Chess Records was an American record label based in Chicago, Illinois. It specialized in blues, R&B, soul, gospel music, early rock and roll, and occasional jazz releases that was founded in 1950 and became inactive in 1975.

The company signed many great artists like Chuck Berry, Muddy Waters & Howlin' Wolf to name but a few. Chess Records was based at several different locations on the south side of Chicago, Illinois, initially at two different locations on South Cottage Grove Ave.

The most famous location was 2120 S. Michigan Avenue from around 1956 to 1965, immortalized by British rock group The Rolling Stones in "2120 South Michigan Avenue", an instrumental recorded at that address during their first U.S. tour in 1964; the Stones would record at Chess Studios on two more occasions.

Many songs created by Chess artists were later reproduced by many famous Rock n' Roll bands and artists such as The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, The Beach Boys and Eric Clapton. Some of the core riffs created by Bo Diddley, Willie Dixon, Chuck Berry, Howlin Wolf, Muddy Waters and others were the basis of a wide amount of Rock n' Roll.

The building is now home to Willie Dixon's Blues Heaven Foundation. In the mid-60s Chess re-located to a much larger building at 320 East 21st Street, the label's final Chicago home. Here are several links of The Chess Record Company.

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