Art Laboe’s Dedicated To You – Volume 1

Art Laboe is responsible for many “hits” in the radio and record business.

Art was the first Disc Jockey to play rock and roll on the West Coast, one of the first DJs to play to both black, Latinos and white artists, and the first DJ to have an “Elvis Hour”, an entire hour dedicated to Elvis Presley . When Elvis and the Colonel first came to Hollywood, Art Laboe got his first and only radio interview. Art Laboe, along with Dick Clark, staged the first sold-out Rock ‘n’ Roll concert at the Hollywood Bowl and continues to fill the arena today. Art started a radio show about Scrivner’s Drive-In.

Teenagers came to the Drive-In to hang out and stream the songs live, and Art started compiling a list of the most requested songs. Once the radio show was up and running, he had an audience, wishlists, and started turning the concept into an idea for an album. Art put together the first album in American history that had hits from different artists. This first compilation titled “Oldies But Goodies” was released by Art’s Original Sound Record Company, Inc. and it stayed on the Billboard Top 100 LP chart for over three years! The series later expanded to 15 episodes. Art is also credited as the first person to coin the term “Oldies But Goodies™” and is his registered trademark.

He also created the Golden Oldies and Dedicated To You series. The City of Los Angeles proclaimed July 17, 1981 as Art Laboe Day when Art received his star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at the corner of Hollywood and Highland. In November 2003, the Palm Springs Walk of Stars added Art. The National Hispanic Media Coalition gave Art a Lifetime Achievement Award at the 200 Local Impact Awards. And in January 2005, Arto was honored with the Media Arts Award at the Charlie Awards of the Hollywood Arts Council. Art Laboe’s Original Sound Entertainment (OSE) helped George Lucas license the most popular Rock ‘n’ Roll songs for American Graffiti, one of the first films to do so.

OSE represents songs by many artists including The Beach Boys, Jerry Lee Lewis, Ritchie Valens, The Stylistics, The Everly Brothers, Little Richard, Johnny Cash, Carl Perkins, The Isley Brothers, Brenton Wood and many more. Since the early 1970s, OSE has put thousands of songs into films, including “Dirty Dancing,” “La Bamba,” “Lethal Weapon,” “Good Morning Vietnam,” “Born On The Fourth Of July,” “Hairspray “, and “Almost.” famous”. And in TV shows like “The Wonder Years”, “Beverly Hills 90210″, “Ally McBeal”, “The Simpsons” and “American Dreams” to name a few! After 2 years on Sunset Boulevard, Art Laboe gave up half of his fortune to help Hollywood recover.

Laboe sold nearly an acre of his Sunset property, which now houses the Will and Ariel Durant Branch Library. Art continues to maintain his business offices on Sunset east of the library. Art Laboe is currently heard on radio in the southwestern United States. Art Laboe hosts the Love Zone here on Old School 10 .7 Monday through Thursday from 9am-12pm! The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland also has a permanent exhibit of art. When it comes to Rock ‘n’ Roll, Art Laboe has been full of stuff…from Elvis Zappan to AM radio to the Internet…and he’s still going strong!