Curtom Records

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Curtom Records was the record label started by Curtis Mayfield of The Impressions in 1968. It is noted for being one of the first ever record labels owned by an African-American recording artist. Along with the Impressions' releases and Mayfield's own solo material, artists on or affiliated with Curtom included the Five Stairsteps, Donny Hathaway (principally as a songwriter/orchestration arranger), Linda Clifford, Baby Huey and the Babysitters, Leroy Hutson, Bobby Whiteside, the Staple Singers, and Mavis Staples' solo efforts. Most of the acts on Curtom's roster were either produced by Mayfield himself, or heavily influenced by his style.

Due to the decline in popularity of soul music, the label went through varying changes of distributions from several labels - first by Buddah Records, then by Warner Bros., Ichiban Records, and finally Arista Records, before closing for good in 1980. The Curtom master tapes are now owned by the Warner Music Group, and all subsequent reissues have been under Warner's supervision.