{{Short description|Defunct US record label}} {{More citations needed|date=July 2022}} '''SAR Records''' was a record company founded by soul music legend Sam Cooke in 1961. The meaning of "SAR" has been disputed; it has been listed as "Sam & Alex Records"<ref name=gurlnick2014 /> (J.W. Alexander was Cooke's business, song-writing associate, and friend) and also as "Sam, Alex, & Roy Records"<ref name=butler2004 /> (Roy being S. R. Crain, Cooke's mentor from his Soul Stirrers days, as well as his pop road manager).
The label did not feature Cooke, but rather featured all of Cooke's artists such as the latter-day Soul Stirrers with Jimmie Outler and Johnnie Taylor singing lead, The Valentinos (including Bobby Womack), Billy Preston, Mel Carter, The Simms Twins, Johnnie Morisette, L. C. Cooke (Cooke's younger brother), as well as Johnnie Taylor as a pop soloist.<ref name=butler2004>{{cite book |last1=Butler |first1=Jerry |last2=Smith |first2=Earl |title=Only the Strong Survive: Memoirs of a Soul Survivor |date=February 2004 |publisher=Indiana University Press |isbn=978-0-253-21704-2 |page=130 |language=en}}</ref>
One notable release on SAR was the original version of "It's All Over Now" by The Valentinos which would later be covered by the Rolling Stones.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Leszczak |first1=Bob |title=Who Did It First?: Great Rhythm and Blues Cover Songs and Their Original Artists |date=10 October 2013 |publisher=Scarecrow Press |isbn=978-0-8108-8867-8 |page=111 |language=en}}</ref>
The label was intended to be a place where Sam Cooke could expand his artistic abilities as a writer/producer and to give other struggling African-American artists a venue to record during the racially charged 1960's. Cooke did record two songs on the label, however, that have only been released since 2001: the solo side of his gospel song "That's Heaven to Me", and "Somewhere There's a Girl" (a secular version of The Valentino's "Somewhere There's a God").
The label folded after Sam Cooke's death on December 11, 1964.
A 2-CD compilation, ''Sam Cooke's SAR Records Story 1959–1965'', was released in 1994 by ABKCO Records. <ref name=gurlnick2014>{{cite book |last1=Guralnick |first1=Peter |title=Sweet Soul Music (Enhanced Edition): Rhythm and Blues and the Southern Dream of Freedom |date=4 November 2014 |publisher=Little, Brown |isbn=978-0-316-19943-8 |language=en}}</ref>
== See also == * List of record labels
== References == {{reflist}}
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Category:American record labels Category:Record labels established in 1961 Category:Record labels disestablished in 1964 Category:Soul music record labels Category:Sam Cooke