Fraternity Records

The first recording to be released on Fraternity was Jerri Winters' "Winter's Here". The first hit was Cathy Carr's rendition of a Tin Pan Alley song, "Ivory Tower" in 1956. It made #2, besting a cover version by Otis Williams & the Charms. A year later came the Jimmy Dorsey #2 charting instrumental "So Rare", the famous bandleader's final hit before his death. 1959 saw another big hit, Bill Parsons' "The All American Boy", which also peaked at #2 on the Billboard pop charts. Parsons was a friend of country singer Bobby Bare and it was actually Bare's voice heard on the hit record. Parsons sang on the B-side. Fraternity also leased songs from smaller labels, including one track by Jackie Shannon (later Jackie DeShannon). Fraternity's biggest-selling hit was Lonnie Mack's 1963 guitar instrumental cover of the Chuck Berry song "Memphis", which rose to #5 on Billboard′s Pop chart and #4 on Billboard′s R&B chart. The final national Top 40 hit for the label was "Then You Can Tell Me Goodbye" by The Casinos, which reached #6 on the Billboard pop chart in 1967. Shad O'Shea purchased the company from Carlson in 1975. Applegate Recording Society was also a subsidiary label of Fraternity. UK reissue label Ace Records Ltd. Currently makes a large handful of Fraternity recordings available on compact disc albums and digital downloads, including the original big hits mentioned here.

Fraternity Records is associated with United States. Recorded from 1954.