LHI Label was started by Lee Hazlewood, who began his musical career in Phoenix, Arizona, as a producer. He got his first hit in 1956 with "The Fool," a song which he wrote and gave to Sanford Clark. Dot licensed the track and it reached the top ten. In the late '50s Hazlewood made a series of instrumental records with Duane Eddy for the Jamie label, many of them becoming hits. Jamie, a Philadelphia record company, got intense airplay of the Duane Eddy discs on the Philadelphia-based American Bandstand.

Hazlewood eventually relocated to southern California, where he really built his reputation with a series of hits by Nancy Sinatra on the Reprise label, starting with his production of "These Boots Are Made For Walkin'," on which Duane Eddy played the growling bass line. He also produced Frank & Nancy Sinatra's mega hit "Something Stupid." The success with Sinatra led to the establishment of his own label, LHI, located at 9000 Sunset in Los Angeles. LHI stands for Lee Hazlewood Industries. Initially the label was distributed by Decca, but switched to ABC after three issues.

The greatest claim to fame for the LHI label was releasing the album Safe at Home by the International Submarine Band. The album did not sell well, but was a landmark country rock album. Gram Parsons, later of the Byrds and Flying Burrito Brothers, was the leader of the International Submarine Band and wrote four of the songs on the album. For trivia buffs, the name International Submarine Band was taken from a Little Rascals film made in the 1930s.

The LHI label numbering system is somewhat incomprehensible. There appears to be a 12000 series that was distributed by Decca in 1967 with three releases. Then there was a 12000 series in 1968 that was distributed by ABC, although by the time 12003 was released there was no mention of distributorship.

The LHI label on the Decca series is creme colored with black printing. Around the perimeter of the label is a rainbow colored band, to the left of the center hole is the LHI Records logo. At the bottom of the label is "DISTRIBUTED BY DECCA DISTRIBUTING CORPORATION FOR LEE HAZLEWOOD INDUSTRIES, INCORPORATED".

The LHI label on the ABC series is the same as the above but at the bottom of the label is "A PRODUCT OF LEE HAZLEWOOD INDUSTRIES, INC DIST. BY ABC RECORDS, INC. N.Y.C. 10019 MADE IN USA".

The next label was red/orange with black printing, the LHI Records logo is in white to the left of the center hole, this label appears on 12003 and above. At the bottom of the label is "A PRODUCT OF LEE HAZLEWOOD INDUSTRIES, INC."

Lee Hazlewood died in August, 2007.

We would appreciate any additions or corrections to this discography. Just send them to us via e-mail. Both Sides Now Publications is an information web page. We are not a catalog, nor can we provide the records listed below. We have no association with LHI Records. Should you be interested in acquiring albums listed in this discography (all of which are out of print), we suggest you see our Frequently Asked Questions page and follow the instructions found there. This story and discography are copyright 2002, 2007 by Mike Callahan.