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. 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.
Also recorded as Specialty Records
Specialty

Krächz · CC BY-SA 3.0
- Name
- Specialty Records
- Founded
- 1946.
- Headquarters
- Los Angeles.
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Documentary summary
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. 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.
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In this article
Overview
Overview
Rupe acquired Fidelity, a gospel record label, in 1951 and it became a subsidiary label of Specialty. Rupe's daughter, Beverly, restarted the label in the 1980s. The major producers for the label were Rupe, Robert "Bumps" Blackwell, Johnny Vincent and J. Rupe was known for hating the practice of payola, but by 1953, "the only way for Specialty to remain competitive was to pay like everybody else." Specialty owned music publishing companies: Venice Music for BMI-licensed songs, and Greenwich Music for ASCAP-licensed songs. The record label was sold to Fantasy Records in 1991 and is now part of the Concord Music Group.

Guitar Slim Single

Specialty, ApexEverly
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Key facts
Key facts
• Name — Specialty Records • Parent — Concord Music Group • Founder — Art Rupe • Genre — Rock, rhythm and blues, gospel • Country — U.S. • Location — Los Angeles, California • Url — www.concordmusicgroup.com/labels/Specialty
Roster
Roster
• The Blind Boys of Alabama • Alex Bradford • Wynona Carr • Clifton Chenier • Eugene Church • Dorothy Love Coates • Sam Cooke • John Lee Hooker • Camille Howard • Little Richard • Guitar Slim • Roddy Jackson • Jimmy Liggins • Joe Liggins • Roy Milton • Percy Mayfield • Lloyd Price • Frankie Lee Sims • Soul Stirrers • Larry Williams • Lester Williams
Institutional history
Dated record
Institutional history
Explore 1946
The full dated record · 3 entries
1946
Specialty established.
1946
Specialty is recorded from 1946.
1946
Specialty was established or created in 1946.
Primary material
Context
The circumstances in which Specialty stands. Specialty has its headquarters at Los Angeles. Established or created in 1946. Situated in United States. Recorded as record label.
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Notes from the source article
Cited by Wikipedia
Notes from the source article
These works are cited by the source article, in its own numbering. They are recorded as its citations, not as sources VALÉORINE has verified.
- 1.Bill Dahl. Lloyd Price Biography. All Music Guide.
- 2.Charles White: The Life And Times Of Little Richard. The Authorised Biography, Omnibus Press 2003 (1984), London, New York, Paris, Sydney, Copenhagen, Berlin, Madrid, Tokyo, ISBN 0-7119-9761-6. S. 57ff.
- 3.David Edwards, Mike Callahan. Specialty Album Discography. Both Sides Now Publications.
- 4.Diskografie von Specialty Records, Abruf am 3. September 2008
- 5.John Garodkin: Little Richard Special. Mjoelner Edition 1985, Praestoe, ISBN 87-87721-14-7. S. 34–42
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