Friday, March 8, 2013

Impala Records


My road map of the various Impala labels
(and Google is my co-pilot)



Nine Impala and one Impalla

Such explosion of Impala labels in the late fifties and in the sixities is probably explained by the success of the Chevrolet model, with the possible exception of the Mable Weathers Agency's Impala subsidiary who were apparently the only one to think marvel of nature rather than future bucket of bolts  :

The Chevrolet Impala is a full-size automobile built by the Chevrolet division of General Motors introduced for the 1958 model year. Deriving its name from the southern African antelope, Chevrolet's most expensive passenger model through 1965 had become the best-selling automobile in the United States, competing against the Ford Galaxie 500 and the Plymouth Fury when full-size models dominated the market. [Wikipedia]
  



1958
 Los Angeles, Calif
Owner : Mable Weathers
Tornado Pub. Co. BMI
 


1958
Orlando, Florida
RCA press



1958
Pittsburgh, Pa.
Owner : George Bodner
Donnator Music, BMI



1959-1963
reactivated in 1966
 
2915 C Street Philadelphia, PA
Owner Franny Williamson
Ethel Mae Music, BMI
Center Music, ASCAP




Label founded in 1958
Corpus Christi, Texas
Main artist (and owner) : Oscar Martinez



Chicago, Ill.
Artist (and owner?) : Carl Bonafede
Sheldon press



1964
Impalla
Chicago mid-sixties
Chkaren Music BMI
RCA press


1970
Realtone Recordings
Blacksburg, S.C.
Rite press



Mid-sixties?
Asheville, N.C. ?
Curtis Watkins  and Balsom Mountain Boys
Kay Bank press




4 comments:

  1. Hello I am Jimmy Valentine my father started the Impalla and Chkaren record label in Chicago, I own them now, but haven't released anything on either. The last Impalla release was Oleo by Arnie Anderson and the Force.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hi Jimmy, happy to lear a little about those labels. I own a couple of releases on both but I've never been able to locate and date
    - Constant Demus ‎– Slow Freight on Impalla # 1837
    - Thad Erican - Mansion On A Hill on Chkaren # 10087 (sounded like a 50s record to me).

    http://fewold.chez.com/defaultgb.html

    ReplyDelete
  3. Jimmy, I just found "America Will Survive" by Arnie Anderson on Impalla. Same label?

    ReplyDelete
  4. Yes! please contact me at 929-268-1700 or strangemeasure@yahoo.com

    ReplyDelete