Vee-Jay Records was a record label, specializing in blues, jazz, rhythm and blues and rock and roll and was the single most successful black owned label in American history.
Major acts on the label in the 1950s included blues singers Jimmy Reed, Memphis Slim,and John Lee Hooker, and rhythm and blues vocal groups the Spaniels, Dells, and El Dorados. The 1960s saw the label became a major soul label with Jerry Butler, Gene Chandler, Dee Clark, and Betty Everett putting records on both the R&B and pop charts. Vee-Jay were also the first to record The Pips, who later became Gladys Knight and the Pips in 1962..
Vee-Jay had significant success with rock and roll acts, notably The Four Seasons (their first non-black act) and The Beatles. The label also picked up Little Richard and, before he became successful, Billy Preston.
Vee-Jay's biggest successes occurred in 1962-1964, with the ascendancy of the Four Seasons and the distribution of early Beatles material ("Please Please Me" and "From Me to You" via Vee-Jay and "Love Me Do", "Twist and Shout", and "Do You Want to Know a Secret?" via its subsidiary Tollie Records). These releases were unsuccessful at first, but eventually became huge hits once the British Invasion took off in early 1964, selling 2.6 million Beatles singles in a single month.