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Right off the bat, Brunswick had a steady stream of national hits from artists such as THE ARTISTICS, THE YOUNG HOLT UNLIMITED, GENE CHANDLER, BARBARA ACKLIN and JACKIE WILSON.

In addition to the Brunswick label, Davis started the Dakar label in 1967 as a way to keep the musicians working full time, and as an avenue to release additional artists such as MAJOR LANCE, OTIS CLAY, ALVIN CASH and OTIS LEAVILL. Dakar was distributed by Atlantic Records up until 1970. This sister label to Brunswick would become the launch pad for such innovative recording artists as Hamilton Bohannon and the legendary Tyrone Davis.

Eugene Record

One of the most important elements to Brunswick's success was a former Chicago taxi driver who became a songwriter and producer by the name of Eugene Record. Best known as the lead singer of The Chi-Lites, Record had a hand in so much of the music that came out of the Brunswick studios. According to Record, he couldn't wait to get to the Brunswick studios each morning so that he could just drink in the music that was being produced there. Record added that the atmosphere at Brunswick was always electrifying and like a family, with each artist helping out the other in whatever projects they were working on. Even while singing lead for The Chi-Lites, Record held the position as a Vice President for Brunswick.

By 1970, Decca Records was part of MCA, and the arguments between Tarnopol and MCA’s top executives over Brunswick’s promotion budgets reached a boiling point. Tarnopol contended that Brunswick’s all black roster of recording artists were on average, selling more records than MCA’s white artists, but were only receiving a fraction of MCA’s support for publicity and marketing. To end the disputes, a deal was struck for Tarnopol to buy out MCA of their 50% share of Brunswick, but for MCA to maintain worldwide rights to press and distribute all Brunswick recordings. In the summer of 1972, Tarnopol audited MCA and discovered nearly a million dollars in unreported record sales. To prevent the information of the audit from becoming public, MCA credited Tarnopol the difference and released Brunswick from their pressing and distribution control.

The production team in Chicago was running like a well oiled machine and the promotion team in New York assured that every release was pushed in every region of the country. In addition to having tremendous clout with America's R&B radio stations, Brunswick recordings were spilling over into pop radio formats and selling around the world.

The Lost Generation

As artists like Jackie Wilson, The Artistics, Gene Chandler and the Young Holt Unlimited were losing their ability to sell records, a new group of Brunswick artists, led by The Chi-Lites and including Tyrone Davis, Bohannon and The Lost Generation, were now emerging as the new stars of the label.

With a steady stream of hits and regular appearances on national television shows like Soul Train and Flip Wilson, Brunswick clearly had become one of the most influential R&B labels in America. Over this five-year period, Brunswick - and its subsidiary, Dakar - enjoyed it's most productive period with 17 top ten R&B singles. During this time it was virtually impossible to look at any soul music chart and not see several Brunswick recordings.

Redd Holt and Eldee Young on the Mike Douglas Show

The Chi-Lites: Marshall Thompson, Robert Lester, Creadel Jones and Eugene Record

Tyrone Davis