Duke and Peacock Records

A decade before the ascendance of Motown, Houston’s Duke and Peacock record labels flourished as an African-American-owned company. Don Robey, a nightclub owner with reputed underworld connections, founded Peacock Records in 1949 and ran it with an iron hand. In 1952 Robey and James Mattias of Duke Records (founded in Memphis, Tennessee, earlier in the year) formed a partnership. A year later Robey became the outright owner of Duke and centralized its operation in Houston....