King Records (usa)

King Records was a United States based record label, headquartered in Cincinnati, Ohio , started in 1943 by Syd Nathan , specializing in Country Music , at the time still known as " Hillbilly music". King advertised "If it's a King, It's a Hillbilly -- If it's a Hillbilly, it's a King". King artists included Homer And Jethro , Grandpa Jones , the Delmore Brothers , and Reno And Smiley whose song "I'm Using My Bible for a Road Map" was one of the labels important early hits.

The company also had a "Race Records" ( African American ) label, Queen Records . In the 1950s, this side of the business outpaced the hillbilly recordings, as King Records was highly successful and recorded R&B artists like Valerie Carr , Roy Brown , Jack Dupree , Otis Williams & The Charms , James Brown and Johnny Guitar Watson (the latter two distributed via sister label Federal Records ). King purchaced other record labels, including Deluxe Records (in 1952 ) and Bethlehem Records .

When Nathan died in 1968 the label was acquired by Hall Neely 's Star-Day Company . Neely relaunched the label as Star-day King Records . The legendary songwriter duo Leiber & Stoller bought the label in 1970 but sold it soon afterwards to Gusto Records . Since 2001, U.S. based record label Collectables Records has been remastering and reissuing the King Records catalog.

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