Blue Sky Records was a custom label created by Steve Paul

Steve Paul

Steve Paul is particularly notable as the one-time manager of Johnny Winter, among other related performers, as well as being the owner of Steve Paul's Scene and the founder of Blue Sky Records.-History:...

 for Columbia Records

Columbia Records

Columbia Records is an American record label, owned by Japan's Sony Music Entertainment, operating under the Columbia Music Group with Aware Records. It was founded in 1888, evolving from an earlier enterprise, the American Graphophone Company — successor to the Volta Graphophone Company...

, featuring acts managed by Steve Paul, primarily Johnny Winter

Johnny Winter

John Dawson "Johnny" Winter III is an American blues guitarist, singer, and producer. Best known for his late 1960s and 1970s high-energy blues-rock albums and live performances, Winter also produced three Grammy Award-winning albums for blues legend Muddy Waters...

, Edgar Winter

Edgar Winter

Edgar Holland Winter is an American musician. He is famous for being a multi-instrumentalist. He is a highly skilled keyboardist, saxophonist and percussionist. He often plays an instrument while singing. He was most successful in the 1970s with his band, The Edgar Winter Group, notably with their...

, Rick Derringer

Rick Derringer

Rick Derringer is an American guitarist, vocalist, and entertainer.-1960s:When he was seventeen years old, his band The McCoys recorded "Hang on Sloopy" in the summer of 1965, which became the number one song in America before "Yesterday" by The Beatles knocked it out of the top spot. The song was...

, David Johansen

David Johansen

David Roger Johansen is an American rock, protopunk, blues, and pop singer, as well as a songwriter and actor. He is best known as a member of the seminal protopunk band The New York Dolls and also achieved commercial success under the pseudonym Buster Poindexter.-Early life:Johansen was born in...

 and Muddy Waters

Muddy Waters

McKinley Morganfield , known as Muddy Waters, was an American blues musician, generally considered the "father of modern Chicago blues"...

.

History

Blue Sky Records was started by Steve Paul in 1973. The executive vice president of the specialty label, promoted and distributed by Columbia Records, was Rick Dobbis. Dobbis later became the president of Sony Music International and senior vice-president at Arista Records

Arista Records

Arista was an American record label. It was a wholly owned subsidiary of Sony Music Entertainment and operated under the RCA Music Group. The label was founded in 1974 by Clive Davis, who formerly worked for CBS Records...

. Through the production activities of Johnny Winter, the label was instrumental in reviving the career of Muddy Waters. In 1983, when Winter departed from the label, the label largely ceased operations & was folded into Columbia.

Principal Blue Sky Records Releases

• 1973 Rick Derringer, All American Boy
  All American Boy (album)
  All American Boy is an album by Rick Derringer, released on Blue Sky Records in 1973. "Joy Ride" and "Time Warp" are instrumentals.- Track listing :...
  
  
• 1975 Rick Derringer, Spring Fever
• 1975 Edgar Winter, The Edgar Winter Group With Rick Derringer
• 1976 Johnny Winter, Captured Live!
  Captured Live!
  - Track listing :# "Bony Moronie" - 6:49# "Roll With Me" - 4:48# "Rock & Roll People" - 5:37# "It's All Over Now" - 5:48# "Highway 61 Revisited" - 10:38...
  
  
• 1976 Johnny Winter and Edgar Winter, Together: Edgar Winter and Johnny Winter Live
  Together: Edgar Winter and Johnny Winter Live
  Together: Edgar Winter and Johnny Winter Live is a 1976 album by brothers Johnny Winter and Edgar Winter.-Track listing:#"Harlem Shuffle"#"Soul Man"#"You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin'"...
  
  
• 1977 Muddy Waters, Hard Again
  Hard Again
  Hard Again is a 1977 Chicago-style electric blues album by Muddy Waters. It was recorded by its producer, Johnny Winter, in a rough, bare-bones style...
  
  
• 1977 Edgar Winter, Edgar Winter's White Trash - Recycled
• 1977 Johnny Winter, Nothin' But the Blues
  Nothin' But the Blues (Johnny Winter)
  Nothin' But the Blues is a 1977 album by Johnny Winter. The album has the following dedication: "I'd like to dedicate this album to all the people who enjoy my kind of blues and especially to Muddy Waters for giving me the inspiration to do it and for giving the world a lifetime of great blues." -...
  
  
• 1978 Muddy Waters, I'm Ready
  I'm Ready (Muddy Waters album)
  I'm Ready is a 1978 album by Chicago blues veteran Muddy Waters. The second of Waters' Johnny Winter-produced albums for the Blue Sky Records label, I'm Ready was issued one year after he found renewed commercial and critical success with Hard Again. The album earned Waters a Grammy Award in 1978...
  
  
• 1978 Johnny Winter, White, Hot and Blue
  White, Hot and Blue
  - Track listing :#"Walking by Myself"#"Slidin' In"#"Divin' Duck Blues"#"One Step at a Time"#"Nickel Blues"#"E.Z. Rider"#"Last Night"#"Messin' with the Kid"#"Honest I Do"- Personnel :*Johnny Winter - Guitar, Harmonica, Vocals...
  
  
• 1978 David Johansen, David Johansen
  David Johansen (album)
  David Johansen is a 1978 album by the rock musician David Johansen and his first solo album following his tenure as lead singer of the New York Dolls. The album was released on Blue Sky Records, a sub-label of Columbia Records that was associated with Johnny and Edgar Winter...
  
  
• 1979 Muddy Waters, Muddy "Mississippi" Waters - Live
  Muddy "Mississippi" Waters - Live
  Muddy "Mississippi" Waters - Live is a live album by Muddy Waters. The recording was awarded the Grammy for Best Ethnic or Traditional Folk Recording in 1979.-Track listing:All tracks composed by McKinley Morganfield; except where indicated...
  
  
• 1979 David Johansen, In Style
• 1979 Edgar Winter, The Edgar Winter Album
• 1980 Johnny Winter, Raisin' Cain
• 1981 Muddy Waters, King Bee
  King Bee (album)
  King Bee is the final release by blues singer and guitarist Muddy Waters. Released in 1981, it is third in a series of records done for the label Blue Sky Records under producer/guitarist Johnny Winter. Recorded in three days some of the band members, namely Winters and guitarist Bob Margolin,...
  
  
• 1981 David Johansen, Here Comes The Night
  Here Comes the Night (David Johansen album)
  Here Comes the Night is the third solo album for New York Dolls lead singer David Johansen. Released in 1981, Blondie Chaplin serves as the producer for the album...
  
  
• 1982 David Johansen, Live It Up
  Live It Up (David Johansen album)
  Live It Up, released in 1982, was the first live album released by David Johansen as a solo artist. However, by the time Live It Up was released, various bootlegs of Johansen's first band, the New York Dolls, were being heavily traded...