Kent

Also appears as "Kent Records" or subtitled "the Original Blues Label" or "The Legendary Blues Label". Kent was launched in 1958 as a label for the blues musicians of Modern Records (2) and released singles by famous artist like B. B. King, Elmore James und Z. Z. Hill. During 1965 and 1973 also lps were released. The mother label Modern Records (2) went bankrupt in the middle of the 60s, so the management went to Kent and used the same strategies as formerly. Also the repertoire of Crown Records (2), another sister label, founded by the Bihari brothers were released, when Crown went down in 1969. In 1971 the releases of singles stopped. Following the creation of United Superior Records in 1969, part of the catalogue was reissued on United (9) with two different label designs. From 1982 on, Ace licenced and released the program of the labels, so see Kent Records for UK releases. In 1990, Ace acquired the rights and master tapes. For LPs, the light grey labels (used until the late 60s) are sometimes slightly different for one release, so please provide images. The second label variant was the orange and white label version (used in 1969/1970). In 1970 the design changed to the multicolored Hexagon, at first, with black background (in 1970 for just a few months), then with light blue background and differences in colour display, typesetting and font used. The yellow label version belongs to the later 70s, has a new 'kent' (lower case) logo and rim text: 'Mfd. by Cadet Records, Inc.' There is also a spirograph label version having a 'Mfd. by Cadet Records, Inc.' text on lower rim, just as with one of the label versions of United (9), probably from the mid-70ies. In the 80ies, label layout changed again to a white label with black lettering and a blue horizontal stripe at the center hole. For company credits, see: -Kent Records (7) (50s/60s/70s) -Kent Records, Inc. (80s) -Kamp Associates Inc. (90s) For bootlegs / counterfeits, see Kent (4).