OKeh short history: 

OKeh was founded by Otto K. E. Heinemann when he set up his own recording studio and gramophone record pressing plant in New York City in September 1918. Heinemann formed the name of the record label "OKeh", from his initials.  OKeh began by issuing popular songs, dance numbers, and vaudeville skits similar to the fare of other labels, but Heineman also wished to experiment with music for audiences neglected by the larger record companies. OKeh produced lines of recordings in German, Czech, Polish, Swedish, and Yiddish for the USA's immigrant communities. In 1920, Ralph Peer's recordings by African-American blues singer Mamie Smith were a surprise smash hit for Okeh. The company perceived the significant, little-tapped market for blues and jazz by African American artists. Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington and Bix Beiderbecke are only a few names of jazz greats that have recorded for the label. By 1926 Columbia Records bought the label and kept it running into the 60's with jazz and R&B recordings. 

In 1994, Sony Music reactivated the OKeh label as a new-age Blues label. Okeh's first new signings included Keb' Mo, Popa Chubby, and Little Axe. By 2000, the Okeh label was again retired, but in 2013 it will see its re-launch as a jazz label once again.

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Once transmitted through speakers and into the airwaves, music belongs to the people. The audience ascribes meaning and significance to songs and ultimately absorbs them for life.

By the same token, SIX60 belong to listeners. The history-making award-winning New Zealand quintet—Matiu Walters [vocals, guitar], Marlon Gerbes [keyboard], Ji Fraser [lead guitar], Chris Mac [bass], and Eli Paewai [drums]—stir rock, reggae, funk, and pop together with a twist of kiwi roots music and Maori instrumentation. Invoking this spirit and Kiwi roots, their latest music and next evolution showcases traditional Maori instruments such as Pūtātara and Pūkāe (stone and long trumpets), Bone Kōauao (Bone Flute), and Karanga Weka (Stone Flute). “We want to take our Maori culture and put it into a mainstream radio world,” exclaims Matiu. “There are only a handful of people in the world who can play these instruments, and we felt getting them into a mainstream album could give them a chance to stay alive.”
Over a decade before breaking records and selling out stadiums back home or signing to Epic Records stateside, the boys then welcomed the world into their musical ecosystem and set a career precedent in 2008 while still students.

“At University of Otago, we shared a flat at 660 Castle Street in Dunedin, New Zealand,” recalls Matiu. “We originally didn’t name the band. Instead, our first college fans gave the band the name by calling us the ‘SIX60 Boys,’ which evolved into SIX60. We adopted this philosophy into our albums. The fans add the final touches and have naming rights over things we do. The songs aren’t done until the audience has them. So, the album doesn’t really have a spirit or a name until the crowd consumes it.”

As such, SIX60 engender a rare level of devotion from fans, bordering on downright phenomenal. The group’s 2011 full-length, SIX60 (I. The Gold Album), bowed at #1 on the charts in New Zealand and eventually went septuple-platinum. SIX60 (II. The Colours Album). saw them reclaim the top spot on the charts in 2015 and go quintuple-platinum. To date, New Zealand single sales exceed 1 million as global streams surpass 200 million and counting. At the 2018 NZ Music Awards, they garnered “Best Group” in addition to five other honors.

A year later, they made history. Performing their biggest show to date, they sold out Western Springs Stadium in New Zealand and became “the first New Zealand Act to Sell 50,000 Tickets to a Show at the Stadium” (They repeated the same feat for 2020!). The gig proved to be a major milestone both professionally and musically.

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