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Ichiban Records was an American independent record label, founded in 1985 by John Abbey [1] and Nina Easton in Atlanta, Georgia, United States.
| | This article needs additional citations for verification .(November 2012) |
Ichiban Records was an American independent record label, founded in 1985 by John Abbey [1] and Nina Easton in Atlanta, Georgia, United States.
Wrap Records and Nastymix Records were some of its subsidiary labels. Urgent! Records and Mr. Henry Records of Houston were both distributed by Ichiban. [2] Besides recording a string of hip hop groups in later years, Ichiban originally specialised in blues and has also released albums by musicians such as Buster Benton and Raful Neal. Ichiban filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 1999. [3] The catalog is now controlled by EMI, but nothing has been reissued since the label ceased operations.
The label's name, "ichi-ban", is Japanese for "number one" or "first one", an expression commonly used in Japan to mean the best.
Benjamin Franklin Peay, better known as Brook Benton, was an American singer and songwriter who was popular with rock and roll, rhythm and blues, and pop music audiences during the late 1950s and early 1960s, with hits such as "It's Just a Matter of Time" and "Endlessly", many of which he co-wrote.
Tyrone Davis was an American blues and soul singer with a long list of hit records over more than 20 years. Davis had three number 1 hits on the Billboard R&B chart: "Can I Change My Mind" (1968), "Turn Back the Hands of Time" (1970), and "Turning Point" (1975).
Ann Lee Peebles is an American retired singer and songwriter who gained popularity for her Memphis soul albums of the 1970s while signed to Hi Records. Her most successful singles include "I Can't Stand the Rain", which she wrote with her husband Don Bryant and radio broadcaster Bernie Miller, and "I'm Gonna Tear Your Playhouse Down". In 2014, she was inducted into the Memphis Music Hall of Fame.
John Paul Hammond is an American singer and musician. The son of record producer John H. Hammond, he is sometimes referred to as John Hammond Jr.
Raful Neal was an American Louisiana blues singer, harmonicist and songwriter from the United States.
Cochise was an English country rock band that performed in the early 1970s. Their albums and singles were released on the United Artists and Liberty Records labels.
The Falcons were an American rhythm and blues vocal group, some of whose members went on to be influential in soul music.
Climax Blues Band is a British blues rock band. The band has released at least 19 albums. "Couldn't Get It Right" reached #10 on the UK Singles Chart and #3 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1977. "I Love You" peaked on Billboard at #12 in 1981.
Clarence Smith, known as Sonny Rhodes, was an American blues singer and lap steel guitar player. He recorded over two hundred songs. "I'm what you call a self-proclaimed Disciple of the Blues!" said Rhodes about his years playing and singing for fans of blues around the world. He was nominated 15 times for Blues Music Awards and won in the category 'Instrumentalist – Other' in 2011.
Bobby McClure was an American soul singer.
Aaron Corthen, better known as A.C. Reed was an American blues saxophonist, closely associated with the Chicago blues scene from the 1940s into the 2000s.
Willie C. Cobbs was an American blues singer, harmonica player and songwriter. He is best known for his song "You Don't Love Me".
Colin Larkin is a British writer. He founded, and was the editor-in-chief of, the Encyclopedia of Popular Music. Along with the ten-volume encyclopedia, Larkin also wrote the book All Time Top 1000 Albums, and edited the Guinness Who's Who of Jazz, the Guinness Who's Who of Blues, and the Virgin Encyclopedia of Heavy Rock. He has over 650,000 copies in print to date.
The Encyclopedia of Popular Music is an encyclopedia created in 1989 by Colin Larkin. It is the "modern man's" equivalent of the Grove Dictionary of Music, which Larkin describes in less than flattering terms. It was described by The Times as "the standard against which all others must be judged".
Gary B.B. Coleman was an American soul blues guitarist, singer, songwriter and record producer.
Arley "Buster" Benton was an American blues guitarist and singer. He played guitar in Willie Dixon's Blues All-Stars and is best known for his solo rendition of Dixon's song "Spider in My Stew." Benton was tenacious, and despite the amputation of parts of both legs in the latter part of his lengthy career, he never stopped playing his own version of Chicago blues.
Willie James Lyons was an American Chicago blues guitarist, singer and songwriter. He worked primarily in the West Side of Chicago from the late 1950s up to his death. Lyons was an accompanist to many musicians who included Luther Allison, Jimmy Dawkins and Bobby Rush. A noted performer in his own right, Lyons work was influenced by B.B. King and Freddie King, T-Bone Walker and Lowell Fulson. His only solo album was Chicago Woman, recorded in France in 1979.
Lynn White is an American soul blues singer and songwriter. Between 1978 and 2006, she released fourteen albums, three compilation albums, and numerous singles. Her best known song is "I Don't Ever Wanna See Your Face Again" (1982). White had a subtle dulcet voice when compared to her contemporaries harsher tones.
Luther "Houserocker" Johnson was an American electric blues singer, guitarist and songwriter. He recorded two studio albums in his lifetime and was a regular live performer over seven decades. He is not to be confused with Luther "Guitar Junior" Johnson, nor Luther "Georgia Boy" Johnson.
Blues Boy Willie is an American electric and soul blues singer, musician, and songwriter. Influenced jointly by his grounding in gospel and Junior Parker's recordings, Blues Boy Willie's songwriting has produced gritty songs, including "Be Who?", "Injustice", and "The Fly".
