Archie Bleyer - Cadence Records

Cadence Records

While LaRosa was unable to sustain his early successes, later Cadence artists included Andy Williams and the label's biggest act of all, The Everly Brothers whose hits such as "Bye Bye Love" and "Wake Up Little Susie" were produced by Bleyer in Nashville with country studio musicians led by Chet Atkins. Bleyer circa 1963 was also the step father-in-law of Phil Everly. He had his own instrumental recording hits on the Cadence label as well. Don Shirley, who appeared on the label in 1955 with "Tonal Expressions". It became a Top 15 album in the spring of that year, reportedly selling more than 20,000 copies, a respectable debut for a jazz artist. Ironically, it was the only chart album Shirley was to enjoy, but his sales remained steady enough that he was with the label until it closed in 1964, cutting around a dozen long-play releases Don Shirley Discography.

Bleyer also had his limits to his tolerance for rock and roll. While he clearly, and correctly, viewed the Everlys as a commercially appealing, clean-cut act whose country-influenced harmonies could reach a vast following, he was not so tolerant of pioneer garage-rock guitarist Link Wray. In 1957, Bleyer reluctantly agreed to release his no-frills, roaring instrumental "Rumble" on Cadence in part due to his daughter's fascination with the song. Wray had a contract with Cadence, but in 1958 after he submitted a newly recorded album of similarly raw material recorded in Nashville, Bleyer was convinced the instrumental music was morally and musically inappropriate and shelved the album and canceled Wray's contract. The material wouldn't see the light of day for decades until it was acquired by the British Rollercoaster label.

Cadence had another major hit in 1962 with comic Vaughn Meader's album The First Family, which featured Meader's comedic sketches and his peerless impersonations of President John F. Kennedy. The album was an enormous seller, as was a followup, until Kennedy was assassinated in 1963.

Cadence always maintained a small roster of artists. Other Cadence hits included 14 chart hits by Johnny Tillotson, 10 by The Chordettes, 4 by Lenny Welch, 2 by Don Shirley.

In 1964, Bleyer, who was unable to accept the changing pop music market at the dawn of the British Invasion era, sold the Cadence label and all its recordings (except for certain material—like the Link Wray album—he kept to himself) to Andy Williams who formed Barnaby Records to manage the Cadence catalog.

He moved with his wife Janet to her hometown of Sheboygan, Wisconsin where he died of the effects of Parkinson's disease in 1989.

Bleyer was a free-mason, member of St. Cecile Lodge No. 568, New York City.