Anthony C. Renfro

Los Angeles-based Renfro and Soul Power (5) were the brainchild of owner Tony Renfro, a "frustrated" R&B vocalist who formed the label after both Sam Cooke and James Brown told him he was in fact a terrible singer. Undaunted, he channeled his earnings as a grocery store bagger into making records with a staff who included songwriter Ronald Saunders and arranger Arthur Wright, and while Renfro never cracked the charts, its output is widely celebrated among connoisseurs of classic soul.