TK Records was an American

independent record label An independent record label (or indie label) is a record label that operates without the funding or distribution of major record labels; they are a type of small and medium-sized enterprise, small- to medium-sized enterprise, or SME. The labels ...

founded by record distributor Henry Stone and Steve Alaimo in 1972. and based in

Hialeah, Florida Hialeah ( ; ) is a city in Miami-Dade County, Florida, United States. With a population of 223,109 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the sixth-largest city in Florida. It is the second largest city by population in Miami-Da ...

. The record label went bankrupt in 1981. "TK" was inspired by the initials of sound engineer Terry Kane, who built a recording studio in the attic of Stone's office in Hialeah. TK Records is closely associated with the early rise of

disco Disco is a music genre, genre of dance music and a subculture that emerged in the late 1960s from the United States' urban nightclub, nightlife, particularly in African Americans, African-American, Italian-Americans, Italian-American, LGBTQ ...

music. In May 1974, the label released the US ''Billboard'' Hot 100 No. 1 hit " Rock Your Baby" by

George McCrae George Warren McCrae Jr. (born October 19, 1944) is an American soul and disco singer who is most famous for his 1974 hit " Rock Your Baby". Biography and career McCrae was the second of nine children, born in West Palm Beach, Florida. He ...

, cited as one of the earliest examples of disco. A little more than a year after McCrae's hit, the record label struck gold with KC & The Sunshine Band, releasing five singles that reached No. 1 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100: including " Get Down Tonight", " That's the Way (I Like It)", " (Shake, Shake, Shake) Shake Your Booty", " I'm Your Boogie Man", and " Please Don't Go". The KC & The Sunshine Band single " Keep It Comin' Love" reached No. 1 on Billboard's erstwhile Hot Soul Singles chart and No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100. TK had numerous subsidiary labels, which included Cat Records, Drive Records, Wolf Records, and Bold Records. At one point, they had established a gospel label named Gospel Roots. Artists signed to TK Records and its subsidiaries included

Betty Wright Bessie Regina Norris (December 21, 1953 – May 10, 2020), better known by her stage name Betty Wright, was an American soul music, soul and Rhythm and blues, R&B singer, songwriter and background vocalist. Beginning her professional career ...

, Clarence Reid a.k.a. Blowfly, The Beginning of the End (Alston); Timmy Thomas, Benny Latimore (Glades); Peter Brown (Drive); Foxy, Kracker, T-Connection (Dash);

Jimmy "Bo" Horne Jimmie Horace Horne Jr. (born September 28, 1949), known as Jimmy "Bo" Horne, is an American singer and musician, whose most successful singles include "Gimme Some" (1975) and "Dance Across the Floor" (1978). Many of Horne's songs have been used ...

(Sunshine Sound); Little Beaver,

Gwen McCrae Gwendolyn Patricia McCrae ( Mosley, December 21, 1943 – February 21, 2025) was an American singer, best known for her 1975 hit record, hit "Rockin' Chair (Gwen McCrae song), Rockin' Chair". Known in the music industry as the "Queen of Rare Gro ...

(

Cat The cat (''Felis catus''), also referred to as the domestic cat or house cat, is a small domesticated carnivorous mammal. It is the only domesticated species of the family Felidae. Advances in archaeology and genetics have shown that the ...

);

Bobby Caldwell Robert Hunter Caldwell (August 15, 1951 – March 14, 2023) was an American singer and songwriter. He released several albums spanning R&B, soul, jazz, and adult contemporary. He is known for his soulful and versatile vocals. Caldwell release ...

(Clouds); and Anita Ward (Juana). In 1980, TK Records encountered financial problems and the label was acquired by Morris Levy's

Roulette Records Roulette Records was an American record company and label founded in 1957 by George Goldner, Joe Kolsky, Morris Levy and Phil Kahl, with creative control given to producers and songwriters Hugo Peretti and Luigi Creatore. Levy was appointed ...

; a merger of the two labels created Sunnyview Records, which had success with the electro hip hop group

Newcleus Newcleus was an American electro and old school hip hop group that gained popularity in the early 1980s. The group is primarily known for its 12-inch single "Jam-On's Revenge" (re-released as "Jam on Revenge (The Wikki-Wikki Song)" (1983)) and ...

. The last single to be released on TK Records was

"Weird Al" Yankovic Alfred Matthew "Weird Al" Yankovic ( ; born October 23, 1959) is an American comedy musician, writer, and actor. He is best known for writing and performing Comedy music, comedy songs that often Parody music, parody specific songs by contempo ...

's " Another One Rides the Bus" (1981), based on Queen's song "

Another One Bites the Dust "Another One Bites the Dust" is a song by the British Rock music, rock band Queen (band), Queen. Written by bassist John Deacon, the song was featured on the group's eighth studio album ''The Game (Queen album), The Game'' (1980). It was a worl ...

". In 1986, Henry Stone formed Hot Productions with Paul Klein and continued to re-release the TK Records catalog on CD until Sunnyview's acquisition by EMI-Rhino in 1989. Rhino owns the North American rights to the Sunnyview/TK catalog; internationally, the catalog was managed by EMI until 2013, when Rhino's newly acquired sister label

Parlophone Parlophone Records Limited (also known as Parlophone Records and Parlophone) is a record label founded in Germany in 1896 by the Carl Lindström Company as Parlophon. The British branch of the label was founded on 8 August 1923 as the Parloph ...

took over after

Warner Music Group Warner Music Group Corp., commonly abbreviated as WMG, is an American Multinational corporation, multinational entertainment and record label Conglomerate (company), conglomerate headquartered in New York City. It is one of the "Record label#M ...

's purchase of the remaining EMI assets. On October 12, 2013, Henry Stone received a proclamation from Hialeah's then-mayor, Carlos Hernandez, declaring it TK Records Day every year on October 12.

Wolf Records (subsidiary)

Wolf Records was a jazz subsidiary that released only three albums, each produced by Joel Dorn: *1976: ''Encourage the People'' –

Robin Kenyatta Robin Kenyatta (March 6, 1942 – October 26, 2004) was an American jazz alto saxophone, alto saxophonist. Early life Born Robert Prince Haynes in Moncks Corner, South Carolina, Kenyatta grew up in New York City and began playing the saxophone a ...

*1977: ''After the Dance'' – Harold Vick *1978: '' Innocence'' –

Kenny Barron Kenneth Barron (born June 9, 1943) is an American jazz pianist and composer who has appeared on hundreds of recordings as leader and sideman and is considered one of the most influential mainstream jazz pianists since the bebop era. Early life ...

There is a present-day

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

n record label of the same name that was founded in 1982 and specializes in releasing

blues Blues is a music genre and musical form that originated among African Americans in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues has incorporated spiritual (music), spirituals, work songs, field hollers, Ring shout, shouts, cha ...

music.

References

External links

The TK Records Story from BSN Pubs
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Tk Records 1972 establishments in Florida 1981 disestablishments in Florida Record labels based in Florida Rhythm and blues record labels Disco record labels Record labels disestablished in 1981 Record labels established in 1972 Companies based in Miami EMI Rhino Entertainment Labels distributed by Warner Music Group

Wolf Records (subsidiary)

See also

References

External links