Premium Records was an American

record label "Big Three" music labels A record label or record company is a brand or trademark of Sound recording and reproduction, music recordings and music videos, or the company that owns it. Sometimes, a record label is also a Music publisher, ...

established in

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

in 1950 by Lee Egalnick, who had previously run Miracle Records. Lew Simpkins, who had also worked at Miracle, joined Premium soon afterwards.Robert Pruter and Robert L. Campbell, ''Premium Records''
. Accessed 18 November 2012 Its recording artists included

Memphis Slim John Len Chatman (September 3, 1915 – February 24, 1988), known professionally as Memphis Slim, was an American blues pianist, singer, and composer. He led a series of bands that, reflecting the popular appeal of jump blues, included saxopho ...

, Miff Mole, Eddie Chamblee,

Lynn Hope Lynn Hope, also known as El Hajj Abdullah Rasheed Ahmad, (September 26, 1926 – February 24, 1993) was an American jazz and blues tenor saxophonist. He was born in Birmingham, Alabama, United States. Hope was noted for his instrumental remakes ...

, Sarah McLawler, Terry Timmons, Jesse Cryor, and Tab Smith. The label folded in mid-1951. Simpkins went on to form United Records, and the Premium label's

master recording Master recordings, or simply masters, are the original recordings—including post-recording mixes and production edits—of audio performances, from which all analog and digital copies of the audio are derived from. The term refers only to the r ...

s were bought by

Chess Records 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 an ...

References

Blues record labels American jazz record labels Record labels disestablished in 1951 Record labels established in 1950 Rhythm and blues record labels 1950 establishments in Illinois Companies based in Chicago 1951 disestablishments in Illinois {{US-record-label-stub