Description: Kent Records was a Los Angeles–based record label, launched in 1958 by the Bihari brothers. It was subsidiary of Crown Records Corporation. Kent was a follow-up to Modern Records, which ceased operations in 1958. The label reissued Modern's singles, including recordings by B.B. King. By 1964, Kent had signed acts such as Ike & Tina Turner and released new material. Other acts signed to the label included Z.Z. Hill, Johnny Otis, and Lowell Fulsom. Modern Records was revived in 1964 with successful singles from the Ikettes.
Description: Laff Records was a small American independent record label specializing in mainly African-American comedy and party records founded in 1967 in Los Angeles. Kliph Nesteroff, author of the book The Comedians, wrote that "no other company cranked out as many comedy LPs during the 1970s. While much of its content was undeniably amateurish, it documented a subculture most comedy fans were unaware existed." It is most well known for releasing a series of Richard Pryor albums, mostly without Pryor's participation or approval, which earned the label several Grammy nominations and one win.
Description: Liberty Records was a record label founded in the United States by chairman Simon Waronker in 1955 with Alvin Bennett as president and Theodore Keep as chief engineer. It was reactivated in 2001 in the United Kingdom and had two previous revivals. Liberty's early releases focused on film and orchestral music. Its first single was Lionel Newman's "The Girl Upstairs". Its first big hit, in 1955, was by Julie London singing her version of the torch song, "Cry Me a River", which climbed to No. 9 in the Billboard Hot 100. It helped Liberty sell her first album, Julie Is Her Name.
Description: The Rudolph Wurlitzer Company, usually referred to as simply Wurlitzer, is an American company started in Cincinnati in 1853 by German immigrant (Franz) Rudolph Wurlitzer. The company initially imported stringed, woodwind and brass instruments from Germany for resale in the United States. Wurlitzer enjoyed initial success, largely due to defense contracts to provide musical instruments to the U.S. military. In 1880, the company began manufacturing pianos and eventually relocated to North Tonawanda, New York. It quickly expanded to make band organs, orchestrions, player pianos and pipe or theatre organs popular in theatres during the days of silent movies.
Description: Kicking Mule Records was an American independent record label, founded in Berkeley, California in 1971 by guitarist Stefan Grossman and Eugene "ED" Denson, formerly co-owner of Takoma Records. The company's name comes from the country blues sexual two-timing allegory "there's another mule kicking in your stall". During the 1970s, the company did much to popularize solo fingerpicking guitar, expanding the style with recordings of Scott Joplin rags, Beatles hits, big band tunes, and Turlough Carolan harp tunes. The label also released several similarly-styled banjo records.
Description: Musicraft Records was a record company and label established in 1937 in New York City. Musicraft's catalog encompassed many different musical styles, including classical music, folk, jazz, Latin, popular vocal, and calypso. Artists who recorded for Musicraft include singer Mel Torme, vocalist Sarah Vaughan, vocalist Mindy Carson, Duke Ellington, bebop comic Harry "the Hipster" Gibson, pianist Teddy Wilson, blues pioneer Lead Belly, poet Carl Sandburg, Dizzy Gillespie, Georgie Auld, Artie Shaw, Buddy Greco, Billie Rogers, and others.
Description: MCA Records was an American record label owned by MCA Inc., which later became part of Universal Music Group. MCA Inc., a talent agency and television production company, entered the recorded music business in 1962 with the purchase of the New York–based US Decca Records, including Coral Records and Brunswick Records. MCA was forced to exit the talent agency business in order to complete the merger. As American Decca owned Universal Pictures, MCA assumed full ownership of Universal and made it into a top film studio, producing several hits.
Description: Revue Records was an American subsidiary record label of MCA. Revue was operated by the same management team that ran Universal City (UNI) Records. Revue was created in 1967 to exclusively cater to the R&B market. The label primarily released singles, but from 1968 until its dissolution, albums were released. In 1971, MCA merged Uni Records and other subsidiaries to become MCA Records.
Description: Lucky Eleven Records was a record label started in 1959 in Flint, Michigan by Otis Ellis and Chuck Slaughter. The independent label later became distributed by Philadelphia-based Cameo-Parkway Records which featured the Flint-based pop band Terry Knight and the Pack. The Lucky Eleven and Cameo-Parkway recordings are now owned by ABKCO Records..a re-issue label which includes the re-release of Cameo-Parkway product.
Description: Pendu Sound Recordings was an independent record label used by aTelecine, Chelsea Wolfe, Azar Swan, Mater Suspiria Vision, White Ring, Talibam!, Von Haze, and others. The label, also known as Pendu Sound, was started by Todd Brooks in 2005 for his PENDV projects and went defunct in 2013. The parent company Pendu NYC was known for its "Pendu Disco" dance parties.
Description: Mammoth Records was an independent record label founded in 1989 by Jay Faires in the Carrboro area of Chapel Hill, North Carolina. The majority of the acts on Mammoth were executive-produced by Faires and the label's general manager, Steve Balcom. The label was the first independent to produce two platinum records. Mammoth's roster included Antenna, The Backsliders, Bandit Queen, The Bats, Blake Babies, Chainsaw Kittens, Clarissa. Dash Rip Rock, Dillon Fence, Frente!, Fu Manchu, Fun-Da-Mental, Jason & the Scorchers, Jocelyn Montgomery, Joe Henry, Juliana Hatfield, Kill Creek, Machines of Loving Grace, Mark Lizotte, My Friend Steve, Pure, Seven Mary Three, Squirrel Nut Zippers, The Hope Blister, The Melvins, The Sidewinders.
Description: Mirwood Records was an American record label founded by former Vee-Jay executive Randy Wood in Los Angeles in 1965. The Mirwood label was a sister label to Mira Records. It primarily released rhythm and blues and jazz recordings, and has been described as "among the definitive Northern soul labels". Many of its records were written and produced by Fred Smith and arranged by James Carmichael, who (according to Jason Ankeny at AllMusic) "hone[d] a distinctive style all their own, creating soul music that was both relentlessly energetic and sweetly sophisticated, topped off by trademark vibes that evoked the otherworldly beauty of a Pacific Ocean sunset".
Description: Meritt Records was an American jazz and blues record company and label that existed from 1925 to 1929. It was founded in Kansas City by Winston Holmes, the owner of a music store. Records were made in his studio and sold only in his store. Holmes produced about 20 double-sided acoustically recorded phonograph records in the mid and late 1920s. Most of the sides are of locally based jazz and blues performers, plus some gospel music and sermons.
Description: Oxford Records was a record label active in the United States of America from roughly 1906 until 1916. The label was produced for Sears by several labels, including Columbia and Albany Indestructible Cylinders for cylinders and Leeds & Catlin, Zon-O-Phone, and Columbia for discs. No recording activity was undertaken by Sears. All discs were single-sided.
Description: Mega Records was a Danish record label established in 1983. It was renamed Edel-Mega Records when it was acquired by Edel Music in 2001. Mega's catalogue is now managed by Playground Music Scandinavia, which was spun off from Edel in 2010. Their most internationally successful artist is the Swedish pop group Ace of Base, who have to date sold over 30 million records worldwide. Nicki French also released a single under their label.
Description: Mala Records was a small record label founded as a Bell Records subsidiary in 1959. Beginning in 1967, albums by Mala recording artists were issued on the Bell label instead of Mala Along with Bell, Mala was acquired in the late sixties by Columbia Pictures and merged with the co-owned Amy Records into Bell Records.
Description: Mala Records was a small record label founded as a Bell Records subsidiary in 1959. Beginning in 1967, albums by Mala recording artists were issued on the Bell label instead of Mala Along with Bell, Mala was acquired in the late sixties by Columbia Pictures and merged with the co-owned Amy Records into Bell Records. In 1974, the Mala catalog (and the rest of Bell Records) became part of Arista Records, which was purchased by BMG in 1979, and is now owned by Sony Music.
Description: MTA Records was an American record label operating in New York City between 1966 and 1970. MTA Records was established in New York City in April 1966 as a subsidiary of talent management firm MTA Productions, Ltd. Vice-president Bob Thompson and general manager Bob Mack headed up the label, and Dick Behrke was named music director. The initials were said to stand for Music Talent Artistry.
Description: Musicor Records was a New York City-based record label, active during the 1960s and 1970s. The label was founded by songwriter Aaron Schroeder and distributed by United Artists Records. In 1965, UA employee and A&R man Arthur Talmadge (a co-founder of Mercury Records years earlier) started his own Talmadge Productions company and, along with fellow UA employee/A&R man Harold "Pappy" Daily, bought the Musicor label from UA.
Description: Modern Records (Modern Music Records before 1947) was an American record company and label formed in 1945 in Los Angeles by the Bihari brothers. Modern's artists included Etta James, Joe Houston, Little Richard, Ike & Tina Turner and John Lee Hooker. The label released some of the most influential blues and R&B records of the 1940s and 1950s.
Description: Musical Heritage Society was an American mail-order record label founded in New York City in 1962 by Michael "Mischa" Naida (1900–1991), co-founder of Westminster Records, and T. C. Fry Jr. (1926–1996). After a small initial group of pseudonymous issues—licensed from the Telemann Society and Philips—MHS issued many recordings licensed from Erato. Eventually the label issued most of the Erato catalogue, including discs previously issued on several US retail labels.
Description: Lucky Four Records was a Chicago-based record company, located at 5411 W. Diversey Avenue, that existed from 1960 to 1963. The label was founded and owned by Lenny LaCour, who was also a singer, songwriter, and record producer. Lucky Four Records appears to have released only 45 rpm singles; some by LaCour himself, others by such artists as The Swinging Hearts, The Belvederes, and Eddy Bell. All Lucky Four releases are considered collectible, with #1012, "The Great Great Pumpkin", a Halloween novelty song by Eddy Bell particularly sought after.
Description: Mojo Records was a California-based record label founded in 1995 by producer Jay Rifkin. It became a joint venture with Universal Records in 1996 and then sold to the Zomba Group in 2001, who placed it under their subsidiary Jive Records. The label has been largely inactive since Zomba was purchased and restructured under BMG in 2003, save for a few reissues of older material. The final releases from the label were Reel Big Fish's We're Not Happy 'til You're Not Happy and Goldfinger's The Best of Goldfinger in early 2005.
Description: Neighborhood Records (Neighborhood Music Pub. Corp.) was a record label founded by Melanie Safka and her husband Peter Schekeryk in 1971. The label's biggest hit was her #1 single "Brand New Key". First distributed by the Famous Music group of record labels (i.e. Dot, Blue Thumb and Paramount), it shifted distribution to Bell/Arista before folding in 1975.
Description: Skunk Records is a Long Beach, California based record label that was founded by Michael "Miguel" Happoldt and Bradley Nowell in 1990. Skunk is affiliated with the spinoff label Cornerstone R.A.S. The inspiration for forming a record label came to Happoldt in 1989 as a way to release music for his band the Ziggens. Happoldt met Nowell shortly thereafter, who insisted on having Sublime backed by the nascent label. Happoldt was selective in choosing other acts, which later included Slightly Stoopid, Juice Bros, Philieano, Toko Tasi, and Paulie Nugent.
Description: Pompeii Records was an American record label based in Dallas. It was formed in 1968 by Joe Perry, president, and Pat Morgan, chairman of the board. Distributed by Atco Records in the US and by London Records internationally, the company is noted for its Ike & Tina Turner releases in the late 1960s.
Description: Philo Records was a short-lived record company and label founded in 1945 by the brothers Eddie and Leo Messner. Soon after it was founded, the name was changed to Aladdin. Philo's releases included 78 RPM singles of Illinois Jacquet, Wynonie Harris, Helen Humes with the Bill Doggett Octet, Jay McShann and Lester Young, and an album (set of two 78 RPM records) of Lester Young, Nat King Cole and Red Callender.
Description: Laurie Records was an American record label established in New York City in 1958, by brothers Robert and Gene Schwartz, and Allan I. Sussel. Among the recording artists on Laurie's roster were Dion and the Belmonts (both together and as separate acts), The Chiffons, The Jarmels, The Mystics, Bobby Goldsboro, and The Royal Guardsmen.
Description: Chess Records was an American record company established in 1950 in Chicago, specializing in blues and rhythm and blues. It was the successor to Aristocrat Records, founded in 1947. It expanded into soul music, gospel music, early rock and roll, and jazz and comedy recordings, released on the Chess and its subsidiary labels Checker and Argo/Cadet. The Chess catalogue is owned by Universal Music Group and managed by Geffen Records and Universal Music Enterprises.
