Solar

Solar (an acronym of Sound Of Los Angeles Records) was founded in 1977 by Soul Train booking agent/talent supervisor Dick Griffey after creating and then shutting down the Soul Train Recording Co. (1975-77) label he had created with Soul Train host and creator Don Cornelius. After the success of a few singles on the RCA-distributed imprint (mainly those of the Soul Train Gang (2)), Griffey and Cornelius decided to shut down the label as Cornelius wanted to focus his energies on the TV show, which was a monster hit in first-run syndication and required his complete attention to keep it so.

Legalities taken care of, Soul Train Records closed down and Griffey reorganized the company as SOLAR in late 1977, which quickly became one of the most important and influential Urban Funk/Disco & Soul imprints of the late Seventies to mid-Eighties, and even spawned a subsidiary label Constellation Records, which had some success of its own (Klymaxx).

Griffey and Cornelius remained good friends, and as a result, the new Solar label maintained close ties to the show. Not surprisingly, Soul Train favourites Shalamar had one of their first hits as a result of two of its members (Jeffrey Daniel and Jody Watley) appearing on the show as regular dancers and being introduced to Griffey, who paired them with session vocalist Gerald Brown (2), who soon quit and was replaced with Howard Hewett. Shalamar was in fact Solar's biggest-selling and most influential act - scoring nearly 20 hit singles and classics such as: "Right in the Socket", "Make that Move", "A Night to Remember" and "Dead Giveaway".

The Solar success story was by no means confined to one act, several other artists enjoyed success, including: Dynasty, Klymaxx, The Whispers, , , (who later married Griffey), and , the last of which gave & () their start. Griffey always believed in giving new talents the opportunity to create and develop their craft, being the first to recognize songwriters/producers (, Flyte Tyme Productions), and , and the aforementioned , and , to name a few. The label's sound was a collective effort, with artists working on each other's sessions and encouraged to be creative. was the producer behind the trademark Solar sound: funky, progressive dance music infused with soul and disco.