Solar (an acronym of Sounds Of Los Angeles Records) was founded in 1977 by Dick Griffey a few years after creating and then shutting down the Soul Train Recording Co. label (1975 to 1977) with "Soul Train" television show host and creator Don Cornelius. After the success of a few singles on the Soul Train imprint, Griffey & Cornelius decided (amicably) to shut down the Soul Train label as Cornelius wanted to focus his energies on the TV show, which was a monster hit and required his attention to keep it so.

Legalities taken care of, Soul Train Records closed and Griffey reorganized the company and founded the Solar label in late 1977, which quickly became one of the most important Disco/Soul/Dance imprints of the late seventies to mid-eighties, and even spawned a subsidiary label Constellation Records, which had some success spinning off its parent's successes.

Griffey and Cornelius remained good friends, and as a result, Solar maintained close ties to the "Soul Train" show. Not surprisingly, "Soul Train" favourite Shalamar had one of their first (and one of the label's first) hits, "Uptown Festival", as a result of appearing on "Soul Train" and thus being introduced to Griffey. Shalamar were, in fact, Solar's best selling and most influential act - scoring nearly 20 hit singles and classics such as: "Right in the Socket", "Make that Move", "A Night to Remember" and "Dead Giveaway".

The Solar success story was by no means confined to one act, several other artists enjoyed success, including: Dynasty, Klymaxx, Whispers, The, Lakeside, Midnight Star, Carrie Lucas, and Deele, The, the last of which gave L.A. Reid & Babyface (LaFace Records) their start. Griffey has always believed in giving new talents the opportunity to create and develop their craft. He was the first to recognize songwriters/producers Jimmy Jam & Terry Lewis (Time, The, Flyte Tyme Productions), Reggie Calloway and Vincent Calloway, Leon Sylvers and the aforementioned Antonio 'L.A.' Reid, and Kenneth 'Babyface' Edmonds, to name a few. The Solar sound was a collective effort, with artists working on each other's sessions and artists encouraged to be creative. Leon Sylvers was the producer behind the trademark Solar sound: funky, progressive dance music infused with soul and disco.

The late eighties saw Solar's fortunes decline: the reasons for which are many, but include A & R problems with Shalamar (primarily maintaining the group's identity while members Howard Hewett and Jody Watley were having successful solo careers of their own, on other labels) and the shifting musical directions of R&B, dance and popular music in general in the late eighties and early nineties.