North Hollywood, Los Angeles
North Hollywood is a neighborhood located in the east San Fernando Valley region of the city of Los Angeles. It is home to the NoHo Arts District and the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences, it has seven public and eight private schools. There is a recreation center; the neighborhood is an important transportation center. North Hollywood was established by the Lankershim Ranch Land and Water Company in 1887, it was first named Toluca before being renamed Lankershim in 1896 and North Hollywood in 1927. The 2000 U. S. census counted 77,848 residents in the 5.87-square-mile North Hollywood neighborhood—or 13,264 people per square mile, about an average population density for the city but among the highest for the county. In 2008, the city estimated that the population had increased to 87,241. In 2000 the median age for residents was 30, considered an average age for city and county neighborhoods; the neighborhood was considered "moderately diverse" ethnically within Los Angeles. The breakdown was Latinos, 57.7%.
Mexico and El Salvador were the most common places of birth for the 46.4% of the residents who were born abroad—a high percentage for Los Angeles. The percentages of never-married men and never-married women were among the county's highest; the median yearly household income in 2008 dollars was $42,791, considered average for the city but low for the county. The percentages of households that earned $40,000 or less were high for the county. Renters occupied 75.4% of the housing stock, house- or apartment-owners held 24.6%. North Hollywood is bordered on the north on the northeast and east by Burbank. Toluca Lake borders North Hollywood on the southeast and south, Studio City abuts it on the southwest, it is flanked by Valley Glen on the west. It is not contiguous with Hollywood, being separated by other parts of the San Fernando Valley and the Hollywood Hills. North Hollywood displays a hot summer Mediterranean Climate North Hollywood was once part of the vast landholdings of the Mission San Fernando Rey de España, confiscated by the government during the Mexican period of rule.
A group of investors assembled as the San Fernando Farm Homestead Association purchased the southern half of the Rancho Ex-Mission San Fernando. The leading investor was Isaac Lankershim, a Northern California stockman and grain farmer, impressed by the Valley's wild oats and proposed to raise sheep on the property. In 1873, Isaac Lankershim's son and future son-in-law, James Boon Lankershim and Isaac Newton Van Nuys, moved to the San Ferndando Valley and took over management of the property. Van Nuys thought the property could profitably grow wheat using the dryland farming technique developed on the Great Plains and leased land from the Association to test his theories. In time, the Lankershim property, under its third name, the Los Angeles Farming and Milling Company, would become the world's largest wheat-growing empire. In October 1887, J. B. Lankershim and eight other developers organized the Lankershim Ranch Land and Water Company, purchasing 12,000 acres north of the Cahuenga Pass from the Lankershim Farming and Milling Company.
Lankershim established a townsite which the residents named Toluca along the old road from Cahuenga Pass to San Fernando. On April 1, 1888, they offered ready-made small farms for sale planted with deep-rooted deciduous fruit and nut trees—mostly peaches, pears and walnuts—that could survive the rainless summers of the Valley by relying on the high water table along the Tujunga Wash rather than surface irrigation; the land boom of the 1880s went bust by the 1890s, but despite another brutal drought cycle in the late 1890s, the fruit and nut farmers remained solvent. The Toluca Fruit Growers Association was formed in 1894; the next year the Southern Pacific opened a branch line slanting northwest across the Valley to Chatsworth. The Chatsworth Limited made one freight stop a day at Toluca, though the depot bore the new name of Lankershim. With the post office across the street being called Toluca, controversy over the town's name continued, the local ranchers used to quip, "Ship the merchandise to Lankershim, but bill it to Toluca."
In 1896, under pressure from Lankershim, the post office at Toluca was renamed "Lankershim" after his father, although the new name of the town would not be recognized until 1905. By 1903, the area was known as "The Home of the Peach". In 1912, the area's major employer, the Bonner Fruit Company, was canning over a million tons of peaches and other fruits; when the Los Angeles Aqueduct opened in 1913, Valley farmers offered to buy the surplus water, but the federal legislation that enabled the construction of the aqueduct prohibited Los Angeles from selling the water outside of the city limits. At first, resistance to the real-estate development and downtown business interests of Los Angeles remained strong enough to keep the small farmers unified in opposition to annexation. However, the fruit packing company interests were taken over by the Los Angeles interests; the two conspired to decrease prices and mitigate the farmers' profit margins, making their continued existence tenuous. When droughts hit the valley again, rather than face foreclosure, the most vulnerable farmers agreed to mortgage their holdings to the fruit packing company and banks in Los Angeles for the immediate future and vote on annexation.
West Lankershim agreed to be annexed to the City of Los Angeles in 1919, Lankershim proper in 1923. Much of the promised water delivery was withheld, many of the ranchers one
Brandon Boyd
Brandon Charles Boyd is an American singer, musician and visual artist. He is best known as the lead vocalist of the American Multi-Platinum rock band Incubus. Boyd graduated from Calabasas High School in 1994 and attended Moorpark College for two years before committing to Incubus. Brandon grew up in California with Ricky Taylor who inspired him to write music, his parents, Priscilla "Dolly" Wiseman and Charles Boyd, both of whom had experience in entertainment, had nurtured his artistic side since he was a child. Other notable family members include his younger brother, Jason Boyd, the former lead singer of the band Audiovent, his cousin Berto Boyd, an accomplished Flamenco guitarist and composer, as well as cousin Sam Boyd, a professional motocross rider. In an interview, Brandon explained that he had "yet to stumble across his best work" because he lacked the ability to read music. Boyd designed concert fliers. At first, Boyd had copied several drawings from a sex education book that Einziger's mother had given them, but he decided to stop using it after several prospective fans had been confused by their fliers.
So the band had to retreat back to using their own artwork. He is known for having some guitar parts during live performances and for bringing interesting instruments into his songs, such as the didgeridoo and djembe, his voice was part of what enticed Sony's Epic/Immortal Records, along with their self-released album Fungus Amongus and the band was signed in 1996. The band's first two releases on the label, Enjoy Incubus and S. C. I. E. N. C. E. Went unnoticed in the mainstream, but subsequent releases Make Yourself and Morning View were commercial successes. Boyd attracted a large number of female fans. In a 2001 interview, Spin wrote "Considering his androgynous beauty and sweet demeanor, plus Incubus' kid-tested/mother-approved guitar rock, it's no surprise he's MTV's newest weapon of mass heartbreak. Girls scream for him to take his shirt off at Incubus shows, Teen People voted him one of'The Hottest Guys in Music.' His sensitive-guy appeal sets him apart from today's testosterone-drunk rock". The band's 2004 release A Crow Left of the Murder... has continued their success, nominating the band for Best Hard Rock Performance in the 2005 Grammy Awards.
On November 28, 2006, the band released Light Grenades. On June 16, 2009, Incubus released a greatest hits album titled Melodies. In 2011 Incubus finished their seventh studio album If Not Now, When?, released on July 12, 2011, followed by a tour. It was their final release under Sony. On December 13, 2014 they performed their upcoming single entitled "Trust Fall" at KROQ, they announced the release of two EP's in 2015 with the first, Trust Fall, released on March 24, 2015 through Island Records. On February 5, 2015, the single "Absolution Calling" was released. Two years in February 2017, Boyd and Incubus teamed with Skrillex on a collaboration, released under the title "8" in April, 2017. Boyd has written three books; the first, written in 2003, was White Fluffy Clouds. It was published by Endophasia Publications and consists of his artwork, song lyrics from Incubus, additional writings and thoughts, his more recent publications include, From the Murks of the Sultry Abyss, was published by Endophasia in 2007, "So the Echo" was published in January 2013 and consists of his artwork from the past five years.
"So the Echo" visually weaves the last five years Boyd spent honing his craft and talents, both in his music and art. He took part in many different group and solo art shows and he used his artwork as a means for environmental activism. In recent years, Boyd has focused on making fine art painting, on September 8, 2008 had the opening of his first solo show, titled "Ectoplasm," at Mr. Musichead Gallery in Los Angeles, California. In the spring of 2011, Boyd made a large mural at the Hurley Space Gallery in order to raise awareness about single use plastics and their harmful effects on the world's oceans. A firm believer in the opportunity to “give back," Brandon is involved with many organizations and charitable causes, in 2003 along with his Incubus bandmates, founded the 501 non-profit organization, ‘The Make Yourself Foundation’, which has raised over 1.4 million dollars for various philanthropic causes both locally and globally. Through this organization, the band has raised over $2,000,000 with the help of their fans donating money worldwide and with this money the organization has awarded grant funding to over 60 nonprofit organizations.
Another thing that this organization does is it will provide its fans chances to have wonderful, otherwise unattainable experiences, to meet and spend time with Incubus. Most two fans were flown to the ancient Mayan ruins at Tikal National Park and were able to do this with the band. A list of organizations which'The Make Yourself Foundation' has given grants to can be found here. Brandon is quoted on'The Make Yourself Foundation' website saying, "Sometimes I have to pinch myself that we are in the position we are in. Not forced or intimidated into action, but welcomed and invited. Blessed!" Boyd was selected to play the role of Judas Iscariot for the North American arena tour of Andrew Lloyd Webber's rock opera Jesus Christ Superstar. He was to play the role starting June 9 through August 17. On May 31, the tour was canceled due to poor ticket sales. On July 6, 2010, Boyd announced that The Wild Trapeze was released. On June 21, 2010, a music video for Boyd's first single from The Wild Trapeze, entitled "Runaway Train," was released on
Rock music
Rock music is a broad genre of popular music that originated as "rock and roll" in the United States in the early 1950s, developed into a range of different styles in the 1960s and particularly in the United Kingdom and in the United States. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll, a style which drew on the genres of blues and blues, from country music. Rock music drew on a number of other genres such as electric blues and folk, incorporated influences from jazz and other musical styles. Musically, rock has centered on the electric guitar as part of a rock group with electric bass and one or more singers. Rock is song-based music with a 4/4 time signature using a verse–chorus form, but the genre has become diverse. Like pop music, lyrics stress romantic love but address a wide variety of other themes that are social or political. By the late 1960s "classic rock" period, a number of distinct rock music subgenres had emerged, including hybrids like blues rock, folk rock, country rock, southern rock, raga rock, jazz-rock, many of which contributed to the development of psychedelic rock, influenced by the countercultural psychedelic and hippie scene.
New genres that emerged included progressive rock. In the second half of the 1970s, punk rock reacted by producing stripped-down, energetic social and political critiques. Punk was an influence in the 1980s on new wave, post-punk and alternative rock. From the 1990s alternative rock began to dominate rock music and break into the mainstream in the form of grunge and indie rock. Further fusion subgenres have since emerged, including pop punk, electronic rock, rap rock, rap metal, as well as conscious attempts to revisit rock's history, including the garage rock/post-punk and techno-pop revivals at the beginning of the 2000s. Rock music has embodied and served as the vehicle for cultural and social movements, leading to major subcultures including mods and rockers in the UK and the hippie counterculture that spread out from San Francisco in the US in the 1960s. 1970s punk culture spawned the goth and emo subcultures. Inheriting the folk tradition of the protest song, rock music has been associated with political activism as well as changes in social attitudes to race and drug use, is seen as an expression of youth revolt against adult consumerism and conformity.
The sound of rock is traditionally centered on the amplified electric guitar, which emerged in its modern form in the 1950s with the popularity of rock and roll. It was influenced by the sounds of electric blues guitarists; the sound of an electric guitar in rock music is supported by an electric bass guitar, which pioneered in jazz music in the same era, percussion produced from a drum kit that combines drums and cymbals. This trio of instruments has been complemented by the inclusion of other instruments keyboards such as the piano, the Hammond organ, the synthesizer; the basic rock instrumentation was derived from the basic blues band instrumentation. A group of musicians performing rock music is termed as a rock group. Furthermore, it consists of between three and five members. Classically, a rock band takes the form of a quartet whose members cover one or more roles, including vocalist, lead guitarist, rhythm guitarist, bass guitarist and keyboard player or other instrumentalist. Rock music is traditionally built on a foundation of simple unsyncopated rhythms in a 4/4 meter, with a repetitive snare drum back beat on beats two and four.
Melodies originate from older musical modes such as the Dorian and Mixolydian, as well as major and minor modes. Harmonies range from the common triad to parallel perfect fourths and fifths and dissonant harmonic progressions. Since the late 1950s and from the mid 1960s onwards, rock music used the verse-chorus structure derived from blues and folk music, but there has been considerable variation from this model. Critics have stressed the eclecticism and stylistic diversity of rock; because of its complex history and its tendency to borrow from other musical and cultural forms, it has been argued that "it is impossible to bind rock music to a rigidly delineated musical definition." Unlike many earlier styles of popular music, rock lyrics have dealt with a wide range of themes, including romantic love, rebellion against "The Establishment", social concerns, life styles. These themes were inherited from a variety of sources such as the Tin Pan Alley pop tradition, folk music, rhythm and blues.
Music journalist Robert Christgau characterizes rock lyrics as a "cool medium" with simple diction and repeated refrains, asserts that rock's primary "function" "pertains to music, or, more noise." The predominance of white and middle class musicians in rock music has been noted, rock has been seen as an appropriation of black musical forms for a young and male audience. As a result, it has been seen to articulate the concerns of this group in both style and lyrics. Christgau, writing in 1972, said in spite of some exceptions, "rock and roll implies an identification of male sexuality and aggression". Since the term "rock" started being used in preference to "rock and roll" from the late-1960s, it has been contrasted with pop music, with which it has shared many characteristics, but from wh
Alternative Press (magazine)
Alternative Press is an American music magazine based in Cleveland, Ohio. It provides readers with band interviews, information on upcoming releases, music charts, it was founded in 1985 by Mike Shea, the president. Joe Scarpelli is the general manager. Jason Pettigrew is editor in chief; the first issue of Alternative Press was a photocopied punk rock fanzine, distributed at concerts in Cleveland, Ohio beginning in June 1985 by AP's founder, Mike Shea. He disliked the music, being broadcast on radio stations and believed that bands playing underground music should be given more media coverage "all in the same spot", he said; the name for the magazine, Alternative Press, was not a reference to the alternative rock genre, but referred to the fanzine being an alternative to the local press that wasn't covering the music that Shea felt deserved to be heard. He said, "It has always been about covering music for the misfits". Shea began working on his first issue in his mother's house in Ohio. Shea and a friend, Jimmy Kosicki, targeted the Cleveland neighborhood of Coventry.
"I offset print. I'd walk into these flower shops and Hallmark shops, I'd say'We're going to put out an entertainment publication, it's going to be for kids and only $25.' And they'd look at my high school newspaper and say,'It's professional...' That's how we got enough money to make the first issue". Financial problems plagued AP in its early years. Of the fledgling magazine's struggles in 1986, Shea said: "After the last few punk concerts we promoted that year failed to make any money to help finance the magazine, I had to start begging my mom for money to keep AP going: $1,500 here, $2,500 there. My mom was super-supportive of the whole endeavor, she seemed to enjoy having a bunch of punkers over at all hours of the night putting together issues on her dining-room table and getting spray mount all over her nice tablecloths and on the carpeting, which resulted in our socks getting pulled off as we walked over it". However, by the end of 1986, publication had ceased due to its financial problems, not resuming until the spring of 1988.
With the growth of alternative rock in the early 1990s, circulation began to increase. AP's covers included bands such as Red Hot Chili Peppers and Soundgarden, prior to each band's mainstream success. By 1994, the magazine was doing cover stories on Henry Rollins and Love and Rockets. Norman Wonderly, now the publisher, was credited by Shea as having "made most of these happen and the more Norman got what he wanted, the more artists wanted their cover shoots to look the way Norman wanted, so on, it wasn’t always easy. Did we sometimes protest too much? Maybe, but we were up against a lot. Nobody takes you unless you take yourself and that's what Norman brings to his position to this day". By the early 2000s, after resisting attempts to purchase the magazine, Shea shifted the focus of Alternative Press to the newer punk music associated with the Warped Tour; when asked the magazine's audience, Shea said, "It went from heartfelt emo, to screamo, to post-hardcore, to metalcore… but, there will always be a suburban kid full of angst.
They will always want music". At the time of its 20th anniversary in 2005, AP had grown to an average size of 112 pages per issue averaging between 198 and 220-plus pages a month; the magazine's current monthly columns include "The AP Poll", "In the Studio", "AP&R", "Chalkboard Confessional", "Musician of the Month", "My Favorite Gear", "Next Exit", "Gig Bag", "1000 Words", "Beauty and the Band" and "10 Essential." AP sponsored a radio show aired on XM Radio, a podcast featuring in-depth discussions on various topics with people such as Fall Out Boy's Pete Wentz and Kevin Lyman, a compilation CD, has been a major sponsor of tours including Warped Tour, Taste of Chaos and its own "The AP Tour." Official website The AP Tour
Record producer
A record producer or music producer oversees and manages the sound recording and production of a band or performer's music, which may range from recording one song to recording a lengthy concept album. A producer has varying roles during the recording process, they may gather musical ideas for the project, collaborate with the artists to select cover tunes or original songs by the artist/group, work with artists and help them to improve their songs, lyrics or arrangements. A producer may also: Select session musicians to play rhythm section accompaniment parts or solos Co-write Propose changes to the song arrangements Coach the singers and musicians in the studioThe producer supervises the entire process from preproduction, through to the sound recording and mixing stages, and, in some cases, all the way to the audio mastering stage; the producer may perform these roles themselves, or help select the engineer, provide suggestions to the engineer. The producer may pay session musicians and engineers and ensure that the entire project is completed within the record label's budget.
A record producer or music producer has a broad role in overseeing and managing the recording and production of a band or performer's music. A producer has many roles that may include, but are not limited to, gathering ideas for the project, composing the music for the project, selecting songs or session musicians, proposing changes to the song arrangements, coaching the artist and musicians in the studio, controlling the recording sessions, supervising the entire process through audio mixing and, in some cases, to the audio mastering stage. Producers often take on a wider entrepreneurial role, with responsibility for the budget, schedules and negotiations. Writer Chris Deville explains it, "Sometimes a producer functions like a creative consultant — someone who helps a band achieve a certain aesthetic, or who comes up with the perfect violin part to complement the vocal melody, or who insists that a chorus should be a bridge. Other times a producer will build a complete piece of music from the ground up and present the finished product to a vocalist, like Metro Boomin supplying Future with readymade beats or Jack Antonoff letting Taylor Swift add lyrics and melody to an otherwise-finished “Out Of The Woods.”The artist of an album may not be a record producer or music producer for his/her album.
While both contribute creatively, the official credit of "record producer" may depend on the record contract. Christina Aguilera, for example, did not receive record producer credits until many albums into her career. In the 2010s, the producer role is sometimes divided among up to three different individuals: executive producer, vocal producer and music producer. An executive producer oversees project finances, a vocal producers oversees the vocal production, a music producer oversees the creative process of recording and mixings; the music producer is often a competent arranger, musician or songwriter who can bring fresh ideas to a project. As well as making any songwriting and arrangement adjustments, the producer selects and/or collaborates with the mixing engineer, who takes the raw recorded tracks and edits and modifies them with hardware and software tools to create a stereo or surround sound "mix" of all the individual voices sounds and instruments, in turn given further adjustment by a mastering engineer for the various distribution media.
The producer oversees the recording engineer who concentrates on the technical aspects of recording. Noted producer Phil Ek described his role as "the person who creatively guides or directs the process of making a record", like a director would a movie. Indeed, in Bollywood music, the designation is music director; the music producer's job is to create and mold a piece of music. The scope of responsibility may be one or two songs or an artist's entire album – in which case the producer will develop an overall vision for the album and how the various songs may interrelate. At the beginning of record industry, the producer role was technically limited to record, in one shot, artists performing live; the immediate predecessors to record producers were the artists and repertoire executives of the late 1920s and 1930s who oversaw the "pop" product and led session orchestras. That was the case of Ben Selvin at Columbia Records, Nathaniel Shilkret at Victor Records and Bob Haring at Brunswick Records.
By the end of the 1930s, the first professional recording studios not owned by the major companies were established separating the roles of A&R man and producer, although it wouldn't be until the late 1940s when the term "producer" became used in the industry. The role of producers changed progressively over the 1960s due to technology; the development of multitrack recording caused a major change in the recording process. Before multitracking, all the elements of a song had to be performed simultaneously. All of these singers and musicians had to be assembled in a large studio where the performance was recorded. With multitrack recording, the "bed tracks" (rhythm section accompaniment parts such as the bassline and rhythm guitar could be recorded first, the vocals and solos could be added using as many "takes" as necessary, it was no longer necessary to get all the players in the studio at the same time. A pop band could record their backing tracks one week, a horn section could be brought in a week to add horn shots and punches, a string section could be brought in a week after that.
Multitrack recording had another pro
Singing
Singing is the act of producing musical sounds with the voice and augments regular speech by the use of sustained tonality, a variety of vocal techniques. A person who sings is called a vocalist. Singers perform music that can be sung without accompaniment by musical instruments. Singing is done in an ensemble of musicians, such as a choir of singers or a band of instrumentalists. Singers may perform as soloists or accompanied by anything from a single instrument up to a symphony orchestra or big band. Different singing styles include art music such as opera and Chinese opera, Indian music and religious music styles such as gospel, traditional music styles, world music, blues and popular music styles such as pop, electronic dance music and filmi. Singing arranged or improvised, it may be done as a form of religious devotion, as a hobby, as a source of pleasure, comfort or ritual, as part of music education or as a profession. Excellence in singing requires time, dedication and regular practice.
If practice is done on a regular basis the sounds can become more clear and strong. Professional singers build their careers around one specific musical genre, such as classical or rock, although there are singers with crossover success, they take voice training provided by voice teachers or vocal coaches throughout their careers. In its physical aspect, singing has a well-defined technique that depends on the use of the lungs, which act as an air supply or bellows. Though these four mechanisms function independently, they are coordinated in the establishment of a vocal technique and are made to interact upon one another. During passive breathing, air is inhaled with the diaphragm while exhalation occurs without any effort. Exhalation may be aided by lower pelvis/pelvic muscles. Inhalation is aided by use of external intercostals and sternocleidomastoid muscles; the pitch is altered with the vocal cords. With the lips closed, this is called humming; the sound of each individual's singing voice is unique not only because of the actual shape and size of an individual's vocal cords but due to the size and shape of the rest of that person's body.
Humans have vocal folds which can loosen, tighten, or change their thickness, over which breath can be transferred at varying pressures. The shape of the chest and neck, the position of the tongue, the tightness of otherwise unrelated muscles can be altered. Any one of these actions results in a change in pitch, timbre, or tone of the sound produced. Sound resonates within different parts of the body and an individual's size and bone structure can affect the sound produced by an individual. Singers can learn to project sound in certain ways so that it resonates better within their vocal tract; this is known as vocal resonation. Another major influence on vocal sound and production is the function of the larynx which people can manipulate in different ways to produce different sounds; these different kinds of laryngeal function are described as different kinds of vocal registers. The primary method for singers to accomplish this is through the use of the Singer's Formant, it has been shown that a more powerful voice may be achieved with a fatter and fluid-like vocal fold mucosa.
The more pliable the mucosa, the more efficient the transfer of energy from the airflow to the vocal folds. Vocal registration refers to the system of vocal registers within the voice. A register in the voice is a particular series of tones, produced in the same vibratory pattern of the vocal folds, possessing the same quality. Registers originate in laryngeal function, they occur. Each of these vibratory patterns appears within a particular range of pitches and produces certain characteristic sounds; the occurrence of registers has been attributed to effects of the acoustic interaction between the vocal fold oscillation and the vocal tract. The term "register" can be somewhat confusing; the term register can be used to refer to any of the following: A particular part of the vocal range such as the upper, middle, or lower registers. A resonance area such as chest voice or head voice. A phonatory process A certain vocal timbre or vocal "color" A region of the voice, defined or delimited by vocal breaks.
In linguistics, a register language is a language which combines tone and vowel phonation into a single phonological system. Within speech pathology, the term vocal register has three constituent elements: a certain vibratory pattern of the vocal folds, a certain series of pitches, a certain type of sound. Speech pathologists identify four vocal registers based on the physiology of laryngeal function: the vocal fry register, the modal register, the falsetto register, the whistle register; this view is adopted by many vocal pedagogues. Vocal resonation is the process by which the basic product of phonation is en
Epic Records
Epic Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America, Inc. the North American division of Japanese conglomerate Sony. The label was founded predominantly as a jazz and classical music label in 1953, but expanded its scope to include a more diverse range of genres, including pop, R&B, hip hop. Epic Records has released music by artists including Glenn Miller, Tammy Wynette, George Michael, The Yardbirds, Shakin Stevens, Cheap Trick, Meat Loaf, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Ted Nugent, Sly & the Family Stone, The Hollies, Celine Dion, ABBA, Culture Club, Dave Clark Five, Gloria Estefan, Pearl Jam, Rage Against the Machine, Michael Jackson. Along with Arista, Columbia and RCA Records, Epic is one of Sony Music Entertainment's four flagship record labels. Artists who have signed to Epic Records include French Montana, Fiona Apple, Sara Bareilles, Jennifer Lopez, Keyshia Cole, Hardwell, Fifth Harmony, Jennifer Hudson, Zara Larsson, Mariah Carey, Ozzy Osbourne, Judas Priest, Busta Rhymes, Rick Ross, 21 Savage, Travis Scott, DJ Khaled, Meghan Trainor, Camila Cabello, Swizz Beatz and Louis Tomlinson.
Epic Records was launched in 1953 by the Columbia Records unit of CBS for the purpose of marketing jazz and classical music that did not fit the theme of its more mainstream Columbia Records label. Initial classical music releases were from Philips Records which distributed Columbia product in Europe. Pop talent on co-owned Okeh Records were transferred to Epic which made Okeh a rhythm and blues label. Epic's bright-yellow and blue logo became a familiar trademark for many jazz and classical releases; this has included such notables as the Berlin Philharmonic, Charles Rosen, the Juilliard String Quartet, Antal Doráti conducting the Hague Philharmonic and George Szell conducting the Cleveland Orchestra. By 1960, Epic became better known for its signing of newer, fledgling acts. By the end of the 1960s, Epic earned its first gold records and had evolved into a formidable hit-making force in rock and roll, R&B and country music. Among its many acts, it included Roy Hamilton, Bobby Vinton, The Dave Clark Five, The Hollies, Tammy Wynette, The Yardbirds, July, Helen Shapiro and Jeff Beck.
Several of the British artists on the Epic roster during the 1960s were the result of CBS's Epic/Okeh units' international distribution deal with EMI. Epic was involved in a notable "trade" of artists. Graham Nash was signed to Epic because of his membership in The Hollies; when the newly formed Crosby, Stills & Nash wanted to sign with Atlantic Records, Ahmet Ertegün worked out a deal with Clive Davis whereby Richie Furay's new band Poco would sign with Epic. Epic's commercial success continued to grow in the 1970s with releases from ABBA in the UK, Cheap Trick, The Clash, Charlie Daniels, Heart, The Isley Brothers, The Jacksons, George Jones, Meat Loaf, Johnny Nash, Ted Nugent, REO Speedwagon, Minnie Riperton, Charlie Rich, Sly & the Family Stone, Steve Vai, Edgar Winter. Contributing to the label's success was its distribution of Philadelphia International Records, which produced additional hit records by acts such as The Three Degrees and McFadden and Whitehead. During the 1960s, Epic oversaw the smaller subsidiary CBS labels including Okeh Records and Date Records.
In 1968, Epic recordings began being distributed in the UK by CBS after the distribution deal with EMI expired that year. Sony Corporation bought CBS Records in 1987, the company was renamed Sony Music in 1991, it began splitting European operations into two separate labels and Columbia, in 1992, in 1997, Sony Music Australia and New Zealand followed suit. In 2004, Sony merged with music distributor BMG, bringing Arista Records, Columbia Records, Epic Records, J Records, Jive Records, RCA Records, Zomba Group of Companies to one parent company known as Sony BMG Music Entertainment. In 2008, Sony bought out BMG for $1.2 billion, bringing all affiliated labels together as Sony Music Entertainment International, SMEI. The merger was approved by the European Union in 2009. Epic's 1980s and 1990s mainstream success were fueled by its signing and releasing of albums by notable acts such as Michael Jackson, Culture Club, the Miami Sound Machine and Gloria Estefan and George Michael, Adam Ant, Living Colour, Dead or Alive, Cyndi Lauper, Ozzy Osbourne, Pearl Jam, Luther Vandross, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Rage Against the Machine, Céline Dion, Oasis among others.
One of the label's greatest financial payoffs came via the release of Thriller, the 1982 album by Michael Jackson, which went on to achieve 51–65 million in worldwide sales, becoming the biggest selling album in history. Epic Soundtrax was founded in 1992, it was central to Epic's 1990s success, with 11 releases cumulatively selling more than 40 million records over a three-year period. Notable releases included soundtrack albums for Honeymoon in Vegas, Sleepless in Seattle, Forrest Gump and Judgement Night. In July 2011, L. A. Reid became the CEO of Epic Records, signing artists such as TLC, Toni Braxton, Cher Lloyd, Avril Lavigne, Future, Yo Gotti, Meghan Trainor, DJ Khaled and Travis Scott. Epic signed the winners of The X Factor during the seasons that Reid appeared on the show. In 2013, Sylvia Rhone, former president of Universal Motown, launched the imprint Vested In Culture through Epic Records. A year she was named president of the label. In November 2014, Mosley Music Group created
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