Sue Records

Sue Records ("The Sound Of Soul") was founded in 1957 by Henry 'Juggy' Murray in New York City. Also within the group was Symbol Records and Eastern Records. Sue also financed and distributed A.F.O. Records owned by Harold Battiste in New Orleans.

Sue's first success came with Bobby Hendricks and Don Covay and continued into the sixties with Ike and Tina Turner, The Duals' "Stick Shift" and "Mockingbird" by Inez and Charlie Foxx. Further hits were by Justine "Baby" Washington, the Soul Sisters and Jimmy McGriff.

Murray initially released his records in the UK through Decca's London Records but switched to a licensing deal with Island Records in 1964. This deal resulted in a split in the ownership of the Sue name. Island used the label to distribute Sue in the UK. Problems began when Island also leased discs from other US labels that interested them and released them on UK Sue too - which was not in the agreement.

After failing to chart in the U.S., Murray sold the Sue masters to United Artists Records, but retained rights to the Sue name and constantly attempted to re-activate the label until his death in 2005. The Sue Records catalog eventually ended up with EMI, and then with Universal Music Group upon EMI's being bought out in 2012.