From:   "Dik de Heer" 
Date:  Fri Nov 1, 2002  6:11 am
Subject:  Born To Be With You : Don Robey

DON ROBEY

Born Donald D. Robey, 1 November 1903, Houston, Texas
Died 16 June 1975, Houston, Texas

In their book "What Was The First Rock 'n' Roll Record?", Jim Dawson
and Steve Propes describe Don Robey as "a Houston gangster, a light-
skinned Jewish-Negro who owned a nightclub (the Bronze Peacock), a
booking agency and Peacock Records". One of the first blacks to run a
successful record company, Robey was notorious for his aggressive
tactics. His nightclub soon became a centre for developing local talent
as well as bringing in big names from across the country. Robey managed
bluesman Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown, but was unhappy with Brown's
treatment by Aladdin Records. As a result, Robey launched his own label,
Peacock, in 1949, initially as a vehicle to record Brown. His first success
was in the gospel field, with the Five Blind Boys and the Dixie Hummingbirds,
but soon Peacock developed as one of the more important R&B labels as well,
featuring artists such as Marie Adams, Little Richard and Big Mama Thornton,
who put Peacock on the map in early 1953 with her classic reading of "Hound
Dog". After forcibly buying out Memphis-based Duke Records from deejay
David Mattis in 1953, Robey inherited a strong stable of acts that included
Johnny Ace, Bobby Bland and Junior Parker. In 1957, Robey created the
subsidiary Back Beat, dedicated to the teenage market. The first hit on this
label was "So Tough" by a white group called the Casuals (# 6 R&B, # 42 pop,
later pressings credited to "The Original Casuals"). In the sixties, Back Beat
continued as the main outlet for Robey's expanding roster of soul artists,
scoring hits with Joe Hinton's "Funny (How Time Slips Away)" and Roy Head's
"Treat Her Right" (# 2 pop in 1965). The last of Robey's artists to develop into
a hitmaker was Detroit-born Carl Carlton. His first six singles for Back Beat
all
charted R&B and in 1974 he enjoyed a # 6 pop smash with "Everlasting Love".
In 1973 Robey sold Duke/Peacock to ABC-Dunhill (which in its turn was taken
over by MCA in the eighties), but was retained as a consultant. He died of a
heart attack at the age of 71.

Further reading: Galen Gart and Roy C. Ames, Duke/Peacock Records : An
Illustrated History With Discography. Milford, NH : Big Nickel Publications,
1990.

CD: Duke - Peacock's Greatest Hits (MCA MCAD 10666). 16 tracks.