Label Guide: SAR Records

There were two different and unrelated labels with that name in the United States.

SAR Records (1960s) was founded in 1959 by soul legend Sam Cooke in Los Angeles. SAR stands for "Sam, Alex & Roy" for Cooke, his business partner J.W. Alexander and S. Roy Crain of The Soul Stirrers. All five albums on SAR were gospel recordings by (or with participation of) The Soul Stirrers, Sam Cooke's orginial gospel group since 1950, but a larger variety of artists was featured on single releases.

Cooke and Alexander started a pop subsidary of SAR Records in 1963: Derby Records. The label folded after Sam Cooke was murdered on December 11, 1964.

SAR Records (1980s) was a Latin music label, formed by Sergio Bofill, Adriano Garcia and Roberto Torres in 1979, and the label name was derived from their first names. Torres, a legendary Cuban musician and producer, was the creative force behind SAR and produced more than 50 albums for the label over the next decade. The label was originally New York-based and run out of Torres' Guajiro Records offices in Union City, New Jersey, with its large Cuban-American community. It was later relocated to Miami, Florida.