Back Beat Records was an American record label launched in 1957, as the Houston-based

soul In many religious and philosophical traditions, there is a belief that a soul is "the immaterial aspect or essence of a human being". Etymology The Modern English noun '':wikt:soul, soul'' is derived from Old English ''sāwol, sāwel''. The ea ...

sub-label of

Duke Records Duke Records was an American record label, started in Memphis, Tennessee, in 1952 by David James Mattis (WDIA program director and DJ) and Bill Fitzgerald, owners of Tri-State Recording Company. Their first release was Roscoe Gordon singing "H ...

, when it was run by

Don Robey Don Deadric Robey (November 1, 1903 – June 16, 1975) was an American record label executive, songwriter, and record producer. As the founder of Peacock Records and the eventual owner of Duke Records, he was responsible for developing the car ...

ABC Records ABC Records was an American record label founded in New York City in 1955. It originated as the main popular music label operated by the Am-Par Record Corporation. Am-Par also created the Impulse! jazz label in 1960. It acquired many labels bef ...

assumed ownership of Back Beat on May 23, 1973, as part of ABC's acquisition of Back Beat's parent label Duke. The label's biggest hits included "

Treat Her Right Treat Her Right was an American rock group, formed in Boston, Massachusetts, United States, in 1985. The band originally featured Mark Sandman on "low guitar," Billy Conway on cocktail drum, David Champagne on guitar, and Jim Fitting on harm ...

" by

Roy Head Roy Kent Head (January 9, 1941 – September 21, 2020) was an American singer, best known for his hit song " Treat Her Right". Career Roy Kent Head was born in Three Rivers, Texas and achieved fame as a member of musical group The Traits from ...

& The Traits, "Tell Me Why" by Norman Fox & The Rob-Roys and "

Everlasting Love "Everlasting Love" is a song written by Buzz Cason and Mac Gayden, originally a 1967 hit for Robert Knight and since remade numerous times, most successfully by Love Affair, as well as Town Criers, Carl Carlton, Sandra Cretu, and Gloria Estef ...

" by Carl Carlton. The last of these was the title cut of an album intended to be issued on Back Beat in December 1974, but ABC ended up issuing the album on their main label, as they had discontinued Back Beat at the last minute.''Duke/Peacock Records: an illustrated history with discography,'' Galen Gart, Roy C. Ames, Big Nickel Publications (1990) There are many records from Back Beat that found fame but not fortune, as the records are part of the underground movement known as Northern soul. Carl Carlton probably recorded the most tracks that fall into the Northern soul sound.

Back Beat label variations

Independent distribution

* 1957-1959: White, lime green and dark blue "kettle drum" label * 1959-1973: Red, white and yellow label with yellow drumsticks

ABC distribution

* 1973-1974: White and red label with yellow drumsticks * 1974: Dark green and blue label with "abc Back Beat" ("abc" circle logo) between two lines, all in white. Only one record was released with this format: "Everlasting Love" by Carl Carlton (BB 27001, originally released on the white and red label)

Back Beat recording artists

* Carl Carlton (born 1952) * Bobby Doyle (1939–2006) * Norman Fox & The Rob-Roys *

(1941-2020) *

Joe Hinton Joseph Hinton (November 15, 1929 – August 13, 1968) was an American soul singer. Biography Though Clarksdale, Mississippi has been claimed as his birthplace, most sources state that Hinton was born in Evansville, Indiana, where he married L ...

(1929–1968) * Eddie Wilson *

Doodle Owens A doodle is a drawing made while a person's attention is otherwise occupied. Doodles are simple drawings that can have concrete representational meaning or may just be composed of random and abstract lines or shapes, generally without ever lift ...

(1939–1999) * O.V. Wright (1939–1980)

References

External links