Cadence Records

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Cadence Records was an American record company based in New York City. It was founded by Archie Bleyer, who had been the musical director and orchestra leader for Arthur Godfrey in 1952. Bleyer had written a few hot songs in 1932-34 (Fletcher Henderson's "Business in F" is a good example) and had a band that recorded for ARC in 1934 and 1935 (his records were issued on Vocalion, Melotone, Perfect and Romeo).

The first recording star for Cadence 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. (Ironically, Godfrey later fired singer Julius La Rosa in October of 1954, causing a storm of controversy at the time.) The label also produced the early hits of Andy Williams and The Everly Brothers, as well as Johnny Tillotson. Virtuoso jazz/classical pianist Donald Shirley was signed with Cadence in the 50's and 60's. Candid Records was the company's short-lived jazz subsidiary.

Cadence had nearly 100 charted American singles during the 1950s and into the 1960s. It produced the 1962 smash bestseller parody album, "The First Family" by Vaughn Meader, which was, to that time, the fastest-selling album in history, featuring hilarious impressions of President John F. Kennedy, wife Jackie Kennedy, as well as newsmakers like Nikita Kruschev and vice-president Hubert Humphrey. A follow-up album released in March of 1963 did not do as well, and shortly thereafter, the two albums were taken out of print, following the assassination of Kennedy in Dallas. The departures of the Everly Brothers in 1960 (to Warner Bros. Records) and of Andy Williams in 1961 (to Columbia Records), along with radical changes in public taste and the music business brought on by the 1964 British invasion, led to the decline of the company by 1964. Bleyer opted to shut down Cadence, and sold Williams' masters to the singer, which he bought mainly because he wanted to keep Cadence from reissuing his old material in competition with his new material. Bleyer wanted Williams to buy the entire Cadence catalogue which he did. Williams reissued his old albums on Columbia and formed Barnaby Records to manage the Cadence catalogue.