Abstract
On July 19, 1994, was privileged to spend several hours with Dick Griffey in his office, interviewing him, being interviewed by him, sitting in on a presentation with a high-profile client. From the moment Griffey welcomed me into his office, knew something special had happened. There was no pretension: This very busy, very successful man had made time for me. My pre-interview research had supplied the basic information: knew that, for over two decades, Dick Griffey, Chairman of the Board of Sound Of Los Angeles Records (SOLAR), had accomplished great things in the entertainment world and returned profits from his business ventures to the community. His business dreams began to develop when he was a young, promising drummer and student at Tennessee State University. Armed with a rich musical heritage developed and encouraged by his mother, Dick Griffey progressed from an ambitious young man to the owner of the second largest African American-owned record company in the United States. Griffey entered the entertainment business in the mid-sixties when he discovered the key to business operation: I started thinking how entertainers come and go, but business people are always here. He used his talents first as the booking agent for a highly successful nightclub, which he co-owned with former schoolmate and ex-New York Knicks player/coach Dick Barnett, but he quickly branched out into concert promotions under the company name Dick Griffey Productions and earned the distinction as the most prominent African American promoter in town. At that time, he was promoting domestic and international tours for some of the nation's biggest acts, such as Stevie Wonder and The Jacksons. Not content with these achievements, Griffey became talent coordinator for the nationally syndicated television dance program Soul Train. Concerts were becoming routine to me, he explains. When you promote a concert you basically do the same thing every time. was looking for new challenges. The Soul Train venture was so successful that in 1975 Griffey and the show's producer, Don Cornelius, went on to form Soul Train Records. Starting with one small act, Griffey carefully nurtured the label and, after an amicable separation from Cornelius, reorganized the company and founded the SOLAR label in 1977. Since that time, Griffey has directed SOLAR Records to both national and international prominence. Recording under the SOLAR and CONSTELLATION labels are numerous RB Spectrum VII Music and Hip Trip Music, publishing companies that administer publishing catalogs, including copyrighting, television licensing, royalty, and printed music services; Galaxy Studio, a state-of-the-art recording facility which includes a sound studio, rehearsal room, and writers' room; and the J. Hines Company, a distribution firm which serves as Griffey's memorial to his mother and mentor, Mrs. Juanita Hines. All of these businesses are housed in the multi-million-dollar, multi-story, Griffey-owned and operated Solar Towers located in Hollywood. …
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