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Battle Records (record label)

record label active in the 1950s and 1960s

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General referenceInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionSep 18, 2026
Entity authorityQ4870097 ↗
Source-derived summary

Battle Records was an American independent record label, founded as J.V.B. Records in Detroit, Michigan, United States, by the record shop owner Joe Von Battle in 1948. The label specialized in gospel music, jazz and rhythm and blues.

In 1962, the J.V.B. label was replaced by the Battle label which was taken over by Bill Grauer Productions, which also owned Riverside Records.

Among the artists who recorded for J.V.B./Battle were Rev. C. L. Franklin, his daughter Aretha Franklin, John Lee Hooker, Memphis Slim, Willie Dixon and Mongo Santamaria, who recorded the label's biggest hit, "Watermelon Man".

The label operated into 1966.

Discography

6101 - John's Vision of a New Heaven - Rev. C.L. Franklin [1962] Reissue of J.V.B. 101.

6102 - Except I Shall See in His Hands the Print of the Nails - Rev. C.L. Franklin [1962]

6103 - All Things Work Together for the Good to Them That Love God - Rev.

Editorial summary

Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Battle Records (record label)” is record label active in the 1950s and 1960s. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Battle, Records and label, not as a finished interpretation.

Editorial reviewA concise reference frame for defining the subject, testing terminology and identifying the institution closest to the evidence. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1948, 1962, 1966—that can be checked directly. The linked authority record independently contributes the date 1948. For this dossier, Battle, Records and label is the immediate research focus.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

The phrase “record label active in the 1950s and 1960s” supplies a clear boundary for inquiry. It also exposes the unanswered questions: who defined that boundary, when it became stable and which sources sit outside it.

Evidence profile

The citation trail is more important than the brevity of the summary: it shows where individual claims can be examined in context. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 18, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q4870097. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1948, 1962 and 1966.

Critical limits

A concise general-reference account can conceal disagreements about scope, terminology or the weight assigned to individual sources. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.

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  • Search vocabulary
  • Locating named sources
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  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “Battle Records (record label)”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Battle Records (record label) primary sources, Battle Records (record label) archive and Battle research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from “Battle Records (record label)” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.