Okeh

American record label, named after its founder Otto K. E. Heinemann (stylized "OkeH" or "OKeh"). Label Code: LC 0288 / LC 00288 For unofficial releases/bootlegs of Okeh, please use Okeh (3). Launched by the Otto Heineman Phonograph Supply Company, Inc., in 1918, Okeh records were initially produced as 10" vertical-cut discs bearing dark blue labels with an Indian head trademark. On October 1, 1919, the Heineman Corporation reorganized as the General Phonograph Corporation and vertical-cut discs were replaced with standard lateral-cut records. The Indian head label was replaced with a script trademark in 1920. Okeh released the first authentic vocal blues recording in November 1920 (Mamie Smith's "Crazy Blues," on Okeh 4169), and became a leading producer of blues and rural American music during the 1920s. The Okeh label was sold to Columbia Phonograph Company, Inc., in 1926, and came under control of the newly formed Okeh Phonograph Corporation. It operated more-or-less independently into the 1930s, maintaining its own studios, master numbering system, and artist and repertoire departments, even after its parent, Columbia Phonograph Company, Inc., was sold to the Grigsby-Grunow Company in late 1931. In 1934, the American Record Corporation (ARC) acquired Okeh together with the Columbia Phonograph Co, Inc. It discontinued the Okeh label in 1935. After ARC itself was sold to Columbia Broadcasting System, Inc. (CBS), in 1940, CBS revived the Okeh label in April 1940. It was again discontinued in 1946, only to be officially relaunched in 1951. Epic Records took over management of Okeh in 1965. Today, the label is owned by Sony Music Entertainment. 45 RPM catalog number, date and label identification: 6800 through 7092 (1951–1957): Purple label, with small Okeh logo. 7093 through 7140 (1957–1960): Yellow label. A few purple labels overlapped into this series. 7141 and higher (1960–): Purple label with large Okeh logo.