Editing TK Records

{{Short description|American record label}}
{{Infobox record label 
| name        = TK Records
| image       = 
| image_size  = 
| parent      = Henry Stone Music
| founded     = {{start date|1972}}
| founder     = [[Henry Stone]] & [[Steve Alaimo]]
| defunct     = {{end date|1981}}
| distributor =  Henry Stone Music<br />[[Rhino Entertainment]]/[[Parlophone]] (since 2013; Sunnyview catalog)
| genre       = Various
| country     = U.S.
| location    = [[Hialeah, Florida]]
| url         = <!-- such as "{{URL|www.atlanticrecords.com}}" -->
}}

'''TK Records''' was an American [[independent record label]] founded by record distributor [[Henry Stone]] and [[Steve Alaimo]] in 1972.<ref name = "AP">{{cite news |author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.--> |title=Henry Stone, Co-Founder of TK Records, Dies at 93 |url=http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/earshot/henry-stone-founder-tk-records-724420|magazine=The Hollywood Reporter |agency=Associated Press |date=10 August 2014|access-date=15 July 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161011102440/http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/earshot/henry-stone-founder-tk-records-724420|url-status=live|archive-date=11 October 2016}}</ref> and based in [[Hialeah, Florida]].<ref name="Herald">{{cite news|last1=Cohen|first1=Howard|title=Founder of the 'Miami Sound,' TK Records' Henry Stone dies at 93|url=http://www.miamiherald.com/entertainment/article1979074.html|access-date=15 July 2016|newspaper=Miami Herald|date=8 August 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160623183728/http://www.miamiherald.com/entertainment/article1979074.html|url-status=live|archive-date=23 June 2016}}</ref> The record label went bankrupt in 1981.<ref name="AP" />

"TK" was inspired by the initials of sound engineer Terry Kane, who built a recording studio in the attic of Stone's office in Hialeah.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.discomusic.com/people-more/57_0_11_0_C/|title=Henry Stone|work=DiscoMusic.com|access-date=10 January 2015}}</ref>

TK Records is closely associated with the early rise of [[disco]] music. In May 1974, the label released the US [[Billboard Hot 100|''Billboard'' Hot 100]] No. 1 hit "[[Rock Your Baby]]" by [[George McCrae]], cited as one of the earliest examples of disco.<ref>https://www.wonc.org/from-miami-soul-to-disco-gold-the-legacy-of-rock-your-baby/#:~:text=George%20McCrae%27s%20debut%20single%2C%20%E2%80%9CRock,the%20forefront%20of%20popular%20music.</ref> A little more than a year after McCrae's hit, the record label struck gold with [[KC & The Sunshine Band]], releasing five singles that reached No. 1 on the [[Billboard Hot 100|''Billboard'' Hot 100]]: including "[[Get Down Tonight]]", "[[That's the Way (I Like It)]]", "[[(Shake, Shake, Shake) Shake Your Booty]]", "[[I'm Your Boogie Man]]", and "[[Please Don't Go (KC and the Sunshine Band song)|Please Don't Go]]". The KC & The Sunshine Band single "[[Keep It Comin' Love]]" reached No. 1 on Billboard's erstwhile [[Hot Soul Singles]] chart and No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100.<ref> [https://www.billboard.com/charts/hot-100/1977-10-01   The Hot 100 1977] Billboard magazine  Retrieved 03 May 2025</ref>

TK had numerous subsidiary labels, which included Cat Records, Drive Records, [[#Wolf Records subsidiary|Wolf Records]], and Bold Records. At one point, they had established a gospel label named Gospel Roots.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z_nCfAiOKBw | title=- YouTube | website=[[YouTube]] }}</ref> Artists signed to TK Records and its subsidiaries included [[Betty Wright]], [[Blowfly (musician)|Clarence Reid a.k.a. Blowfly]], [[The Beginning of the End (band)|The Beginning of the End]] (Alston); [[Timmy Thomas]], [[Latimore (musician)|Benny Latimore]] (Glades); [[Peter Brown (singer)|Peter Brown]] (Drive); [[Foxy (band)|Foxy]], [[Kracker]], [[T-Connection]] (Dash); [[Jimmy "Bo" Horne]] (Sunshine Sound); [[Willie Hale|Little Beaver]], [[Gwen McCrae]] ([[Cat Records (TK label)|Cat]]); [[Bobby Caldwell]] (Clouds); and [[Anita Ward]] (Juana).

In 1980, TK Records encountered financial problems and the label was acquired by [[Morris Levy]]'s [[Roulette Records]]; a merger of the two labels created Sunnyview Records, which had success with the electro hip hop group [[Newcleus]].<ref name="discogs">{{cite web |author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.--> |title=Sunnyview |work=Discogs.com |url=https://www.discogs.com/label/275530-Sunnyview |access-date=17 July 2016}}</ref> The last single to be released on TK Records was [["Weird Al" Yankovic]]'s "[[Another One Rides the Bus]]" (1981), based on Queen's song "[[Another One Bites the Dust]]". In 1986, Henry Stone formed Hot Productions with Paul Klein and continued to re-release the TK Records catalog on CD until Sunnyview's acquisition by [[Rhino Records|EMI-Rhino]] in 1989.<ref name="discogs" /> Rhino owns the North American rights to the Sunnyview/TK catalog; internationally, the catalog was managed by EMI until 2013,<ref name="discogs" /> when Rhino's newly acquired sister label [[Parlophone]] took over after [[Warner Music Group]]'s purchase of the remaining EMI assets.

On October 12, 2013, Henry Stone received a proclamation from Hialeah's then-mayor, [[Carlos Hernández (politician)|Carlos Hernandez]], declaring it TK Records Day every year on October 12.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Stone |first=Henry |date=March 21, 2024 |title=October 12th Is TK Records Day In Hialeah |url=https://henrystonemusic.com/happy-tk-records-day/ |access-date=March 21, 2024 |website=Henry Stone Music}}</ref>{{fact|date=May 2022}}

==Wolf Records (subsidiary)==
'''Wolf Records''' was a jazz subsidiary that released only three albums, each produced by [[Joel Dorn]]: 
*1976: ''Encourage the People'' – [[Robin Kenyatta]]
*1977: ''After the Dance'' – [[Harold Vick]]
*1978: ''[[Innocence (Kenny Barron album)|Innocence]]'' – [[Kenny Barron]]

There is a present-day [[Austria]]n record label of the same name that was founded in 1982 and specializes in releasing [[blues]] music.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.wolfrec.com/wolf-story.html |title=Wolf Records > Wolf Story |publisher=Wolfrec.com |access-date=December 14, 2011}}</ref>

== See also ==
* [[List of record labels]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
*[http://bsnpubs.com/florida/tk/tkstory.html The TK Records Story from BSN Pubs]
*{{discogs label|label=T.K. Records}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tk Records}}
[[Category:1972 establishments in Florida]]
[[Category:1981 disestablishments in Florida]]
[[Category:Record labels based in Florida]]
[[Category:Rhythm and blues record labels]]
[[Category:Disco record labels]]
[[Category:Record labels disestablished in 1981]]
[[Category:Record labels established in 1972]]
[[Category:Companies based in Miami]]
[[Category:EMI]]
[[Category:Rhino Entertainment]]
[[Category:Labels distributed by Warner Music Group]]