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Clark Galehouse

Golden Crest Records was headed by Cold Spring Harbor resident Clark Galehouse at manufacturing premises in Huntington Station from 1956 until his death in 1983. Galehouse saw the independent record business grow from a cottage industry to a powerhouse on the back of rock ‘n’ roll music. He participated in this growth through his Shelley Products pressing plant, servicing many national labels. Through Golden Crest and other labels, he released a wide range of music from rock ‘n’ roll and rhythm & blues to the classics. Galehouse also recorded many college bands throughout the country. As a musician, plastics expert, recording engineer and educator he put his talents to full use in the Shelley Products and Golden Crest businesses. In 1953, Galehouse formed Crest Records in honor of his Creston, Iowa, hometown mainly as a vehicle for western singer Arizona Cliff Martin (5). Golden Crest was introduced in late 1956, just as rock ‘n’ roll was establishing itself through Bill Haley and Elvis Presley. However, the early releases were mostly dated pop reflecting Galehouse’s formative years in music. Over a nearly 30-year time span, Golden Crest released more than 500 commercial albums (plus many custom releases for colleges and schools) and some 200 45 rpm singles. Galehouse formed a music publishing company, CFG Pub. Co. (his initials). This enabled him to publish much of the original material that was presented for recording, thereby providing a secondary income stream. Although the pressing plant was Galehouse’s cash cow, he loved producing and engineering sessions and would make regular field trips to record college and high school bands for custom release on the associated Crest Records and Silver Crest labels. In May 1959, Clark Galehouse launched teen label Shelley, named after the principal Shelley Products business, by now a large independent pressing plant, and in turn Galehouse’s daughter. By 1965, Golden Crest was primarily an album label. According to Shelley Galehouse Broven, her father was “known and appreciated for letting artists do what they wanted, unlike many producers or label owners.” Throughout the '70s and early '80s, Clark Galehouse was still traveling around the United States recording college bands at conventions. But after a second attack, he died on the road in Jacksonville, Florida, on January 3, 1983, at the age of 71. An obituary in the Oyster Bay Guardian described him as “a pioneer in the field of recording and record manufacture.” Golden Crest Records lasted one more year, and Shelley Products was ended in 1985.

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