West End Records is a record label, which is known as one of the most prominent labels in dance music’s history along with Prelude Records

Prelude Records

Prelude Records is a classical music specialist CD shop, located in Norwich, England.Staffed by musicians, the shop has been in business since 1985....

, Salsoul Records

Salsoul Records

This article is about the record label. For SalSoul the Puerto Rican Salsa radio station see Cadena Salsoul.Salsoul Records was a New York City based record label founded by brothers Joseph Cayre, Kenneth Cayre, and Stanley Cayre . Salsoul released about 300 disco 12-inch singles, and a string of...

 and Casablanca Records

Casablanca Records

Casablanca Records was an American record label started by Neil Bogart, who partnered with Cecil Holmes, Larry Harris, and Buck Reingold in 1973, and based in Los Angeles. The label was formed after all of them had left Buddah Records and secured financing by Warner Bros. Records to start the venture...

.

History

It was founded by Mel Cheren and Ed Kushins in 1976 and the label went on to define the sound of New York City in the heyday of disco. That sound eventually filtered to dance floors and clubs across the country and around the world. During the disco era, many labels and artists scrambled to put out records that would ride the wave of disco's popularity but West End was not jumping on any bandwagon. West End created the bandwagon, releasing hits like Taana Gardner's "Heartbeat," Karen Young's "Hot Shot," Loose Joints' "Is It All Over My Face," Barbara Mason's "Another Man," and The NYC Peech Boys' "Don't Make Me Wait," creating a frenzy on dance floors. These titles, along with many others in the West End Records catalog, went on to become some of the most sampled songs in music history.

Samples of West End Records' titles appear in productions of million selling artists: Jennifer Lopez, Notorious B.I.G, Ja Rule, Ini Kamoze, DMX and many others. The sound of West End is intimately remembered by all the dancers and music lovers from the world over. In the film industry, you can find West End’s music in such films as "The Cookout" (Lions Gate Films, 2004), "Honey" (Universal Pictures, 2003), "Loving Jezebel" (Shooting Gallery, 1999), "Reversal of Fortune" (Warner Bros, 1990) and much more. West End’s music has also been featured on such television programs as "The Ellen Degeneres Show", "Queer Eye for the Straight Girl", and "Showtime at the Apollo".

They released such hits as:

• Taana Gardner
  Taana Gardner
  Taana Gardner is an American disco and post-disco singer who found her success through West End Records from 1979 to the present day. She is also a former member of the Aural Exciters....
  
   - “Heartbeat”
• Karen Young
  Karen Young (American singer)
  Karen Young was an American disco-era singer best known for her hit, "Hot Shot".-Biography:Young grew up in a Northeast Philadelphia, Pennsylvania rowhouse. Before becoming an international recording star with "Hot Shot," she recorded jingles and background vocals for the Philadelphia based...
  
   - “Hot Shot”
• Barbara Mason
  Barbara Mason
  Barbara Mason is an American R&B/soul singer best known for her 1965 hit song, "Yes, I'm Ready".-Career:A soul singer, Mason initially focused on songwriting when she entered the music industry in her teens...
  
   - “Another Man”
• Loose Joints - “Is It All Over My Face?”
• The New York Citi Peech Boys - “Don’t Make Me Wait”

External links

• homepage.
• discography at Discogs
  Discogs
  Discogs, short for discographies, is a website and database of information about audio recordings, including commercial releases, promotional releases, and bootleg or off-label releases. The Discogs servers, currently hosted under the domain name discogs.com, are owned by Zink Media, Inc., and are...
  
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• West End Records at MySpace
  MySpace
  Myspace is a social networking service owned by Specific Media LLC and pop star Justin Timberlake. Myspace launched in August 2003 and is headquartered in Beverly Hills, California. In August 2011, Myspace had 33.1 million unique U.S. visitors....
  
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• West End Records at Disco-Disco.