Specialty Records

Specialty Records
Parent companyConcord Bicycle Music
Founded1945; 79 years ago (1945)
FounderArt Rupe
GenreRock, rhythm and blues, gospel
Country of originU.S.
LocationLos Angeles, California
Official websitewww.concordmusicgroup.com/labels/Specialty

Specialty Records was an American record label founded in Los Angeles in 1945 by Art Rupe. It was known for rhythm and blues, gospel, and early rock and roll, and recorded artists such as Little Richard, Guitar Slim, Percy Mayfield, and Lloyd Price.[1] Rupe established the company under the name Juke Box Records but changed it to Specialty in 1946 when he parted company with a couple of his original partners.[2] Rupe's daughter, Beverly,[2] restarted the label in the 1980s.[1]

The major producers for the label were Rupe, Robert "Bumps" Blackwell, Johnny Vincent and J. W. Alexander.[3] Rupe was known for hating the practice of payola,[4] but by 1953, "the only way for Specialty to remain competitive was to pay like everybody else."[5]

Specialty owned music publishing companies: Venice Music for BMI-licensed songs, and Greenwich Music for ASCAP-licensed songs.[6]

The record label was sold to Fantasy Records in 1991 and is now part of the Concord Music Group. The music publishing unit was sold to Sony/ATV Music Publishing.

  1. ^ a b Morris, Chris (25 February 1995). "Indies Through the Ages". Google Books/Billboard. Nielsen Business Media, Inc. Retrieved 4 July 2016.
  2. ^ a b Colin Larkin, ed. (1993). The Guinness Who's Who of Fifties Music (First ed.). Guinness Publishing. p. 302. ISBN 0-85112-732-0.
  3. ^ Gillett, Charlie (1996). The Sound of the City: The Rise of Rock and Roll (Second ed.). New York: Da Capo Press. p. 86. ISBN 0-306-80683-5.
  4. ^ Broven, John (2010). Record Makers and Breakers: Voices of the Independent Rock 'n' Roll Pioneers (1st Illinois pbk. ed.). Urbana, IL: University of Illinois Press. pp. 305–308. ISBN 978-0-252-07727-2.
  5. ^ Guralnick, Peter (2005). Dream Boogie: The Triumph of Sam Cooke. New York: Back Bay Books. p. 98.
  6. ^ Goldberg, D.K. "Art Rupe's Specialty Records". www.history-of-rock.com. Retrieved 26 November 2006.