Capitol Records

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Capitol Records

American company

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June 22, 2026

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Capitol Records was established in Los Angeles in 1942, in partnership with the British company EMI. It quickly became a significant competitor to major record labels based in New York City. The company was co-founded by Johnny Mercer, a songwriter known for "Moon River". Capitol Records played a role in the rise of independent labels on the West Coast during the 1940s, catering to the tastes of a growing population and contributing to the success of rhythm-and-blues and rock-and-roll music.12

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Frank Sinatra
The Capitol years
He signed with Capitol Records and, throughout the next nine years, issued a series of recordings widely regarded as his finest body of work. He is credited (though perhaps not accurately so) with inventing the “concept album”—an LP collection of songs built around a single theme or mood.…
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He signed with Capitol Records and, throughout the next nine years, issued a series of recordings widely regarded as his finest body of work. He is credited (though perhaps not accurately so) with inventing the “concept album”—an LP collection of songs built around a single theme or mood.…
Read More

Wanda Jackson
In 1956 she signed with Capitol Records, with whom she demonstrated her stylistic versatility by recording a number of singles that featured a country track on one side of the record and a rockabilly track on the other. On her debut 45, “I Gotta Know” (1956), she alternated between both…
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In 1956 she signed with Capitol Records, with whom she demonstrated her stylistic versatility by recording a number of singles that featured a country track on one side of the record and a rockabilly track on the other. On her debut 45, “I Gotta Know” (1956), she alternated between both…
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Nelson Riddle
…was a staff arranger for Capitol Records and arranged songs for several of the top singers of the day, including Dean Martin, Judy Garland, Rosemary Clooney, Peggy Lee, Margaret Whiting, and Johnny Mathis. He made recordings with Ella Fitzgerald during the late 1950s and early ’60s; Ella Fitzgerald Sings the…
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…was a staff arranger for Capitol Records and arranged songs for several of the top singers of the day, including Dean Martin, Judy Garland, Rosemary Clooney, Peggy Lee, Margaret Whiting, and Johnny Mathis. He made recordings with Ella Fitzgerald during the late 1950s and early ’60s; Ella Fitzgerald Sings the…
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Johnny Mercer
In 1942 Mercer founded Capitol Records with two partners, serving as talent scout and company president. For the Broadway stage, he collaborated with Harold Arlen on St. Louis Woman (1946) and Saratoga (1959) and wrote lyrics to Gene DePaul’s score for Li’l Abner (1956) and to Robert Emmett Dolan’s…
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In 1942 Mercer founded Capitol Records with two partners, serving as talent scout and company president. For the Broadway stage, he collaborated with Harold Arlen on St. Louis Woman (1946) and Saratoga (1959) and wrote lyrics to Gene DePaul’s score for Li’l Abner (1956) and to Robert Emmett Dolan’s…
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the Beach Boys
Formation of the Beach Boys and first releases
…1962 to their signing as Capitol Records’ first rock act. Brian’s latent ambitions as a pop composer were unleashed; for years he would write almost all the group’s songs, often with collaborators (most frequently Love).
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…1962 to their signing as Capitol Records’ first rock act. Brian’s latent ambitions as a pop composer were unleashed; for years he would write almost all the group’s songs, often with collaborators (most frequently Love).
Read More