ABKCO = Allen and Betty Klein Co.: the label's name is an acronym formed from the first initials of Allen B. Klein and his former wife Betty; Allen Klein himself often jokingly said the acronym meant A New Kind Of Company. Company founded in 1961 as Allen Klein and Company, an artist management company.
Label formed in 1968 by music industry accountant/business manager Allen Klein. As company role please use ABKCO Records or ABKCO Records, Inc..
ABKCO Records is part of ABKCO Music & Records, Inc., a music publisher and film production company that was founded in 1961 as Allen Klein & Company. Allen Klein was a controversial American business manager specializing in music clients including Bobby Darin and Sam Cooke and, later, managed The Rolling Stones and The Beatles.
ABKCO rarely releases new music, instead it re-releases recordings from the vast pool of music rights it owns. Allen Klein bought Cameo-Parkway Records in 1968 and it still owns the full catalogue of this label today. ABKCO also owns and/or administers the rights to music by Sam Cooke, The Rolling Stones, The Animals, Herman's Hermits, Marianne Faithfull and The Kinks.
Allen Klein died in 2009 from Alzheimer's Disease, but the label is still owned by the Klein family, now managed by his son Jody Klein and distributed through Universal Music Group.