Reservoir Media, Inc—an award-winning independent music company—struck a deal with country supergroup Alabama for the group’s interest in its recorded music rights catalog. The prolific country trio is among the best-selling bands of all time and is the most awarded band in the history of country music with over 200 honors from the entertainment industry’s top organizations. Alabama also set and holds an incredible streak of 21 straight No.1’s—a record they have held for over 30 years.
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Originally formed as Wildcountry in 1969, cousins Randy Owen, Teddy Gentry, and Jeff Cook began their music career in Payne, Alabama. After changing its name to Alabama in 1977, the band released their first two singles, which helped earn them a record deal with RCA Nashville. Over the course of the next two decades, the band distilled a signature sound through a dynamic blend of country music, southern rock, and elements of bluegrass, folk, gospel, and pop. Pioneering this sonic frontier led to enormous success for Alabama.
During the 1980s, Alabama landed seven multi-platinum albums and over 27 No.1 hits, including “Love in the First Degree” (1981), “Mountain Music” (1982), “Dixieland Delight” (1983), “If You’re Gonna Play in Texas (You Gotta Have a Fiddle in the Band)” (1984), and “Song of the South” (1988). To date, the group has sold over 75 million albums and count 11 No.1 Billboard Country albums and 33 No.1 Billboard Country singles to their name.
Reservoir EVP of Creative, John Ozier said, “Alabama is hands down the most successful band in Country music history. The records they have broken will likely never be replicated in any genre of music and it is a true honor to welcome their works to our Reservoir family.”
Reservoir Founder and CEO Golnar Khosrowshahi added, “Bringing the music of a legendary group like Alabama to Reservoir is an affirmation of our strategy to continue building on our recorded music catalog, and to do so with such undeniably classic songs is incredibly meaningful to us.”
Alabama’s prodigious music contributions have been recognized with inductions into the Country Music Hall of Fame and the Musicians Hall of Fame, and honors including three Grammy Awards, RIAA’s Country Group of the Century, and a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, among countless others. The band continues to produce records and tours worldwide today.
