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Duke
Duke Records was a 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 “Hey Fat Girl” ... issued on Duke R-1, later amended to R-101.
After forming a partnership with Mattis in the summer of 1952, Don D. Robey (founder of Houston's Peacock Records) got control of Duke. Both labels then headquartered at the Bronze Peacock club at 2809 Erastus Street in Houston.
They started subsidiary Back Beat Records, which specialised in soul music, in 1957. The Duke label was sold to ABC Dunhill Records on 23 May, 1973.
