Benson Records

Benson Records

Company type	Subsidiary (formerly independent)
Industry	Music
Founded	1902
Founder	Bob Benson, John T. Benson
Defunct	2001
Fate	Sold to Bertelsmann AG (Provident/Zomba), later discontinued
Headquarters	Nashville, Tennessee , United States
Area served	United States
Products	Christian music recordings, choral music printing
Parent	Provident/Zomba (Bertelsmann AG), later Sony Music Entertainment

Benson Records was established by Bob Benson and John T. Benson, who originally created the John T. Benson Music Publishing Company in 1902. The label initially operated under the name Heart Warming Records and later developed several subsidiary labels such as Impact Records, Greentree Records, RiverSong, StarSong, Power Discs, and Home Sweet Home. In the 1970s, Impact emerged as the primary label, featuring artists including New Dawn, the Imperials, J.D. Sumner & The Stamps Quartet, the Rambos, Dottie Rambo, the Archers, the Bill Gaither Trio, the Speer Family, and Sandi Patty (whose Impact catalog is currently owned by Curb Music).

History

In 1980, Paragon Associates, created in 1975 by Bob MacKenzie alongside Bill Gaither (gospel singer), joined forces with Zondervan to manage Benson Records. Paragon divested its interest to Zondervan in 1983, and under the leadership of Bob Jones, Jr., Benson experienced significant growth throughout the 1980s with artists such as Gold City, The Kingsmen Quartet, DeGarmo & Key, and Dallas Holm.

Throughout the 1980s, Benson entered into a distribution agreement for a newly formed label by Dan R. Brock, Eddie DeGarmo, Dana Key, and Ron W. Griffin—Forefront Records. By 1989, Forefront had signed Dc Talk. In 1996, EMI (now part of Universal Music Group) acquired Forefront along with the complete catalog of DeGarmo & Key. On July 27, 1993, Benson introduced the Christian children's series Kids' Classics, which was rebranded as Cedarmont Kids in 1994. The acquisition of Diadem Music Group in 1995 brought gospel-jazz innovator Ben Tankard’s Tribute Records contracts to Benson, including artists like Tankard himself, Yolanda Adams, Twinkie Clark, and Bob Carlisle, known for his popular song "Butterfly Kisses".

In 1997, Benson Records was sold to Bertelsmann AG through its Provident/Zomba branch, now operating under Sony Music Entertainment. The label shifted focus towards emerging talent before Zomba discontinued it in late 2001.

The rights to the names Heart Warming Records and RiverSong were transferred to Homeland Entertainment, owned by Bill Traylor and former Zondervan President Bob Jones, Jr.

In 2023, Universal Music Group sold Benson's choral music printing division to Celebrating Grace, a subsidiary of the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship.

Artists

• 4Him
• Yolanda Adams
• Angelo & Veronica
• The Archers
• Andrus, Blackwood & Co
• Ray Boltz
• Brush Arbor
• Bob Carlisle
• Commissioned
• Carman
• Cedarmont Kids
• Twinkie Clark
• DeGarmo & Key
• Bryan Duncan
• Gary Dunham
• East to West
• Farrell & Farrell
• Don Francisco
• Bill Gaither Trio
• Glad
• Gold City
• Fred Hammond
• Harvest
• Dallas Holm
• The Imperials
• Kingsmen Quartet
• Life Action Singers
• Oak Ridge Boys
• Sandi Patty
• Chuckie Perez
• Pilgrim Jubilees
• Dottie Rambo
• The Rambos
• Songfellows Quartet
• Speer Family
• Billy Sprague
• J.D. Sumner & The Stamps Quartet
• Straight Company
• Michael Sweet
• Tanya Goodman-Sykes
• Three Crosses
• Tourniquet
• Truth
• Hezekiah Walker
• Whisper Loud
• Thomas Whitfield
• J.C. White and the TFT Church Choir

See also

• List of record labels

External links

• Official Benson Records site (archived)
• Provident-Integrity Distribution
• Provident Label Group
• Southern Gospel History

Resources

• Powell, Mark Allan. The Encyclopedia of Contemporary Christian Music. Hendrickson Publishers, August 2002. ( )