Alshire Records
| Ed Chalpin | |
|---|---|
| Also known as | D.L. Miller, Leo Muller |
| Occupation(s) | Record producer, record label owner |
| Labels | Stereo Gold Award |
Dave L. Miller (July 4, 1925 – May 24, 1985) was a record producer and the founder of many budget album record companies. Miller is more familiar to some record buyers and collectors as the notorious Leo Muller who produced many Exploito type records.
Dave Miller did not emigrate from Europe as often reported. He was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to Albert and Olive Miller. Following World War II service in the United States Navy along with his brother in-law Ralph Joseph, they started recording weddings direct to disc. After visiting the RCA Victor pressing plant in Camden, New Jersey, he and his brother Paul formed their first record company with their own savings and those of their father Albert, naming their company Palda Records (a portmanteau of Paul, Albert, and David) in Philadelphia, eventually buying out their father's share.
Miller became the founder of Essex Records in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in 1951. The label had local popular success, being known mostly for its release of the early Bill Haley & His Comets recordings. Miller originally changed the name of the group from the "Four Aces of Western Swing" to "Bill Haley and the Saddlemen" then repeated a suggestion that the group change their name to the Comets after Halley's Comet.
After the group was signed to Decca Records, Miller was sued by Haley for selling the group's former hits on his Essex label without paying royalties. Miller went bankrupt.
Under his Miller International Company formed in 1957, with his Essex Records office manager George Phillips, he founded Somerset Records and Somerset Stereo Fidelity Records budget albums. His greatest claim to fame was selling large amounts of cheaply priced albums, with Somerset claiming to have manufactured the first stereo budget albums.
The name of Somerset high fidelity albums was suggested by Miller International's West Coast distributor, Jimmy Warren, with the name of Stereo Fidelity (stereo albums) thought of by Wally Hill to capitalize on the public's interest in both high fidelity and sterophonic sound.
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