Music / Business & brands
Joe Von Battle
1915–1973 · record store owner, record producer
Owner of Joe's Record Shop on Hastings Street and one of the first Black independent record producers, who first recorded Rev. C. L. Franklin and the teenage Aretha Franklin.
- Born
Macon, Georgia- Died
Detroit, Michigan
aged 57- Birth name
- Joseph Battle
- Also known as
- Joe Battle
- Detroit years
- 1930s–1973
- Field
- Music, Business & brands
01 / The Detroit story
The Detroit story
Joseph Battle came to Detroit from Georgia in the 1930s, worked in utilities and the auto plants and lived with his family in the Brewster housing project near Hastings Street. In 1945 he took over a general store at 3530 Hastings and began selling records from his own collection; by 1948 he had a back-room studio and his own JVB label, later joined by Battle and Von. He recorded whoever came through the door: John Lee Hooker, Baby Boy Warren, Washboard Willie, Little Sonny, Eddie Burns, One String Sam, a young Kenny Burrell and gospel singers. He released some 75 records of sermons by Rev. C. L. Franklin of New Bethel Baptist Church and, in 1957, made the first recording of Franklin's 14-year-old daughter Aretha. When Hastings Street was demolished for the Chrysler Freeway in 1960, he moved the shop to 12th Street, where it was largely destroyed during the 1967 uprising. He died in Detroit in 1973.
Highlights
- Opened Joe's Record Shop at 3530 Hastings Street in 1945
- Founded the JVB label in 1948, later also Battle and Von
- Released some 75 records of C. L. Franklin sermons
- First to record Aretha Franklin, aged 14, in 1957
- Hosted his own radio show on CKLW, Windsor
02 / Their Detroit places
Their Detroit places 4
Where they lived, worked, performed and liked to hang out. Closed and demolished places stay here too, because they are part of the city's history.
Founded · 1945–1960
Joe's Record Shop (Hastings Street)
Demolished · 1945–1960
His Hastings Street shop, back-room studio and a gathering place for Black Bottom musicians; demolished in 1960 for the Chrysler Freeway.
Founded · 1960–1967
Joe's Record Shop (12th Street)
Demolished · 1960–1967
The shop's second home on the West Side, largely destroyed with its stock during the 1967 uprising.
Lived here · 1940s
Brewster-Douglass Housing Projects
Demolished · 1935–2014
The public housing project near Hastings Street where Battle lived with his family; the towers were demolished in 2013–2014.
Recorded here · 1950s
New Bethel Baptist Church
Rev. C. L. Franklin's church, whose sermons Battle recorded and released on dozens of records.