Capitol/EMI Celebrates 30 Years of SOLAR: Sound of Los Angeles Records With Catalog Retrospective

Capitol/EMI Celebrates 30 Years of SOLAR: Sound of Los Angeles Records With Catalog Retrospective

Label's Soul/Funk Hitmakers Lakeside, Midnight Star and Shalamar Led the 1970s and '80s L.A. Scene With Genre-Defining Radio and Club Hits

Three New ULTIMATE COLLECTION CDs Feature Some of the Decade's Top Grooves, Including 'Fantastic Voyage,' 'Freak-A-Zoid,' 'No Parking (On The Dance Floor)' and 'The Second Time Around'

Lakeside's FANTASTIC VOYAGE and Midnight Star's NO PARKING ON THE DANCE FLOOR Albums Remastered and Expanded With Bonus Tracks

In Stores: July 18, 2006

HOLLYWOOD, Calif., May 22 /PRNewswire/ -- Dust off that disco ball, put the shine back on those dancin' shoes and get ready to groove. Capitol/EMI Music Catalog Marketing is celebrating the 30th anniversary of the legendary 1970s-'80s soul/funk label SOLAR: Sound Of Los Angeles Records with five white-hot commemorative titles. Lakeside's FANTASTIC VOYAGE and Midnight Star's double-Platinum NO PARKING ON THE DANCE FLOOR have each been 24-bit digitally remastered and expanded with previously unreleased bonus tracks, and new Ultimate Collection CDs will be released for Lakeside, Midnight Star and Shalamar. All five CDs arrive in stores on July 18.

In 1975, producer Dick Griffey and television personality and producer Don Cornelius partnered to form a record label, originally naming it Soul Train Records after Cornelius' hit dance TV show. Within two years, Griffey took the helm of the budding label on his own and rechristened it SOLAR: Sound Of Los Angeles Records. SOLAR quickly established itself as one of the most important soul/funk labels of the late seventies to mid-eighties, with Lakeside, Midnight Star and Shalamar among its chart-topping acts. Lakeside's #1 R&B smash "Fantastic Voyage," Midnight Star's #2 R&B hit "Freak-A-Zoid" and Shalamar's #1 R&B single "The Second Time Around" all kept SOLAR's signature L.A. groove on the musical map, and several SOLAR singles also crossed over to Billboard's Hot 100 chart as the label's influence grew along with that of its artists.

Lakeside's Stephen Shockley, Mark Woods, Jr., Fred Alexander, Thomas Shelby and Otis Stokes came to Los Angeles from Chicago in 1972 with hopes of launching the band from the city's burgeoning dance/funk scene. They found little success with their first label (Motown), but after moving to SOLAR, their songs started to hit the chart and club turntables across the country. Lakeside's first Top 10 hit was 1979's "It's All The Way Live," which peaked at #4 on Billboard's R&B chart. The band followed with FANTASTIC VOYAGE in 1981. The title track rose to the top, hitting #1 on the R&B Singles chart, while the album peaked at #2 on Billboard's R&B Albums chart, also fueled by its #14 R&B hit, "Your Love Is On The One." For SOLAR's 30th anniversary catalog campaign, FANTASTIC VOYAGE is digitally remastered and expanded with two previously unreleased bonus tracks, live versions of "Say Yes" and "Fantastic Voyage." Lakeside was known for taking artistic risks, and one of their genre-bending gambles, a velvety soul cover of John Lennon and Paul McCartney's "I Want To Hold Your Hand," resulted in a #5 R&B hit. This track is among the 17 hits and fan favorites included on Lakeside's ULTIMATE COLLECTION.

Midnight Star's line-up of Reginald Calloway, Vincent Calloway, Kenneth Gant, Melvin Gentry, Belinda Lipscomb, Bobby Lovelace, Bo Watson and Bill Simmons took the charts by storm with 1983's # 2 R&B, double-Platinum album, NO PARKING ON THE DANCE FLOOR. This landmark dance album has been digitally remastered with two bonus tracks added: a remix of their #2 R&B smash "Freak-A-Zoid" and a 12" extended version of "No Parking (On The Dance Floor)." Midnight Star's ULTIMATE COLLECTION features the band's most memorable hits, including "Freak-A-Zoid," "Wet My Whistle," "Snake In The Grass," and the band's club anthem, "No Parking (On The Dance Floor)."

Dick Griffey and company strove to identify and draw upon the unique talents of each artist. SOLAR's strengths in artist development were highlighted by Shalamar, a group assembled by the label. Shalamar's Jody Watley, Jeffrey Daniels and Howard Hewett charged into the scene in 1980 with their #1 R&B, Gold-certified single "Second Time Around." Shalamar's hottest beats are being brought together on their ULTIMATE COLLECTION, a 17-track CD comprised of Billboard-charting hits, including five Top 10 R&B smashes. With "The Second Time Around," "Make That Move," "A Night To Remember," "Take That To The Bank," and many other crossover hits, Shalamar was a radio favorite and a defining pop/soul act of the early 1980s, before Watley went on to enjoy great solo success.

SOLAR played a major role in shaping the sound of modern dance music in America, impacting a far broader terrain than the city for which the label was named. To this day, the influence of The Sound Of Los Angeles Records and its hitmakers can be heard in new music hitting turntables and radio airwaves.

For more information about SOLAR, visit www.myspace.com/solarrecords.

Source: Capitol/EMI Music Catalog Marketing

CONTACT: Jennifer Ballantyne of EMI Music Catalog Marketing - Publicity,
+1-323-871-5494, jennifer.ballantyne@emicap.com

Web site: http://www.myspace.com/solarrecords

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Profile: International Entertainment