Label Guide: T-Neck

T-Neck Records was founded by members of the soul group The Isley Brothers in 1964, after the band left Motown Records. The label is named for the Isleys hometown of Teaneck, New Jersey.

Following the label's formation, the Isleys decided to record a couple of compositions with their band, which included a then-unknown guitarist named Jimi Hendrix, who was going by Jimmy Hendrix or Jimmy James at the time. That first version of T-Neck was distributed briefly by Atlantic Records, but when the early releases failed to chart, the brothers decided to temporarily fold the label in 1966. No albums were released during the Atlantic years.

In early 1969, The Isley Brothers decided to reactivate T-Neck Records, now distributed by Neil Bogart's Buddah Records. The relaunched label's first official release was the funk anthem, "It's Your Thing", which turned to be a huge success, peaking at #1 on the R&B singles chart as well as #2 on the pop chart, and selling over a million copies. Several more hits followed and T-Neck earned a better distribution deal with Epic Records, under the helms of major CBS, from 1973 on.

After a very successful 1970s decade, the T-Neck label was undergoing financial troubles in the early 1980s which led to a bankruptcy filing in 1985. The Isleys agreed to fold T-Neck Records, giving up much of the label's shares to bankers to avoid prison time for tax evasion. T-Neck's pre-1983 back catalog is now controlled by SonyBMG via Epic/Legacy.