Samuel Zimelman served as cantor of the Hochschule Synagogue in Lomazy, Poland before he and his family fled from Nazi Germany to Canada around 1938. The family, including five sons, moved to Maine in 1946 where Zimelman worked as a cantor at Shaarey Tphiloh in Portland.

A musical family, all five Zimelman sons—Milton, Ralph, Rabbi Sidney, Cantor Sol, and Cantor Paul— joined Samuel on the album, A Family Rejoices. Duo Sol and Paul performed as the Zimel Brothers, producing several albums including The Zimel Brothers sing Chassidic Melodies. Cantor Sol Zim—using a further shortened version of Zimelman—teaches and records in New York, with 23 recordings of Yiddish, Israeli, Chassidic, Broadway, Opera, and Pop Music as of 2024.

Alan B. Jacobs ran Tikva Records, a label specializing in Jewish American recordings in Manhattan, New York from the 1940s to the 1970s.