Label Guide: Duke

Duke Records was founded 1952 in Memphis, Tennessee, but relocated to Houston, Texas, the next year when Don Robey took control of the company. As the founder of Peacock Records and owner of Duke, Robey was responsible for developing the careers of many rhythm and blues artists in the 1950s and 1960s. However, according to Jerry Leiber of the songwriting team Leiber and Stoller, Robey was a gangster who managed his various entertainment enterprises using violence, the threat of violence, and murder.

The combined Duke/Peacock labels were focused on Blues, R&B and Gospel music, with Johnny Ace, Roscoe Gordon, Junior Parker and Bobby "Blue" Bland among its most successful artists. Duke released about two dozen albums between 1955 and 1970, many of which were re-released by ABC Records in the mid-1970s, after Don Robey sold his labels to ABC/Dunhill in 1973.