The One-Derful Collection; Halo Records

The Gospel subsidiary of the One-Derful labels.

"The fourth installment of the One-derful! Collection focuses on Halo, the gospel imprint of this legendary R&B label group. Halo is preceded by the One-derful!, Mar-V-Lus, and M-Pac! compilations and will be followed by releases of the Midas and Toddlin' Town sub-labels. This series marks the first in-depth study of what was once one of Chicago’s most prominent African-American run labels.

Halo Records is available in 2xLP and CD formats, and within the grooves of these 25 tracks lie soulful songs from groups like the Salem Travelers, the Gospel Souls, Lucy Rodgers, and the Redemption Harmonizers, plus 9 tracks that were never issued! Halo's focus and determination was to make gospel music that secular ears could hear and enjoy. They were trying to make R&B gospel, and the main producer behind its aesthetic, Monk Higgins, later took this sound and had great success at Chess Records.

Central to Halo is the Leaner family. In the early 1960s when brothers George and Ernie Leaner added the Halo sub-label to their One-derful! label, they were revered figures on Chicago's Record Row and beyond. They distributed material from labels like Motown and Stax and they attracted top talent. It wasn't uncommon for a WVON DJ to help the Leaners sign their newest discovery, or for their singers, musicians, songwriters, or producers to have Chess or Motown on their resumes.


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