Priority Records
Priority Records was founded in Los Angeles in 1985 by three former
K-tel executives:
Bryan Turner,
Mark Cerami and
Steve Drath. Initial funding was provided by
R-tek, a company headed by former K-tel board members, Ray and Harold Kives, and their company took an initial 50% ownership in Priority.
To support early operations, Priority licensed repertoire from others and released compilation albums but soon began to develop its own significant artist roster. Between 1987 and 2001, Priority enjoyed success with many gold, platinum and multi-platinum artists, among them
NWA,
Ice Cube,
Master P,
Snoop Dogg,
Mack 10,
Westside Connection,
Eazy-E and
Ice-T.
Priority bought out the R-tek interest in 1987 and later sold the label to
EMI, 50% in 1996 and the remainder in 1998. The company continued to function independently until 2001, when its operations were merged with EMI's major US subsidiary,
Capitol Records.
Less well known is
Priority Records of Fort Worth, Texas--an independent jazz label founded in the early 70s by pianist
John Case (musician). This label released around 12 discs, most of which featured John and his guitarist brother
Jerry Case playing in a western-swing context.[
1]
*
"2002 Music Awards" by Anthony Mariani,
Fort Worth Weekly,
June 13,
2002, retrieved
June 29,
2006*
List of record labels
