Founded in Beverly Hills, California, in 1945 by
brothers Edward and Leo Mesner as Philo Records,
the independent label had substantial hits within its
first few months of business with releases by Illinois
Jacquet (‘‘Flying Home’’), Wynonie Harris (‘‘Around
the Clock Blues’’), Helen Humes (‘‘Be-Baba-Leba’’),
and Johnny Moore’s Three Blazers (‘‘Drifting Blues’’).
However the Mesner brothers were soon forced to
change the label name because of the similarity to the
major household appliance company, Philco. The
Philo name was discontinued and Aladdin Records
was launched in April 1946, to become one of the
major independent record labels of the late 1940s,
finding commercial success with black blues, R&B,
jazz, and gospel artists such as Amos Milburn, Charles
Brown, Sam ‘‘Lightnin’ ’’ Hopkins, Lester Young, and
the Soul Stirrers. During the 1950s, Aladdin Records
went on to corner the market in male/female duets,
having hits with Shirley & Lee and Gene & Eunice.
Primarily a gospel label to showcase the vocal
group the Trumpeteers, the Score subsidiary was
launched in 1948, but included a short-lived 4000
R&B and jazz series, featuring Lightnin’ Hopkins,
Lonnie Johnson, Calvin Boze, Red Saunders, and
the Robins vocal group. Score remained sporadically
active until 1954. The Aladdin label—along with its
subsidiaries Score, Intro (launched 1950), 7-11 (1952),
Ultra (1955), Jazz West (1955), and Lamp (1956)—
was sold to Imperial in 1961, following its final release, ‘‘One Scotch, One Bourbon, One Beer’’ by
Thurston Harris.
DAVID PENNY
Bibliography
McGrath
Burke, Tony. ‘‘The Score Label—The Rhythm and Blues
Sides.’’ Blues & Rhythm 31 (September 1987): 14.
Burke, Tony, and Tony Watson. ‘‘The 7-11 Label.’’ Blues &
Rhythm 29 (June 1987): 20.
Ruppli, Michel. The Aladdin/Imperial Labels. Westport,
CT: Greenwood Press, 1991.
Discography
The Aladdin Records Story (1994, EMI CD E2-30882).