End Of An Era: Arista, Jive & J-Records No More

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In a move that is surely the end of an era, RCA Records, parent company to Arista, Jive and J-Records has decided to permanently close these labels down. These were truly some powerhouse labels in their day and their closings highlight a recording industry that is in financial turmoil.

Arista topped the pop and adult R&B charts during the 70s and 80s with such greats as Barry Manilow, Aretha Franklin, Phyllis Hyman, Angela Bofill, Dionne Warwick and Whitney Houston.

In the 90’s Jive was the place to be with hot hip hop and pop artists like the Backstreet Boys, N’Sync, Syleena Johnson and the late, great Tupac Shakur. Jive also boasted such stars as R-Kelly, Anthony Hamilton and Chris Brown later on.

Then, after the start of the new millennium Clive Davis created the J Records imprint, boasting such stars as Missy Elliot, Alicia Keys and even veteran soul singer Luther Vandross.

RCA sighted a shrinking economy and music industry and the need to refocus on one star label(RCA itself) as the reasons for closing these iconic labels. The end of an era indeed. Here’s hoping the artists currently associated with the labels all land on their feet.

Picture compliments of Hip Hop Wired

List of Jive Recording Artists

List of Arista Recording Artists

List of J Records Recording Artists

About The Author

Kamil M Abdullah has been a self proclaimed techie and bonafide smart phone expert nearly half of his life. Starting with the very first Sidekick(not necessarily a smart phone but close enough) to Blackberry to Symbian to Windows(Mobile & Phone 7) to Web OS to Android, he has used virtually every smart phone operating system. Kamil has also worked with computer programming in Bloomberg's Data Center and Backup Operations on their proprietary software. In his quest for further knowledge in mobile operating systems, Kamil voraciously devours any reading material on the subject he can find. Kamil is also a hip hop head to the fullest, having fallen in love with the art form from the very first "a hip hop the hibby to the hibby the hip hip the hop" and tr808 beat. He promises to use his vast powers and knowledge only for the good of mankind.