Tabu Records

Tabu Productions was founded by Clarence Avant. Avant founded this label after Sussex Records went out of business in June 1975, and Internal Revenue Service auctioned off the remaining assets because of $48,000 in federal tax liens unpaid, including the recording masters and office furniture.

The label focused on R&B and funk. Its flagship release, “Stormin'” by Brainstorm hit the stores in 1977. Tabu had a short-lived distribution pact with RCA, which lasted only a year before moving to CBS Records.

Disco music was the big thing then and Tabu really tried to venture out into different music styles, with artists like pianist and composer Lalo Schifrin (of "" fame), a former management client of Avant's, who recorded and released "No One Home" released in 1979. It hit paydirt with The SOS Band in 1980 with the single "Take Your Time (Do It Right)," which was certified platinum by the RIAA, and its subsequent album "S.O.S", also released in 1980.

In 1982, the label languished, and Avant nearly lost his home in the Trousdale Estates area of Beverly Hills in April 1983 as four different mortgages were foreclosed on when Tabu struck paydirt again. Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis of The Time were hired to produce The SOS Band's fourth album for Tabu, "On the Rise". As they were recording in SOS's home stomping grounds in Atlanta, Georgia on March 24, 1983, a freak snowstorm hit grounding all flights from the city. They were supposed to perform in Antonio at the Hemisfair Arena that night but couldn't get away. Prince, who did own and manage The Time, fired them on April 18, 1983, by calling them into Hollywood Sunset Sound. The duo stayed in Los Angeles at the same time to work on the S.O.S. Band project at Larrabee Studios in West Hollywood.

Working with Jam and Lewis gave Tabu a much-needed shot in the arm. They had brought Cherelle and Alexander O'Neal (the original Time lead vocalist) to the label and both had hit the ground running signing Alexander O'Neal in 1984 and releasing his self-titled album in 1985 and signing Cherrelle in 1983 and releasing her "Fragile," in 1984, which was eventually certified gold by the RIAA began to smoke the American R&B charts. The SOS Band hit more lightning strikes with "The Way You Like It" in 1984 and "Sands of Time" in 1986. So influential was the sound that Robert Palmer covered Cherelle's "I Didn't Mean To Turn You On" in 1986 and Beats International covered The SOS Band's "Just Be Good To Me" in 1990. In 1986, Cherelle and Alexander O'Neal sang the duet "Saturday Love" which was a bigger hit in the UK but catch on with American radio. This single appeared on Cherrelle's 1985 album "High Priority" which was also certified gold as well as 1988's "Affair," her third album and third consecutive gold record. Other acts like Kid Fire and Demetrius Perry recorded on this label.

But things began to take a weird turn for the label. Despite all of the good music released by the label, Epic Associated became Sony Music Entertainment in 1988 but didn't flex these muscles until 1990. Tabu released one knock-off by The SOS Band called "Diamonds in the Raw". It didn't do well at all. In the same year, Alexander O'Neal's "All True Man" was the last album Tabu released under the new Sony regime.

In 1991, the label reappeared through A&M Records, distributing it from 1991 until 1993. The label released four albums and about 20 singles. Probably as a result of the sale of A&M to PolyGram as well as other labels it purchased and its restructuring to become profitable, PolyGram restructured its record labels. Avant was hired to run Motown (another PolyGram label) in August 1993 and he brought Tabu under its aegis. It had released collections by The SOS Band, Alexander O'Neal and Cherelle while breaking ground on other artists such as Lucky Dube and Identity Crisis.

However, this was short-lived as well. In 1999, Seagram bought PolyGram and merged it with the MCA family of labels, which became Universal Music Group. Staffs at Motown, A&M and Geffen were slashed: Motown went to Universal while A&M and Geffen became part of the Interscope-Geffen-A&M Group. Tabu disappeared once more.

In 2002, Avant brought Tabu to EMI’s reissue label the Right Stuff and it began reissuing Tabu’s releases.

See also

* List of record labels

External links

* [http://www.onamrecords.com/History_4.html A&M Records History 1990-1999]
* [http://www.onamrecords.com/Tabu_Records.html Tabu Records History] artist roster, staff, official Web sites, gallery