Henry Stone, TK Records Founder and First Man to Record Ray Charles, Dies at 93

Henry Stone, the cofounder of TK Records died last week in Miami of natural causes. He was 93.

Stone set up his own record distribution company, Seminole, after settling in Miami for the first time at the age of 27. Despite the more than 100 million records that have been sold from labels owned or founded by Stone, perhaps nothing will outlive the performer who he recorded for the first time: During a 1951 session he laid handled a track played by a young pianist from the Florida School for The Deaf and Blind, titled "St. Pete Florida Blues." That young man was Ray Robinson, who would go on to fame as Ray Charles.

Most of the money made during Stone's tenure came at TK Records during the disco age however thanks to the stellar output of KC & The Sunshine Band. He founded TK with Steve Alaimo and the label and respective band thrived with hits such as "That's The Way (I Like It)," "Get Down Tonight" and "Shake, Shake, Shake (Shake Your Booty)."

The end of the disco era brought about the end of TK Records as well, and the company went bankrupt during 1981. According to the Miami New Times however, he founded more than 100 record labels during his lifetime.

Harry Wayne Casey, better known as "KC" within his hit band, used to work part time for TK and used the studio to record when no one else was. He spoke fondly of his former boss.

"(He) believed in me when no one else did," he said of Stone, referring to him as his mentor.

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Ray Charles