtable | and His Jazz Band
|25077 |Shy
|25078 |Ronnie Hawkins
|25079 |It Seems Like Only Yesterday | Orchestra
|25080 |Dixieland at the Roundtable |Salt City Six
|25081 |Twilight on the Trail
|25082 |Joe Reisman Salutes the All-Time Instrumental Favorites
|25083 |On the Sunny Side
|25084 |Broadway Show Stoppers
|25085 |Go Ahead & Rock Rock Rock | Orchestra featuring Ella Johnson
|25086 |Shepherd and His Flock | Orchestra
|25087 |Happy Organ
|25088 |Music for Wise Guys
|25089 |Great American Waltzes
|25090 |Born to Be Blue
|25091 |Jack Teagarden at the Roundtable
|25092 |Relax'n with Chico Randall
|25093 |Rock n' Roll Bandstand |Various Artists
|25094 |Ev'ry Hour, Ev'ry Day
|25095 |It's Christmas Once Again
|25096 |Memorie di Roma | |Arranged by Astor Piazzolla |- |25097 |Christmas Carols |St. Patrick's Cathedral Choir
|25098 |On the Beach (Soundtrack) | |Musical Score from the film. |- |25099 |Sounds in the Night
|25100 |Marc of Fredericks | and Orchestra
|25101 |More Songs for Adults Only
|25102 |Mr. Dynamo
|25103 |When the Spirit Moves You
|25104 |Once More with Feeling
|25105 |Polka! Polka! Polka!
|25106 |Original Hit Records |Various Artists
|25107 |A Thousand Miles Away
|25108 |Salute Italia
|25109 |Woo Hoo
|25110 |On Stage
|25111 |Island Paradise | Orchestra
|25112 |Dixieland at the Roundtable
|25113 |Smooth and Rocky | with the Al Cohn Orchestra
|25114 |Instrumental Imports
|25115 |Let's Have a Ball
|25116 |Songs of the Bad Old Days
|25117 |Accent Italino
|25118 |Las Vegas Late Show | Quartet
|25119 |Jazz Maverick
|25120 |The Folk Ballads of Ronnie Hawkins
|25121 |Folk Scene U.S.A.
|25122 |Neapolitan Memories |Doreen
|25123 |Jimmy Durante at the Copacabana
|25124 |Ivory and Bone
|25125 |Naughty But Nice
|25126 |Italiano U.S.A.
|25127 |New Sensations in Sound
|25128 |At Home with Jimmie Rodgers: An Evening of Folk Songs
|25129 |Swings for Dancers
|25130 |Sing Along with Emmett Kelly
|25131 |Banjo & Calls Sing Along |Various Artists
|25132 |Civil War Almanac Volume 1: The Yankees
|25133 |Civil War Almanac Volume 2: The Rebels
|25134 |Italy Volume 2
|25135 |Voice of Hawaii
|25136 |Side by Side
|25137 |Ronnie Hawkins Sings the Songs of Hank Williams
|25138 |Tyree Glenn at London House in Chicago
|25139 |Wait for Me
|25140 |In Love for the Very First Time
|25141 |It's Happy Polka Time | & His Polka Poppers
|25142 |St. Patrick's Cathedral Choir Sings Christmas Songs |St. Patrick's Cathedral Choir
|25143 |You Talk Too Much
|25144 |The Best of Pearl Bailey
|25145 |Fidoodlin'''
|25146 |Grimm's Hip Fairy Tales|
|25148 |Swing Folksongs|
|25149 |That's Paris| Orchestra
|25150 |The Folk Song World of Jimmie Rodgers
|25151 |Melodie O'Italia|
|25152 |Dream Bar|
|25153 |Return to Rome|
|25154 |It Happened One Night|
|25155 |Pearl Bailey Sings Songs of Harold Arlen|
|25156 |We Belong Together|
|25157 |Shalom|
|25159 |Murray the "K's" Sing Along with the Original Golden Gassers!|Various Artists
|25160 |The Best of Jimmie Rodgers Folk Songs|
|25161 |My Name...Jose Jimenez|
|25162 |Pat Harrington, Jr. as Guido Panzini and Bill Dana as Kookie as Ever| and Bill Dana
|25163 |Enzo Stuarti|
|25164 |The Gospel in Words & Music|
|25165 |Top Polka Million Sellers| & His Orchestra
|25166