Fast Fact
- — January 1, 2011
Did you know Tacoma’s Wailers created their own record label?
It’s true! “Rockin’ Robin” Roberts, Kent Morrill and John “Buck” Ormsby founded Etiquette Records, based in Tacoma, in 1961. They issued a grand total of twenty-six 45s and eight LPs between 1961 and 1967. Their first LP, At the Castle, became an instant local best seller, aimed, in part, at the legions of tourists that were about to descend on Seattle for the World’s Fair. The liner notes were essentially a pitch for young people to attend dances at the Spanish Castle on Old Highway 99 where the Wailers and other groups played. •
Illustration by Regina Volpi Baerwalde for City Arts.
