Devora Brown was trying to break into the songwriting business since the early 40s. Born in Cleveland, Ohio, Devora and her husband, Jack, tried their luck pitching her songs in New York’s Tin Pan Alley but no one there was receptive. With the help of notables as Louis Jordan and Lionel Hampton, the Browns landed in Detroit, which was a musical Mecca at that time, where they decided to found a publishing company that would publish Devora’s songs which were based on R&B. With the help of Devora’s brother, the three of them formed Trianon Publishing.
Janice, Devora and Jack Brown.
Next, Devora and Jack needed to find musicians to record Devora’s songs. They rented studio time at Vogue Records which had state-of-the-art facilities and met up with a bandleader named Artie Fields. Jack walked around the studio looking at the equipment and asking a lot of questions to the engineers about microphones, tape recorders, mixing boards and what not. He did this because Trianon wanted their own studio and if they got one, Jack, an accountant by trade, would be the producer/engineer and he needed as much knowledge as he could get because he had zero experience in the recording business.
With Fields and his 16-piece orchestra, a handful of singers, a few cheap mikes and a Magnacard tape machine, Trianon founded their own label. Fields joked with Devora that her songs would make them a fortune so they decided to call the label Fortune Records. The year was 1947. Their first release, cataloged as Fortune 101, were two of Devora’s songs, "Jane (Sweet As Summer Rain)" b/w "Texas Tess Down Texas Way" sung by Russ Titus and backed by Fields’ orchestra. This single was recorded at United Sound Studio near Wayne State on 2nd Avenue. The record sold well enough that the Browns moved the operation out of their home and into an office on 11629 Linwood.
Jack kept the recording setup simple partly because he didn’t have the expertise or budget to get too creative and partly because he knew from his talks with more experienced engineers that a sparse setup would give the records a more visceral impact. Often only a single microphone or two would be used to capture all the voices and this would go directly to the final tape whether it was mono or stereo. The same with the instruments. Jack would simply monitor the gain and volume levels to make sure nothing was being recorded too low or too hot. By recording with a single mike going directly to the tape (instead of passing through a mixing console which adds noise) the signals were very up close and vibrant—dripping with emotion. What Fortune recordings lacked in pizzazz they made up for with warmth. This was at a time when ultra-slick production values were still a ways off. Fortune’s production values were perfect for that time.
Artie Fields.
For all intents and purposes, Fortune ceased to be a competitive force in the music business after 1966. By that time, slick production values had improved enough that the cruder methods of Fortune simply sounded obsolete.
Fortune became a reissue business more than anything. Today, there a push to reissue the old recordings on CD. I have bought the few that have so far been reissued but more are in the planning.
Very early in its career, Fortune Records is believed by some to have been located briefly in the spot now occupied by the cleaners shop at 11839 12th Street.
Fortune was also believed to have operated from the suite to the right of the bookstore located at 12005 12th Street.
Fortune Records’ final home at 3942 3rd Street where the Browns moved their operation in 1955. Jack and Devora’s son, Sheldon, purchased an Ampex 350 tape machine—much nicer than the Magnacard. The first to record on it was their daughter, Janice, who composed a piece of her own. A mere 18’ x 40’, Fortune Records consisted of a record store in the front that sold the latest national hits as well as carrying Fortune’s latest recordings. Distribution of Fortune Records was limited almost entirely to this store. In the back was the studio and cutting lathe where Fortune did all its recordings. The place had no soundproofing other than egg cartons pasted to the walls by Jack to serve as baffles. The studio was so primitive that it actually had a dirt floor! This photo was taken in 1995, the last year that the business was in operation. The building had changed very little in all those years.