Griffey Passes

DICK GRIFFEY, 71, founder of the Solar Records label, died on Sept. 24 in L.A. after complications from a quadruple bypass surgery. Solar stood for Sound of Los Angeles Records, and was launched by Griffey in 1977 as a spinoff from Soul Train Records, the label he started with the show’s host Don Cornelius. Among the artists he signed were Shalamar, the Whispers, Lakeside, Dynasty, Klymaxx, Midnight Star and the Deele, which featured L.A. Reid and Kenneth “Babyface” Edmonds. Said Quincy Jones: “Dick Griffey’s fingerprints were on some of the biggest hits of the ‘80s.” The Tennessee-born exec is survived by his wife, Carrie Lucas, a singer whom he married in 1974; another daughter, Carolyn Griffey; two sons, Lucas and Che; five grandchildren, and Haile Williams, whom he took in as a teenager and raised as his son. His first marriage ended in divorce. (10/4p)