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Welcome Discerning Music Fans!

To the World Wide Web home of Banana Records. Banana released its first record in 1982 - long before the debut of that entity known as the internet - but here we are!

Banana Records traces its history in Cleveland to as far back as 1973, when it emerged as a concept in the heads of a few music heads plying the scene in those long ago times. Please feel free to explore these pages. You'll find a concise history of Banana on the about page, you can explore the Banana stable of artists, and purchase their material. You can also check out Mab Zab Music publishing, which continues to be operational and can handle your music publishing needs. (Protect that intellectual property, folks!) And of course, there is the Banana Store, where you can buy select titles from archived and current Banana artists.

Thanks for visiting, and send us email with any questions/additions/subtractions.

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What's New at Banana Records:

New Releases by Two Banana Records Legacy Artists!
Les Vincent Joins Jinni Fontana with the Second Banana Release of 2025

Oh, Cleveland! Jinni Fontana

Short Introductions to Circular Dreams Les Vincent

New Album from Les Vicent

Another Winner from Banana’s Best Boston Bopper

Les Vincent’s sophomore effort builds on the success of 2023’s “Black & White” debut.  The new 9-song album is titled “Short Introductions to Circular Dreams”, and features eight original compositions and one cover.  Les shares song-writing duties with his wife, Liz, on one song, and his daughter, Ali, on the other.  The latter song, “Lemonade”, is a heart-warming tune sung as a father/daughter duet.

Les continues to impress with his mix of introspective mood benders, and outright rockers.  He produced this entire collection in his adopted hometown of Boston, but you can’t take the Cleveland (or Banana Records) out of this boy.

The album is available on all streaming services, and will be available soon in compact disc format for $12 (including shipping & handling).  We're waiting for the hard CDs to arrive, but you can pre-order today.

HOW TO ORDER:

Banana Records isn't Amazon! We don't have a fancy E-commerce platform like Amazon, and we don't do secure financial transactions through the site. For your safety, we only accept payments through PayPal, Venmo, or by check or money order. Here are the three ways:

1. If you have a paypal account, visit this link: http://www.paypal.me/BananaRecords. Click the "Send" button. Sent $12 to Banana Records, and include your name and address in the "What's This For" box. You're done!

2. We accept Venmo for all titles. Direct payment to @bananarecords. Also send an email to jim@bananarecords.net  with your name and shipping address.

3. If you don't have either of these online payment accounts, you can send a check payable to Banana Records to Jim Butterfield, 3916 West 158th Street, Cleveland, Ohio 44111.

PLEASE NOTE: IF you are outside the United States, there is an increased shipping fee. International fans should send an email to jim@bananarecords.net for more details.

Banana Records Artist Jinni Fontana
Releases "Oh, Cleveland!"

This is big news: Jinni Fontana, Banana's best-selling artist of all time, is back with a 7-song EP of new CLE-centric originals, "Oh, Cleveland!" You can read about it in the Cool Cleveland newsletter here. Meanwhile, here's the official Banana Release:

Native Clevelander Jinni Fontana (her REAL name, even though it seems like a dream stage name for a female rock and roller!) first made a name in music as a member of the quirky new wave Cleveland band The Rubburheads, with whom she wrote, sang, played keyboards and percussion, in the heady days of Cleveland’s original club music scene. During this time Fontana had the opportunity to meet and collaborate with a number of Cleveland’s leading musicians like her favorite bass player Stutz Bearcat (The Generators, Armstrong/Bearcat Band).

Riding on the momentum of her Cleveland experience, Fontana headed to Los Angeles, where she wrote and released her first album, “The Game of Love,” produced by Gary Mraz for the fledgling Cleveland label Banana Records. The album was very successful—Billboard magazine proclaimed her to be a “strong vocalist with a penchant for writing unusual but still commercial dance tracks.” The title track was an unexpected hit, especially in Europe, where it became (and remains) a fixture in dance clubs.

After living in various western locations, Fontana returned to Cleveland from Reno, Nevada in 2018. She hooked up with Cleveland’s beloved punk/glam band Vanity Crash (under the pseudonym Virginia Plain Crash) from 2019 until 2023, playing percussion and providing backing vocals. While enjoying the gig, she found herself increasingly interested in rekindling her passion for writing and recording her own material. During her time in Reno, Nevada, she hooked up with Stutz Bearcat again, where they spent a week of twelve-hour days laying down demo tracks. After concluding her run with Vanity Crash, Fontana refined the tracks that eventually became “Oh, Cleveland!”: a seven-song EP of “unusual” but catchy pop songs that echo her experiences growing up in Cleveland.

“It was a bout with homesickness that fueled my writing,” Jinni recalls. “I was lucky to have some very interesting experiences living in different places, but I never forgot my roots in Cleveland.”

Not only did Fontana return to her hometown, but she also returned to Banana Records, the Cleveland-based label that had issued her highly successful debut album, as an homage to her roots. She collaborated with Banana CEO Jim Butterfield and Handsome Productions studio head Paul Nickels to finish up the tracks that comprise “Oh, Cleveland!”

“I’ve always felt that Cleveland had a sound, a feel, and a rich history of music that’s unique,” she commented. “My true love is writing songs that bubble up the subconscious mind and meld with the real world. And many songs tend to be inspired by my life in Cleveland.”

“It’s been a real pleasure having Jinni back in the Banana fold and I can’t say enough about the quality of these new songs,” said Butterfield, who lent some guitar tracks to the project. “Now that she’s got ‘Oh, Cleveland!’ under her belt, I anticipate even more great music to come.”

“Oh, Cleveland!” is available on most streaming services, including Apple Music, Spotify, YouTube and Pandora, and is available for purchase on CD (see above).

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Banana Records T-Shirts Now Available!
Available in Black or White (Other Colors by Special Order)

Banana Records Logo T-Shirts are now available!!!  We have contracted with a local Cleveland apparel company to bring you the official Banana Records T-Shirts, featuring our iconic logo, with the birthplace city “Cleveland, Ohio” attached.

People have been asking us for years to come out with a line of Banana merch, and this is the first installment.  Available in sizes M – 2XL in either black or white, these shirts are of the highest quality and are 100% cotton.  They're from the "Comfort Colors" line of shirts, crafted from 100% ring spun cotton, and they're pigment-dyed, which redefines comfort and style.  Other colors and sizes are also available for a small additional fee.  The stock sizes/colors are available for $35.00 plus $7.00 shipping and handling to USA addresses. Send an email to jim@bananarecords.net and we'll work out details of your order.

Be the first kid on your block to own this ultra cool shirt! More merchandise will be introduced during 2025.