RoFran Records [Urbana]

RoFran Enterprises was a studio and label owned and operated by Roger Francisco from 1965 to 1973. Francisco was born in Decatur and grew up in Springfield, Illinois.   He was a musician and audio engineer who had spent some time in Nashville before returning to central Illinois.  Around 1965, Francisco opened a studio in his basement at 5 Rainbow Court in Urbana where he produced radio and television commercials as well as music by local groups. Initial singles were released on the RoFran label.  Later “A Custom Product of RoFran Enterprises” or simply Custom was used on the label.   In 1967, RoFran expanded its operation and moved into a new office space at 115 West Main Street in downtown Urbana. By 1970 the studio had moved to 117 W. Washington in Urbana.  Sometime in 1973, Francisco sold the business to guitarist Al Ierardi who renamed it the Tape Factory. For more details as well as the studio session log see our RoFran Enterprises post.

CAT #	ARTIST	TITLE	DATE
P-1001	The Intruders	Deception / Intrudin'	1965
P-1002	The Rogues	Gone To Stay / Wait Till the Summer	1965
P-1003	Lee Rust	Did You Ever Kinda Wonder / Scramble	1965
P-1004	Lee Rust	Mystery House / Come on Back	1965
P-1005	Lee Rust	Try, Try to Leave / I’m Spoken For	1965
P-1006	Lee Rust	She’s Gone Tonight / World Made of Romance	1965
R-1010	The Prodigies aka Sound Studio One	Kysmyph (KIS-MIF) / Don’t Look Back	1966
P-1012	The Impalas	Kristina / Lost Beat	1966
ER-1013	The Prodigies aka Sound Studio One	I Want To Do It / What’d I Say	1966
P-1014	The Quarternotes	My Baby Left Me / You And I (Are In Love)	1966
R-1015	The Prodigies	Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer / Sleigh Ride	1966
P-1018	The Lindsey Triplets	Tomorrow’s Another Day / Terry	1966
P-1019	Al Ierardi	Drifter / Dureen	1967
836R-2005	Sound Studio One	Never Tell / Never Marry (A Woman Who Is Taller Than You)	1968
836R-2006	Cecil Bridgewater Ensemble	Gently / Who Do I Know?	1968

Custom 45s of RoFran Enterprises

CAT #	ARTIST	TITLE	DATE	LABEL
P-1020	The Cliques	So Hard / Ballad of a Destitute Man	1967	Custom
P-1021	The Keepers	Why Have You Changed / Tiny Teardrops	1967	Custom
P-1022	Count Demon and His Four Members	(I Got To) Work With It / C-C Rider	1967	Star
1024	The Dearly Beloved	Cindy	1967	Custom
1026	Puppet, Dingbat & Odie	Trancontinental Balloon Ride / Julie	1967	Psychedelic
1027	The Gaypoppers
1028	The Ravins	Andy / I Had A Feeling	1967	Syndicate
1029	Dan Howie
836R-1030	The Shades of Blue	Not The Way Love Should Be / You Must Believe Me	1967	Shades
1031	Holy Zyrnes	Glory's Comin' / I Love You, Jesus	1967	Custom
1033	Frances C. Busch
1034	The Camaros	I Need You No More / Just For The Love Of A Man	1968	Custom
1035	Howie Thayer and his Psycho-Electric Happening	Movin' Groovin' Fairy Tale / If Death Don't Get You (Then The Government Will)	1968	Psychedelic Sounds
1038	David Weaver
1042	K. Sandra Wyman	Until It's Time For You To Go / Where Does It Lead	1968	Folksound
1044	Howie Thayer and his Psycho-Electric Happening	Bazap! / Side 2	1968	Psychedelic Sounds
1045	Soul Brothers	Twinkle Twinkle / Miss Delores Funk	1968	Soul
836R-4054	Dick Ronk & The Revenuers	Let Me Kill The Bottle, Bartender / It's A Thing Called Love That's Got Me Down	1968	Opossum
1046	Golden Star Singers	Anyway You Bless Me / What A Friend We Have In Jesus		Golden
1047	Linda Fanakos	Candyland Town / Let's Make It Clear	1969	no label
1048	Leroy Knox and the Gaypoppers	The Mistakes I Made / Here I Am	1969	Soul Sounds
35921	Marvin Lee & The Midwesterns	I've Made My Mind Up (To Leave You Today) / Until My Dreams Come True		Century
39479	Ray Austin & The Loners	Garbage Man / Lonely, Lonely Man		Century
39550	Al Ierardi	You're Not The Girl (I'm Looking For But You're The Girl I Found) / That Damn Ol' Hillbilly Tune		Century
40284	Mud Brothers	All The People / She's My Woman		Laugh
40853	Memphis Underground	Make It With You / My Good Thang		Century
	Hazel Wood	Us (U.S.) / Today [Jane Thrasher, vocalist]		Century
40990	Mad John Fever	Breath & Thunder / One World Lost To Another		Century

EPs

CAT #	ARTIST	TITLE	DATE	LABEL
1011	Joe and Mark	Joe and Mark	1966	RoFran
1025	Jim Janis	Sings Four - The Hard Easy Way	1967	no label
2605	The Spoils Of War	S/T	1969	no label
608	James Cuomo	Cuomo's Record	1970	Depot

LPs

Coming Soon

This discography is a work in progress. Last updated on 11/14/23

YouTube playlist: RoFran Records