History

     Welcome to Versailles Records home on the web! Celebrating our 11th year in business, the label founded over a decade ago in 1999, and wouldn't you know it, recently discovered we have our very own lil ole Wikipedia profile some rock fan posted! Pleasantly, everything they have to say is dead on, including the fact that the label has been distributed nationally by Big Daddy Music Distribution/MVD since early 2001, has sold over a hundred thousand albums, including the popular 'Millennium Tribute' series. Owned and operated by music biographer Jake Brown, who founded the label in 1999, Versailles Records primarily focuses in the genre of hard rock. Most of the label's production work is done in-house, with Versailles artist and music supervisor Richard Kendrick (lead guitarist for Straitjacket Smile, and Near Live Experience) playing a primary role in the production of the label's signature 'Millennium Tribute' series. Kendrick and Brown mix the majority of the label's releases with longtime collaborator engineer Joe Viers, owner of Sonic Lounge Studios in Columbus, OH. While the company has also sought to feature a wide array of unsigned, up and coming artists on its tribute albums over the years, often paired with name players from the 80s and early 90s rock/meyal heyday. The label was also the first to offer fans' bonus samplers as a free 2nd CD featuring all original compositions by unsigned, up and coming Millennium rock and metal bands, often who were derivatively influenced by the band the Tribute is focused on (i.e. Led Zeppelin, Kiss, Stone Temple Pilots, etc).

     Over the course of tributes celebrating every sub-genre of rock, from Bon Jovi, Kiss, AC/DC, Guns N' Roses, Van Halen, Stone Temple Pilots, Led Zeppelin, Motley Crue, The Cult, Buckcherry, and others. On these records and others, we have featured principle players from every of the biggest rock and metal acts on our catalog of over 40 releases, including current/former members of such legendary bands as AC/DC, Guns N' Roses, Aerosmith, Ozzy Osbourne Band, Megadeth, Whitesnake, Black Sabbath, Prince & the Revolution, Alice Cooper Band, Dio, The Cult, Motley Crue, Bride, Petra, Rainbow, Skid Row, Poison, Faith No More, My Life with the Thrill Kill Kult, Quiet Riot, Foreigner, Stryper, Transiberrian Orchestra, Ratt, WASP, Deep Purple, as well as mainstream pop artists including recent Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductee Darlene Love, late Canadian guitar legend Jeff Healey, Alannah Myles, Tiffany, Deniece Williams, and Jane Child among many others. Our catalog also includes the U.S. rights on T. Rex lead singer Marc Bolan's solo LP 'You Scare Me to Death' and legendary Goth pioneers Alien Sex Fiend's 'The Singles- 1983-1995', along with solo debuts from such eclectic solo artists as Jasy Andrews (who among other talents has been vocal coach to current Season 10 American Idol finalist Lauren Alaina) and whose debut LP 'Little Girl' was hailed by many critics including CelebrityCafe.com's conclusing that "in a business that changes every 15 minutes, Andrews shows that she has staying power." Other talented artists we've had the privledge of releasing albums with over the past decade include rising Canadian rockers One Bad Son's first two studio LPs, Richard Kendrick's concept LP 'Murder & the F Word', and the Greatest Hits LP from all-star Christian rockers Liberty Justice (which featured cuts with Lou Gramm from Foreigner, members of Petra, Bride, Guardian and Stryper, Sebastian Bach, Grammy/Dove winner Bob Carlisle, etc).

     In 2011, Versailles signed our first distribution deal with Re-Invention Records, home to an eclectic variety of artists including the rocktronica newbees the Skyscreamers, trance-techno Ufologists the Conspiracy Channel, the Haunted Heads, and a star-studded forthcoming Tribute to Dr. Dre (featuring multi-platinum West Coast rap legend Spice 1, Domino, MC Eght, Felicia 'Snoop' Pearson from HBO's The Wire, Bronx Style Bob, members of Bone Thugz N Harmony, members of 2Pac's Thug Life clique, Rose Reiter, and others to be announced!). Visit www.reinventionrecords.com for more details!