Chance Records

Chance Records
Founded	1950
Founder	Art Sheridan
Status	Inactive since 1954
Genre	Blues, jazz, doo-wop, gospel
Country of origin	United States
Location	Chicago, Illinois

Chance Records was a Chicago-based label founded in 1950 by Art Sheridan. It specialized in blues, jazz, doo-wop, and gospel.

Among the acts who recorded for Chance were The Flamingos, The Moonglows, Homesick James, J. B. Hutto, Brother John Sellers, and Schoolboy Porter. In addition, Chance released three singles by John Lee Hooker and made a coordinated issue of the first singles by Jimmy Reed and The Spaniels with the brand-new and still tiny Vee-Jay Records.

The company closed down at the end of 1954. Sheridan became one of the financial backers of Vee-Jay.

Chance Records opened for business in September 1950. Initially the company was housed at Sheridan's American Record Distributors, 2011 South Michigan Avenue in Chicago. Among the first artists to record for the company were the Al Sims Trio, an uptown blues group, and a combo led by tenor saxophonist John "Schoolboy" Porter, who had developed a vigorous R&B style in the Cootie Williams band. Porter's rendition of "Tennessee Waltz," a much-covered hit in 1950, sold well enough that Sheridan's pressing plant, Armour Plastics, couldn't meet the demand and many copies were pressed by RCA Victor. Porter would be a steady contributor until he left Chicago in 1952.

In 1951, however, the company ran into big trouble with the American Federation of Musicians on account of employing non-Union personnel on one of Schoolboy Porter's sessions. The company actually lost its license to record with Union musicians for one year, although Sheridan was able to work in a few sessions by gospel groups, which in those days were almost entirely non-Union. He would remain persona non grata with Musicians Union Local 208 for many years.

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Wikipedia