The Pennsylvania Treasury Department returned the records to the family of Jimmy Bishop Sr. Wednesday morning.
Bishop was a groundbreaking DJ in the 1960s at Philadelphia's WDAS Radio. He was also influential in the music industry, helping many big acts with their first hit records, including The Jackson 5, The Temptations, The Supremes, The Marvelettes, Stevie Wonder, and others.The framed gold records were recovered in January 1986 from a pawn shop as part of a police investigation into a burglary ring that hit locations in both Philadelphia and Abington, the Pennsylvania Treasury Department said.
Officials said after the Abington Township Police Department didn't need them as evidence, they reported the gold records to the Treasury as unclaimed property.“I’m thrilled and honored to be returning these gold records, which are truly invaluable pieces of Philadelphia’s music history, to the Bishop family,” Treasurer Stacy Garrity said. “It’s even more meaningful to return them at WDAS, a truly legendary radio station where Jimmy Bishop Sr. was on the air for so many years.
During a ceremony at iHeartMedia studios, Garrity presented the gold records to Jimmy Sr.’s wife, Louise Williams Bishop, a prominent Philadelphia radio personality known as the Gospel Queen, his children Jimmy Jr., Tamika and Tabb, and his grandson, James III.