April 27, 1904: Sydney Nathan, not yet wearing his trademark bottleneck eyeglasses, is born in Cincinnati. After trying various jobs, including running a record store, he started King Records in 1943. For more than 20 years, the Cincinnati company released R&B, blues, country and bluegrass hits by Hank Williams, Hank Ballard, Little Willie John, Ralph Stanley, Moon Mullican and funk hits from his biggest star, James Brown.
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