Malaco Records
Malaco Records is an American independent record label based in Jackson, Mississippi that has been the home of various major blues and gospel acts, such as Johnnie Taylor, Bobby Bland, Z. Z. Hill, Denise LaSalle, Benny Latimore, Dorothy Moore, Little Milton, Shirley Brown, Marvin Sease, and the Mississippi Mass Choir. It has received an historic marker issued by the Mississippi Blues Commission to commemorate its important place on the Mississippi Blues Trail.
A tornado on April 15, 2011, destroyed much of the company's main building and studio, which have since been re-built.
Company history
Beginnings
Malaco Records was founded in 1962 by Tommy Couch, Mitchell Malouf, and Wolf Stephenson, initially as a booking agency. In 1967, the company opened a recording studio in a building that remains the home of Malaco. Experimenting with local songwriters and artists, the company began producing master recordings. Malaco needed to license their early recordings with established labels for national distribution. Between 1968 and 1970, Capitol Records released six singles and a Grammy Award-nominated album by Mississippi Fred McDowell. Revenue from record releases was minimal, however, and Malaco survived doing jingles, booking bands, promoting concerts, and renting the studio for custom projects.
