Sussex Records, Inc. was a Los Angeles-based
record label
A record label, or record company, is a brand or trademark of music recordings and music videos, or the company that owns it. Sometimes, a record label is also a publishing company that manages such brands and trademarks, coordinates the produ ...
, founded by music executive and businessman
Clarence Avant
Clarence Alexander Avant (born February 25, 1931) is an American music executive, entrepreneur, and film producer, who also went by the name of "The Black Godfather".
Avant's 75th birthday was celebrated by ''Billboard'' in its February 2006 i ...
, that existed from 1969 through 1975.
History
Sussex Records was launched in December 1969 by Avant, who had previously set up another mainly black music label,
Venture Records for MGM. An offshoot of
Buddah Records
Buddah Records (later known as Buddha Records) was an American record label founded in 1967 in New York City. The label was born out of Kama Sutra Records, an MGM Records-distributed label, which remained a key imprint following Buddah's foundin ...
, initially it was located at 6430 W Sunset Blvd in
Hollywood, at the corner of Sunset and Cahuenga Blvds. In 1972, it moved to 6255 W Sunset Blvd, Suite 1902. All records were distributed by
Buddah Records
Buddah Records (later known as Buddha Records) was an American record label founded in 1967 in New York City. The label was born out of Kama Sutra Records, an MGM Records-distributed label, which remained a key imprint following Buddah's foundin ...
until 1974 when Sussex switched to independent distribution until its closure. The company folded in July 1975, due to unpaid state and federal taxes amounting to $62,000: the
Internal Revenue Service
The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) is the revenue service for the United States federal government, which is responsible for collecting U.S. federal taxes and administering the Internal Revenue Code, the main body of the federal statutory ta ...
padlocked the offices and auctioned off all assets. Many of the label's master tapes went missing and were presumed destroyed. Rights to the catalog were acquired in a bankruptcy action by Tom Ficara and Combined Artists.
Bill Withers
William Harrison Withers Jr. (July 4, 1938 – March 30, 2020) was an American singer-songwriter and musician. He had several hits over a career spanning 18 years, including "Ain't No Sunshine" (1971), "Grandma's Hands" (1971), " Use Me" (1972) ...
was the label's best-selling artist with a string of pop and R&B hits and several successful albums. They included three million-selling singles, "Ain't No Sunshine" (#3 pop, #6 R&B, 1971), the label's only chart-topper, "Lean On Me" (#1 pop and #1 R&B, 1972) and "Use Me" (#2 pop and #2 R&B, 1972). His recordings, many self-written and produced, were later purchased by
Columbia Records
Columbia Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music, Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America, the North American division of Japanese Conglomerate (company), conglomerate Sony. It was founded on Janua ...
, when Withers signed for the label in 1975.
In 1971, the label notched another gold disc with Detroit guitarist
Dennis Coffey
Dennis James Coffey (born November 11, 1940) is an American guitarist. He was a studio musician for many soul and R&B recordings, and is well known for his 1971 Top 10 hit single " Scorpio".
Biography
Coffey learned to play guitar at the ...
who reached #6 on the pop charts and #9 on the R&B charts with "
Scorpio". The Presidents vocal group had a major hit for Sussex in 1970 with "5-10-15-20" (#5 R&B, #11 pop), produced by
Van McCoy
Van Allen Clinton McCoy (January 6, 1940 – July 6, 1979) was an American musician, record producer, arranger, songwriter, singer and orchestra conductor. He is known for his 1975 internationally successful song " The Hustle". He has approximat ...
. The group from Washington DC had released the label's first single, "For You", a minor R&B hit, a few months earlier.
In 1972 another guitarist was signed named Eddy Senay who had a hit called "Hot Thang"; he also covered the Bill Withers hit "Ain't No Sunshine". Later the hit "Cameo" started to break out worldwide as a popular hit with his fans around the world.
After Sussex folded, Avant went on to form another record company,
Tabu Records
Tabu Productions was an American record label founded by Clarence Avant in 1975. The label, Tabu Records, focused on R&B and funk.
Founding
Avant founded the label after Sussex Records went out of business in June 1975. Tabu Record's flagshi ...
.
Subsidiary
A subsidiary of Sussex was Clarama Records. It was launched by Clarence Avant in 1974. One act to get in early on the label was Brenda & Albert who were formerly with
Faith Hope and Charity.
[''Billboard'', February 16, 1974 ]
Page 6 Avant Moving Sussex & New Label Through Indies By Claude Hall ''* Continued from page 1''
/ref>
Sixto Rodriguez
The label is also known for signing American singer-songwriter and guitarist Rodriguez in 1970.
After the move to Sussex, his professional name was changed to simply Rodriguez. Rodriguez recorded and released his two albums, '' Cold Fact'' in 1970 and '' Coming from Reality'' in 1971. But after both sold poorly in the US, he was quickly dropped.
Though the albums sold poorly in the US; its origin country, the album sold extremely well in South Africa
South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...
, Australia
Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...
and surrounding countries. The albums proved very successful and influential eventually being certified platinum
Platinum is a chemical element with the symbol Pt and atomic number 78. It is a dense, malleable, ductile, highly unreactive, precious, silverish-white transition metal. Its name originates from Spanish , a diminutive of "silver".
Platinu ...
and causing a cultural phenomenon. Rodriguez has since remained a mystery artist in his native country of the US but a cultural figure in many others.
Rodriguez found more fame with the release of the 2012 documentary film ''Searching for Sugar Man
''Searching for Sugar Man'' is a 2012 documentary film about a South African cultural phenomenon, written and directed by Malik Bendjelloul, which details the efforts in the late 1990s of two Cape Town fans, Stephen "Sugar" Segerman and Craig ...
'' a documentary film directed and written by Malik Bendjelloul
Malik Bendjelloul (14 September 1977 – 13 May 2014) was a Swedish documentary filmmaker, journalist and former child actor.Rohter, Larry (20 July 2012)Retrieved 26 February 2013.[Cape Town
Cape Town ( af, Kaapstad; , xh, iKapa) is one of South Africa's three capital cities, serving as the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. It is the legislative capital of the country, the oldest city in the country, and the second largest ...]
fans, Stephen "Sugar" Segerman and Craig Bartholomew Strydom, to find out whether the rumoured death of Rodriguez was true and, if not, to discover what had become of him.
Artists
*Amish
*Willie Bobo
William Correa (February 28, 1934 – September 15, 1983), better known by his stage name Willie Bobo,Biography
A biography, or simply bio, is a detailed description of a person's life. It involves more than just the basic facts like education, work, relationships, and death; it portrays a person's experience of these life events. Unlike a profile or ...
''AllMusic'' was an American Latin jazz percussionist of Puerto Rican descent. Bobo rejected the stereotypical expectations of ...
*Billy Charne
*Dennis Coffey
Dennis James Coffey (born November 11, 1940) is an American guitarist. He was a studio musician for many soul and R&B recordings, and is well known for his 1971 Top 10 hit single " Scorpio".
Biography
Coffey learned to play guitar at the ...
*Priscilla Coolidge-Jones
*Creative Source
Creative Source was an American R&B group from Los Angeles, who had several funk and disco hits during the 1970s.
History
Creative Source was formed in 1972 by several session musician, veterans of the West Coast recording studios. They were man ...
* Zulema Cusseaux
*Dandelion Wine
''Dandelion Wine'' is a 1957 novel by Ray Bradbury set in the summer of 1928 in the fictional town of Green Town, Illinois, based upon Bradbury's childhood home of Waukegan, Illinois. The novel developed from the short story "Dandelion Wine", wh ...
*Gallery
Gallery or The Gallery may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media
* Art gallery
** Contemporary art gallery
Music
* Gallery (band), an American soft rock band of the 1970s
Albums
* ''Gallery'' (Elaiza album), 2014 album
* ''Gallery'' (Gr ...
*Faith, Hope & Charity
Faith Hope and Charity was the name of a vocal group from Tampa, Florida. They are best known for their 1975 hit, " To Each His Own". They were also an in-demand group of session singers in New York studios during the 1970s.
Career
The foundi ...
* Lonette
*Masterfleet
*Mutzie
* The Presidents
* The Decisions
*The Primo People he Primo Family*Ralph Graham Ralph Graham may refer to:
* Ralph Graham (American football)
* Ralph Graham (singer)
{{hndis, Graham, Ralph ...
* Rodriguez
*Eddy Senay
*Segments of Time
*The Soul Searchers
Charles Louis Brown (August 22, 1936 – May 16, 2012) was an American guitarist, bandleader and singer known as " The Godfather of Go-Go". Go-go is a subgenre of funk music developed around the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area in the mid-197 ...
*Sun
The Sun is the star at the center of the Solar System. It is a nearly perfect ball of hot plasma, heated to incandescence by nuclear fusion reactions in its core. The Sun radiates this energy mainly as light, ultraviolet, and infrared radi ...
* Wadsworth Mansion
*Wednesday
Wednesday is the day of the week between Tuesday and Thursday. According to international standard ISO 8601, it is the third day of the week. In countries which have Friday as their holiday, Wednesday is the fifth day of the week. In countries ...
*Bill Withers
William Harrison Withers Jr. (July 4, 1938 – March 30, 2020) was an American singer-songwriter and musician. He had several hits over a career spanning 18 years, including "Ain't No Sunshine" (1971), "Grandma's Hands" (1971), " Use Me" (1972) ...
*Yukon
Yukon (; ; formerly called Yukon Territory and also referred to as the Yukon) is the smallest and westernmost of Canada's three territories. It also is the second-least populated province or territory in Canada, with a population of 43,964 as ...
See also
* List of record labels
File:Alvinoreyguitarboogie.jpg
File:AmMusicBunk78.jpg
File:Bingola1011b.jpg
Lists of record labels cover record labels, brands or trademarks associated with marketing of music recordings and music videos. The lists are organized alphabetically, b ...
* Tabu Records
Tabu Productions was an American record label founded by Clarence Avant in 1975. The label, Tabu Records, focused on R&B and funk.
Founding
Avant founded the label after Sussex Records went out of business in June 1975. Tabu Record's flagshi ...
References
External links
Sussex Album Discography
{{Authority control
American record labels
Record labels established in 1970
Record labels disestablished in 1975