IN HR0035

Vivian Carter was born March 25, 1921, in Tunica, Mississippi, and moved to Gary as a child where she met her future husband James C. Bracken in 1944.

Carter won a 1948 talent contest for radio deejays conducted by Al Benson in Chicago and worked as a deejay at WGES in Chicago and WJOB in Hammond before co-founding Vivian's Record Shop in Gary.

Vivian Carter and James C. Bracken founded Vee-Jay Records in 1953 after three years of saving money, which became a major independent record label with their first song reaching the top ten on national rhythm and blues charts.

Vee-Jay Records achieved significant success with rock and roll and jazz acts, notably the Four Seasons and the Beatles, before disbanding in 1966, while Carter remained active in radio into the 1980s.

The Indiana House of Representatives recognizes Vee-Jay Records and Vivian Carter's contributions to blues, rhythm and blues, doo-wop, jazz, soul, pop, and rock and roll music.