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Calvin Carter

 


Record company executive, record producer and song writer Calvin Tollie Carter was born in Gary, Indiana on May 27, 1925. His sister Vivian co-founded Vee Jay Records in 1953 in Chicago and hired him as A&R man and staff producer. He gave the new label considerable musical clout, recording rhythm and blues and jazz artists including Elmore James, The Impressions, John Lee Hooker and Jimmy Reed.

When Jerry Butler wanted to record Burt Bacharach’s song “Make it easy on yourself”, Carter phoned Bacharach and asked him to take charge of the recording session, giving Bacharach his first real break as a record producer.

When VeeJay ran into problems, Carter was hired by Minit Records to fill a similar function and he worked with the rock blues band Canned Heat. He then went independent producing Little Milton for Chess Records in 1968 and Betty Everett for Fantasy Records in the early 1970s.

Mr Carter died in Oak Forest, Illinois on July 9, 1986.

Image: In the Vee Jay Office, October 1959: left to right, Jimmy Bracken, Ewart Abner, Vivian Carter, Calvin Carter. Photo: Jacques Demêtre/Clemson

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