United Sound Systems Recording Studios

In 1939 Italian American violinist and sound engineer James “Jimmy” Siracuse (1903-1988) converted a 1916 house into the new home for United Sound Systems, one of Detroit’s first independent recording studios. He offered recording, transcription and production services for radio programs, record companies, musicians, singers and private citizens, including families who made recordings to send to soldiers during World War II. In 1946 the internationally broadcast Inter-Racial Goodwill Program was recorded there. Artists who created music there in the 1940s and 1950s included John Lee Hooker, Johnnie Ray, Dizzy Gillespie, Jackie Wilson and Alberta Adams. James “Jimmy” Siracuse enlarged the studio to accommodate orchestras and motion picture production in 1956. Marv Johnson’s 1959 song “Come To Me,” recorded there, was the first single for Tamla Records, later Motown Records. African American guitarist, producer and entrepreneur Don Davis (1938-2014) bought the studio in 1972. He worked with new and established artists from all musical genres, but especially soul, disco, funk, and rhythm and blues. Among them was Johnnie Taylor, whose 1976 song “Disco Lady” was the first single certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America. By the mid-2000s, United Sound had closed, and it reopened in 2014.

Detroit, Michigan · United States