October 12, 2013 Proclaimed TK Records Day in Hialeah, Florida
The Miami Disco Fever Reunion took place on October 12, 2013 at the Milander Performing Arts Center in Hialeah. Organized by Charlie Rodriguez Live Entertainment and hosted by Leo Vela, several TK Disco artists performed including George McCrae, Timmy Thomas, Jimmie Bo Horne, and the Old Skool Gang did a KC and the Sunshine Band tribute.
Henry Stone received a proclamation from City of Hialeah Mayor Carlos Hernandez declaring it TK Records Day! Well over 1000 people danced and partied the night away to some of the best music from the 70s disco era. Full text of the proclamation below the image.
Editors Note: As great as the proclamation is, it is not entirely factually accurate. T.K. Records never waned in popularity throughout its tenure. At the time of the company’s bankruptcy due to the reaction by credit-holding banks to mass media communications on the geographically isolated “Disco Sucks” movement, Henry Stone had the #1 song in the world. This was KC and The Sunshine Band’s “Please Don’t Go,” the actual first #1 pop hit of the 1980’s. Furthermore, George McCrae’s “Rock Your Baby” was the first global #1 r&b hit to cement the disco genre. Hues Corporation’s “Rock The Boat” was a perceived flop before breaking through dance club play, and did not go #1 around the world. And even further furthermore, Henry Stone’s role as a transshipping distributor who broke underground r&b records in markets like NYC, Philly, Chicago, and Detroit, means that he was the man supplying DJ’s with the black and latin dance club records that formed the genesis of the discotheque movement in America’s urban centers.
Proclamation
Whereas: The City of Hialeah is proud to recognize TK Records. This record company was an American record label started by record distributor Henry Stone in Miami, Florida. TK Records is one of several labels that he founded in the 1960s and 1970s. It distributed disco star KC and the Sunshine Band until 1981.
Whereas: TK Records is closely associated with soul/R&B and the early rise of Disco music, being the label on which the second bona fide disco song (after the Hues Corporation’s “Rock The Boat”) to reach #1 on the pop music charts was released. Other artists who had an impact on the label or on one of its many subidiary labels include Betty Wright (on Alston), Benny Latimore (Glades), Peter Brown (Drive), Foxy, Kracker (Dash), Jimmy ‘Bo’ Horne (Sunshine Sound), Timmy Thomas (Glades), Gwen McCrae (Cat), T-Connection (Dash), Bobby Caldwell (Clouds), and Anita Ward (Juana). Within a couple of years, TK’s notability in disco music would be surpassed by other labels, such as Casablanca Records and RSO Records, but, in the early years, TK was undoubtedly in the top tier of the disco genre.
Now, Therefore: I, Carlos Hernandez, Mayor of the City of Hialeah, under the power and authority vested in me, do hereby solemnly proclaim this Saturday, 12th day of October, 2013, as:
TK Records Day
In Hialeah, and urge our more than 225,000 residents to join me in honoring this event.
In Witness Whereof, I have herunto set my hand and caused the Great Seal of the City of Hialeah to be affixed this 12th day of October 2013.
Carlos Hernandez
Mayor