Clintone Record Company
The Clintone Record Company (or ClinTone Records) was a record label founded in 1970 by Birmingham Times publisher Jesse Lewis and record promoter Clinton Moon. Shareholders included Houston Blount, Glenn Ireland II, Crawford Johnson III and Richard Randolph. The business folded in the mid 1970s.
Clintone was associated with Showtime Productions, Inc. which managed talent for the label and promoted concert appearances. Clintone used Boutwell Studios and the New London Recording Center in Homewood to record the songs it produced, and made a deal with Atlantic Records of New York, New York for national distribution.
Dale Warren and Sam Dees wrote and produced most of Clintone's output, and Roszetta Johnson was the company's first breakout talent. Her recording of Dees' "A Woman's Way" was Clintone's first single and grossed over $60,000, reaching #28 on Billboard's R&B chart. Later output did not reach the same plateau and many of Showtime's artists ended up signing with Alex Hodges' Paragon company in Macon, Georgia.
Releases
- Roszetta Johnson (1970) "Mine was Real" / "A Woman's Way" CT-001
- Phase Four (1970) "It Takes More than a Moment" / "I'm So Glad" CT-002
- Roszetta Johnson (1971) "“Who Are You Gonna Love (Your Woman Or Your Wife)” / "I Can Feel My Love Comin' Down" CT-003
- Jean Battle - "I've Got To Come In" / "Unsatisfied Woman" CT-004
- Black Haze Express (1972) "Won't Nobody Listen" / "Pretty Soon" CT-005
- Roszetta Johnson (1972) "Holding the Losing Hand" / "Chained and Bound" CT-006
- Roszetta Johnson (1972) "Can't You Just See Me" / "To Love Somebody" CT-007
- Roszetta Johnson (1972) "How Can You Love Something You Never Had" / "Personal Woman" CT-008
- C. L. Blast (1972) "Leftover Love" / "Fools Love" CT-009
- Sam Dees (1973) "I'm So Very Glad" / "Claim Jumping" CT-010
- C. L. Blast (1973) "Husband-in-Law" / "Fools Love" CT-011
- Blast Furnace Band and the Grapevine Singers (1973) “Hammering Hank Part 1” / "Hammering Hank Part 2" CT-012
- Alpaca Phase III (1973) "Love at First Sight" / "Bump and Wind" CT-017 (produced by Sam Dees)
References
- "Sound that sells." (February 1971) Birmingham magazine. Vol. 11, No. 2, pp. 23-25