Twinight Records
was a minor American recording label, founded in Chicago 1967 by Howard
Bedno and Peter Wright, who later added E. Rodney Jones as a partner.
Specializing in R&B and soul music, for a few months the label was called Twilight Records
until it was discovered that another company already owned the Twilight
name. Over five years, the label released (or at least recorded) 55
singles and charted seven times. The label’s star was Syl Johnson, an established R&B performer who had had a number of hits for King Records and who would have his biggest hits for Hi Records in the 1970s.
Johnson’s hits at Twinight included "Come on Sock it to Me" (1967),
"Sorry ‘Bout Dat", "Different Strokes", "Is It Because I'm Black"
(1969), and "Concrete Reservation". Some of these songs were recorded
with Willie Mitchell
in Nashville, which would later prove the undoing for the company, as
Mitchell would ultimately lure Johnson away to Hi Records in 1971.
The success of Johnson's music permitted the company to scout and
record local Chicago talent, making numerous recordings of varying
quality. Johnson proved to be an able producer as well as performer, and
he often produced the songs on behalf of the company. While many of the
artists never went on to later fame, some standout material was
produced including singles by Nate Evans (who later joined The Impressions), The Perfections, Velma Perkins (later charting as Vee Allen),
Krystal Generation, Johnny Williams, The Notations, The Radiants, and
Annette Poindexter. The house band was called Pieces of Peace. Donny Hathaway got his start at Twinight, penning songs for other artists on the roster before moving on to better things.
Except for Johnson’s hits, the only other artists to chart were The Notations ("I'm Still Here") and falsetto
Renaldo Domino, whose “Not Too Cool to Cry” reached Number 7 on the
Chicago R&B charts in 1970. As a rule, the Twinight singles were all
relegated to the “lunar rotation”
of late night radio, which virtually guaranteed them a place in
everlasting obscurity. Within a few months of Johnson’s defection, the
label folded early in 1972.
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