Parent company Concord Bicycle Music Parent organization Concord Bicycle Music Founded 1946 | Country of origin U.S. Founder Art Rupe | |
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Genre Rock, rhythm and blues, gospel Location Los Angeles, California Official website www.concordmusicgroup.com/labels/Specialty Artists Little Richard, Sam Cooke, Art Rupe, Lloyd Price, Larry Williams Albums Here's Little Richard, The Fabulous Little Rich, Little Richard, The Country Blues of J, Bayou Blues | ||
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, having recorded Little Richard, Guitar Slim, Percy Mayfield, and Lloyd Price. Rupe started the company under the name Juke Box Records but changed it to Specialty when he parted company with a couple of his original partners.
Rupe's daughter restarted the label in the 1980s.
The major producers for the label were Rupe, Robert "Bumps" Blackwell, Johnny Vincent and J. W. Alexander. Rupe was known as one of the most honest owners of an independent R&B record company in the 1950s. He was known for paying his artists, recording them well, and allowing some of the wildest R&B to be issued on any label of the day. He was also known for hating payola, but by 1953, "the only way for Specialty to remain competitive was to pay like everybody else."
Specialty also 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. The music publishing unit was sold to Sony/ATV Music Publishing.