The former site of a groundbreaking Cleveland recording studio could be headed toward landmark status.
The Boddie Recording Company was the city鈥檚 first Black-owned studio, operating from the 1950s through the 1990s. The Landmarks Commission to approve landmark status for the company's former headquarters, a house at 12202 Union Avenue in the Mt. Pleasant neighborhood.
Boddie recorded rock, gospel, soul and R&B acts, including the O'Jays at Leo鈥檚 Casino. Cleveland Planning Director Joyce Pan Huang said many aspiring musicians felt 鈥渢he road to stardom went through Cleveland鈥� and would patronize Boddie due to the company鈥檚 low recording rates and in-house pressing plant.
Co-founder Thomas Boddie鈥檚 first paying recording job was in 1959 at Severance Hall, when tenor Jan Peerce was a guest of the Jewish Singing Society. A 2011 brought national recognition to the long-dormant company. It also figures heavily in Numero鈥檚 2022 book, 鈥�Soul Music of Ohio.鈥�
passed away in 2006. The company was the focus of 海角破解版's "Applause" in 2013. He and his wife, Louise, were recognized with a . The now goes to Cleveland City Council for approval.
Pressing history
The Boddies created sublabels for different genres of recordings. Plaid Records covered jazz and ran from 1958-59 before being resurrected in 1970. Bounty (gospel) and Luau (Latin) Records started in 1965. Soul Kitchen (blues) followed from 1967-73. Other recordings were released on Cookin Records and Caribi Records. The disks were pressed in a former dairy farm building behind the house on Union Avenue. Each one took four minutes of heat and compression to physically press. Boddie ceased pressing vinyl around 1987.
