| SugarHill Recording Studios | |
| Industry: | Recording studio |
| Foundation: | Houston, Texas, U.S. |
| Founder: | Bill Quinn |
| Hq Location City: | Houston |
| Hq Location Country: | U.S. |
| Num Locations: | 1 |
| Owner: | RAD Audio |
SugarHill Recording Studios is a music recording studio located at 5628 Brock Street in Houston, Texas. Originally founded by Bill Quinn in 1941 as Quinn Recording, it is the oldest continuously operating studio in the United States.[1] [2] Renamed Gold Star Studios in 1950, the studio was important in launching the careers of such artists as Lightnin' Hopkins, The Big Bopper, George Jones, the Sir Douglas Quintet. Roy Head, and Freddy Fender. In 1972 under new ownership, the studio's name was changed to SugarHill Recording Studios. A landmark in the Houston music community, the studio is renowned for its collection of vintage recording equipment, reverb chamber rooms, EMT plates and a long history of music.
In 1939 Bill Quinn settled in Houston and established the Quinn Radio Service, a radio repair shop. After being intrigued by a home disc recorder he was asked to repair, he purchased one and began to experiment with it. In 1941 he opened a shop at 3104 Telephone Road in Houston, Texas, where he recorded personalized voice messages. Quinn renamed the business Quinn Recording Company and soon began recording radio jingles.[3] Venturing into music production in 1944, he founded the short-lived Gulf Record Company label.[4]
In 1946, Quinn founded Gold Star Records, initially recording local country (or "hillbilly") artists before expanding to record local cajun and blues artists. In 1947, Gold Star had its first hit record, "Jole Blon" by Harry Choates, a swing and dance tune that and became the first and only Cajun record to reach the Billboard Top Five.[5] [4] In 1948, Lightnin' Hopkins' began recording at the studio,[5] with "T-Model Blues" and "Tim Moore's Farm" both becoming top 10 national hits.
In 1950, Quinn moved the studio into the first floor of his family home at 5628 Brock Street, just a few blocks from the original studio, and changed the name to Gold Star Studios. Utilized not only Gold Star Records sessions, the studio was the site of numerous hit recordings, including George Jones' first hit "Why Baby Why" (1955) and subsequent hit singles "What Am I Worth" (1955), "You Gotta Be My Baby" (1956), "Just One More" (1956), "Yearning" (1957), "Don't Stop the Music" (1957).
Willie Nelson's first two hits as a songwriter, "Family Bible" (recorded by Claude Gray) and "Night Life" (recorded by Nelson himself), were recorded at Gold Star.[5] Other artists recording at Gold Star Studios in the 1950s included Benny Barnes, Eddie Noack and James O'Gwynn. J.P. Richardson, better known as The Big Bopper, also had two hits recorded at Gold Star, "Running Bear" (recorded by Johnny Preston), and the huge hit "Chantilly Lace" (recorded by Richardson himself).[5]
Beginning in 1963, blues, gospel, and R&B mogul Don Robey utilized Gold Star's engineering services and studio for numerous tracks for release on his Back Beat Records, Duke Records, Peacock Records, and Sure-Shot record labels and their subsidiaries. The following year Chris Strachwitz made his first recordings of Clifton Chenier for the Arhoolie Records label at Gold Star. In 1965, Huey P. Meaux produced two hits at the studio: "She's About a Mover" by the Sir Douglas Quintet, and "Treat Her Right" by Roy Head and The Traits. He also recorded portions of B. J. Thomas' first commercially successful album, Tomorrow Never Comes at the studio.
In January 1968, the International Artists record label leased Gold Star Studios, and the facility was instrumental with Texas psychedelic rock bands including: 13th Floor Elevators, the Red Crayola, Bubble Puppy, The Continental Five, The Bad Seeds, Moving Sidewalks (Billy Gibbons' first band) and Zakary Thaks. For a brief period in 1969 and 1970 the facility was known as International Artists Studios.
The reputation of SugarHill was enhanced when the studio producer Huey P. Meaux took over ownership in the early 1970s. He became instrumental in launching many careers, most notably that of Freddy Fender who recorded 21 hit records including "Before The Next Teardrop Falls", "Wasted Days and Wasted Nights", "Secret Love", "You'll Lose a Good Thing" and "Living it Down". Throughout the 1970s and 1980s, notable artists recording at SugarHill included:
In 1986, Modern Music Ventures Incorporated purchased SugarHill from Huey P. Meaux. SugarHill consequently became the home base for a number of successful Tejano recording artists including Emilio Navaira, La Fiebre, Excellencia, Country Star Johnny Rodriquez and Adalberto Gallegos.
Concurrently, Modern Music Ventures established their own Tejano label called Discos MM and released hit records by Elsa Garcia, Jerry Rodriguez and Mercedes (album Rebelde 1990), and The Hometown Boys. Members of influential Australian rock band, Radio Birdman, Deniz Tek and Chris Masuak, arrived in the early 90s to record their solo albums.
In 1996, SugarHill underwent another change in ownership: RAD Audio, a company formed by studio engineers Dan Workman, Andy Bradley and Rodney Meyers. With new management and additional studio renovations, SugarHill continued to evolve. SugarHill recorded such artists as Destiny's Child, Robert Minot, Ann-Margret, Solange Knowles, Brian McKnight, Twista, Smash Mouth, Beyoncé, Kelly Rowland, Michelle Williams, Hubert Laws, Clay Walker, Jay Hooks,[6] and Calvin Owens.
The 2000s ushered in many changes in the music production industry, not the least of which was a massive rise in home recording. In 2006, SugarHill partnered with the Pacifica Radio Network and launched The SugarHill Sessions, a radio show on Pacifica' Houston affiliate 90.1FM KPFT. The show was created as a platform to encourage local music and to highlight live independent music in the Gulf Coast region. The show has profiled indie artists including Marah (Yep Roc Records), Bring Back The Guns, Ume (Pretty Activity), Jana Hunter (Gnomonsong), Spain Colored Orange (Lucid Records), Todd Snider (Universal) and The Long Winters (Barsuk).
In 2006, SugarHill recorded Frank Black (The Pixies), Johnny Bush, Johnny Nash, Matt Johnson, Southern Backtones, Row Zero, The Medicine Show, Clouseaux, Glenna Bell, John Evans, Jandek, Maggie Walters, The Inoculist, Broadmoore, Def Trapp, IB3, Darrin Love, Anne Loo, Calvin Owens, Trystan Layne, Shei Atkins, and Bullet.
In December 2008, the studio teamed up with Zenfilm and introduced a monthly video podcast,[7] to give the audience a "behind the scenes" glimpse of recording sessions followed by interviews of the artists.