This was quickly renamed Argo Records, but the name was changed again in 1965 to Cadet Records to end confusion with an existing British spoken-word label. In December 1955, they launched a jazz and pop label, Marterry, a name created from the first names of Leonard and Phil's sons, Marshall and Terry. In 1952, the brothers started Checker Records as an alternative label for radio play (radio stations had a policy of only playing a limited number of records from any one imprint). Many songs created by Chess artists were later covered by many rock artists, including the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, Fleetwood Mac, the Beach Boys and Eric Clapton.
Musical figures created for Chess by Bo Diddley, Willie Dixon, Chuck Berry, Howlin Wolf, Muddy Waters, Buddy Guy, and others were the basis of much subsequent rock and roll. One of the most important artists that came out of Memphis was Howlin' Wolf, who stayed with the label until his death in 1976. One of the most important recordings that Phillips gave to Chess was " Rocket 88", by Jackie Brenston and His Delta Cats (the band was actually Ike Turner's Kings of Rhythm), which topped Billboard magazine's R&B Records chart and was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1998 in recognition of its influence on rock and roll. In 1951, the Chess brothers began an association with Sam Phillips, of the Memphis Recording Service, the forerunner of Sun Records. The first release from Chess was a 78 RPM single, "My Foolish Heart", backed with "Bless You", by Gene Ammons, issued as Chess 1425 in June 1950, which became the label's biggest hit of the year. In the same year, they brought in a third partner, Evelyn Aron, and renamed the company Chess Records. In 1950, he brought his brother, Phil, into the operation, and they became the sole owners of the company. Leonard Chess bought a stake in Aristocrat Records in 1947. History Chess brothers' company The Chess Records logo, as featured on a Memphis Slim single Shortly before the death of Leonard Chess in 1969, the brothers sold the company. 21st Street, the label's final Chicago home. In the mid-1960s, Chess relocated to a much larger building, the former home of Revere Camera Company at 320 E. The building is now the home of Willie Dixon's Blues Heaven Foundation. Michigan Avenue, from May 1957 to 1965, immortalized by the Rolling Stones in " 2120 South Michigan Avenue", an instrumental recorded there during the group's first U.S. Ĭhess was based at several locations on the south side of Chicago, initially at South Cottage Grove Ave. The musician and critic Cub Koda described Chess as "America's greatest blues label". The Chess catalogue is owned by Universal Music Group and managed by Geffen Records and Universal Music Enterprises.Įstablished and run by two Jewish immigrant brothers from what was then Poland, Leonard and Phil Chess, the company produced and released many singles and albums regarded as central to the rock music canon. It expanded into soul music, gospel music, early rock and roll, and jazz and comedy recordings, released on the Chess and its subsidiary labels Checker and Argo/ Cadet. It was the successor to Aristocrat Records, founded in 1947. Chess Records was an American record company established in 1950 in Chicago, specializing in blues and rhythm and blues.
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