Editing Checker Records (section)

{{short description|American record label}}
{{Infobox record label <!-- See Wikipedia:WikiProject_Music -->
| name        = Checker Records
| image_name  = Checker records.jpg
| image_size  =
| image_bg    = 
| parent      = 
| founded     = {{Start date|1952}}
| founder     = [[Leonard Chess]]<br />[[Phil Chess]]
| defunct     = 1971
| distributor = 
| genre       = [[Blues]]<br />[[Rhythm and blues]]<br />[[Doo-wop]]<br />[[Gospel music|Gospel]]<br />[[Rock and roll]]<br />[[Soul music|Soul]]
| country     = [[United States]]
| location    = [[Chicago]], [[Illinois]]
| url         = <!-- {{URL|example.com}} -->
}}

'''Checker Records''' is a defunct [[record label]] that was started in 1952 as a [[subsidiary]] of [[Chess Records]] in [[Chicago]], [[Illinois]]. The label was founded by the Chess brothers, [[Leonard Chess|Leonard]] and [[Phil Chess|Phil]], who ran the label until they sold it to [[General Recorded Tape]] (GRT) in 1969, shortly before Leonard's death.

The label released recordings by mostly [[African American]] artists and groups. Checker's releases cover a wide range of [[Music Genre|genre]]s including [[blues]] ([[Little Walter]], [[Sonny Boy Williamson II]]), [[rhythm and blues]] (Sax Mallard, [[Jimmy McCracklin]]), [[doo-wop]] ([[The Flamingos]], [[The Moonglows]], [[The Students]]), [[Gospel music|gospel]] ([[Aretha Franklin]], [[Five Blind Boys of Mississippi]]), [[rock and roll]] ([[Bo Diddley]], [[Dale Hawkins]]), and [[Soul music|soul]] ([[Gene Chandler]]).

The label was discontinued in 1971 following GRT's consolidation of the Chess catalogs.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.bsnpubs.com/chess/chessconsolidated.html |title=GRT Consolidated Chess/Cadet Album Discography (1971-1975) |author=David Edwards |author2=Mike Callahan |author3=Randy Watts  |work=Both Sides Now Publications |access-date=March 14, 2011}}</ref> As with Cadet and Chess, the label's catalog is now owned by [[Universal Music Group]]<ref name="gillett">{{cite book
| first=Charlie 
| last=Gillett
| author-link=Charlie Gillett 
| year= 1996
| title= The Sound of the City: The Rise of Rock and Roll
| edition= 2nd
| publisher= Da Capo Press
| location=[[New York City]], [[New York (state)|New York]]
| isbn= 0-306-80683-5
| page= 79}}</ref> and releases from the Checker catalog are released by [[Geffen Records]] and Chess.