Curtom Records was a record label started by Curtis Mayfield of The Impressions along with Impressions associate Eddie Thomas (the band's manager and Jerry Butler's former driver) in 1968 although the name was used as early as 1963.
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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, The Natural Four, Bobby Whiteside, Holly Maxwell, the Staple Singers, and Mavis Staples' solo efforts.
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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., RSO Records, and finally Arista Records, before closing for good in 1980 (although the very first Curtom 45's were independently distributed).
The phrase "We're a Winner" was later used as the motto of Mayfield's record label Curtom Records.
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Originally released in May 1971 as a double LP on Mayfield's Curtom label (distributed through Neil Bogart's Buddah Records), the album's twelve tracks (track listing below is from the 2000 Rhino reissue, which includes two bonus tracks) — along with Mayfield's interstitial raps on the politics of the day — were recorded at Paul Colby's Bitter End nightclub in New York City.