Duke Records was an American

record label A record label, or record company, is a brand or trademark of music recordings and music videos, or the company that owns it. Sometimes, a record label is also a publishing company that manages such brands and trademarks, coordinates the prod ...

, started in Memphis,

Tennessee Tennessee ( , ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked state in the Southeastern region of the United States. Tennessee is the 36th-largest by area and the 15th-most populous of the 50 states. It is bordered by Kentucky to ...

, in 1952 by David James Mattis (

WDIA WDIA (1070 AM) is a radio station based in Memphis, Tennessee. Active since 1947, it soon became the first radio station in the United States that was programmed entirely for African Americans. It featured black radio personalities; its success i ...

program director and DJ) and Bill Fitzgerald, owners of Tri-State Recording Company. Their first release was Roscoe Gordon singing "Hey Fat Girl", issued on Duke R-1, later amended to R-101.

History

After forming a partnership with Mattis in the summer of 1952,

Don Robey Don Deadric Robey (November 1, 1903 – June 16, 1975) was an American record label executive, songwriter, and record producer. As the founder of Peacock Records and the eventual owner of Duke Records, he was responsible for developing the car ...

(founder of

Houston Houston (; ) is the List of cities in Texas by population, most populous city in Texas, the Southern United States#Major cities, most populous city in the Southern United States, the List of United States cities by population, fourth-most pop ...

's Peacock Records) took control of Duke. Both labels then headquartered at his Bronze Peacock club at 2809 Erastus Street in Houston, focusing on R&B and gospel music. Robey started a subsidiary, Back Beat Records, in 1957 and this later specialised in

soul music Soul music is a popular music genre that originated in the African American community throughout the United States in the late 1950s and early 1960s. It has its roots in African-American gospel music and rhythm and blues. Soul music became pop ...

, along with Sure Shot Records, whilst Peacock specialised in gospel recordings. Duke's leading artist was

Bobby "Blue" Bland Robert Calvin Bland (born Robert Calvin Brooks; January 27, 1930 – June 23, 2013), known professionally as Bobby "Blue" Bland, was an American blues singer. Bland developed a sound that mixed gospel with the blues and R&B. He was des ...

who stayed with the label for many years until its demise, mostly recording successfully with arranger/bandleader Joe Scott. Johnny Ace was a major R&B artist in the early years of the label before his death at a young age, with a string of R&B top 10 hits including three that went to number one.

Junior Parker Herman "Junior" Parker (March 27, 1932November 18, 1971) Li ...

was another important presence on Duke, recording a long string of singles for the label between 1953 and 1966, scoring seven top-twenty ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...

'' hits during his tenure. Robey sold his labels to ABC Dunhill Records on 23 May 1973. The Duke labels were soon closed down with the imprints retained by ABC in their catalog, with only Bobby Bland being retained by the new parent label.

Label variations

Independent distribution

* 1953-1958 Gospel series: White and purple label * 1952-1961 Standard series: Gold and dark purple label * 1961-1972: Orange and yellow label for commercial copies, purple and white label for promotional copies

ABC distribution

* 1972-1973: Dark green label

Artists

Notable artists who recorded on Duke, Peacock and Back Beat included: * Buddy Ace * Johnny Ace *

* Clarence 'Gatemouth' Brown * Carl Carlton * James "Thunderbird" Davis * Larry Davis * Ernie K Doe * Roscoe Gordon *

Roy Head Roy Kent Head (January 9, 1941 – September 21, 2020) was an American singer, best known for his hit song " Treat Her Right". Career Roy Kent Head was born in Three Rivers, Texas and achieved fame as a member of musical group The Traits from ...

Joe Hinton Joseph Hinton (November 15, 1929 – August 13, 1968) was an American soul singer. Biography Though Clarksdale, Mississippi has been claimed as his birthplace, most sources state that Hinton was born in Evansville, Indiana, where he married L ...

* Long John Hunter * Little Frankie Lee *

Junior Parker Herman "Junior" Parker (March 27, 1932November 18, 1971) Li ...

Fenton Robinson Fenton Lee Robinson (September 23, 1935 – November 25, 1997) was an American blues singer and exponent of the Chicago blues guitar. Biography Robinson was born near Greenwood, Mississippi. He left home at the age of 18 and moved to Memphis, ...

Otis Rush Otis Rush Jr. (April 29, 1934 – September 29, 2018) was an American blues guitarist and singer-songwriter. His distinctive guitar style featured a slow-burning sound and long bent notes. With qualities similar to the styles of other 1950s art ...

Big Mama Thornton Willie Mae Thornton (December 11, 1926 – July 25, 1984), better known as Big Mama Thornton, was an American singer and songwriter of the blues and R&B genres. She was the first to record Leiber and Stoller's " Hound Dog", in 1952, which becam ...

* Lavelle White * Lester Williams * O.V. Wright

Current ownership

Universal Music Group Universal Music Group N.V. (often abbreviated as UMG and referred to as just Universal Music) is a Dutch– American multinational music corporation under Dutch law. UMG's corporate headquarters are located in Hilversum, Netherlands and its ...

now controls the Robey labels, via their acquisition (as

MCA Records MCA Records was an American record label owned by MCA Inc., which later became part of Universal Music Group. Pre-history MCA Inc., a powerful talent agency and a television production company, entered the recorded music business in 1962 wi ...

) of ABC Records in 1979.

References

Bibliography

* Louis Cantor. ''Wheelin' on Beale''. New York: Pharos Books, 1992,

External links

Don Robey's Labels
(accessed March 2008)
HIPO's Johnny Ace bio

Duke Records
on the Internet Archive'
Great 78 Project
American record labels Record labels established in 1952 Record labels disestablished in 1973 Rhythm and blues record labels {{US-record-label-stub