Happy Tiger Records | |
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Parent company | Flying Tigers |
Founded | 1969 |
Status | Defunct |
Distributor(s) | Era Records |
Genre | Pop, rock, country, jazz |
Country of origin | U.S. |
Location | Century City, Los Angeles, California |
Happy Tiger Records was an independent American record label that was owned by the Flying Tiger Line air freight company. Happy Tiger only operated from 1969 to 1971, but during this time managed to produce more than two dozen albums by such notable artists as Count Basie, Mason Proffit, Red Rhodes, Priscilla Paris, Paul Kelly, and the Anita Kerr Singers. They released two albums by the post-Morrison Them band.
Happy Tiger's offices were located at 1801 Avenue of the Stars in Century City, Los Angeles, California. The staff included engineer and producer Ray Ruff, who had previously worked for ABC-Paramount Records. During its short existence Happy Tiger issued twenty-seven albums and numerous singles, all distributed by Era Records. The label also issued eight albums of oldies under the joint Happy Tiger/Era label, including works by Phil Baugh, Dorsey Burnette and some early Beach Boys recordings. Happy Tiger's final album in 1971 was Mason Proffit's Movin' Toward Happiness. The label's final single in 1972 was Richard Berry performing a song he had written and that the Kingsmen had made famous in 1963, "Louie Louie." After Happy Tiger folded, Warner Bros. Records reissued Paul Kelly's Stealin' in the Name of the Lord in 1972, retitled Dirt. Warner also reissued the two Mason Proffit albums as a double LP, Come and Gone, in 1974.