Our 20th Anniversary

The story begins in 2003, when Jon Horvath, Steve Raskin, Rob Myers, and Sid Barcelona formed Fort Knox Recordings as an outlet for all the new music they were producing. These were the early days of the legendary Fort Knox Five.The label started with 12″ Vinyl releases and caught the tail end of the DJ record-buying days, before digital music and streaming became a thing. From the beginning, the vibe was retro, the sound was funk, and the beats were fresh.The label celebrated its first decade with the 2013 release of10 Years of FortKnox Recordings, and a clear theme had emerged. The label had become a creative incubator, a place for the featured, collaborating, and remixing artists who were working with Fort Knox Five to release their own material. After featuring See-I, Mustafa Akbar and the Empresarios on FK5 tracks, the label became a home for these artists to release their own music. And this hometown, family approach continues to this day.

Of course there have been a few notable changes over the years, including the tragic loss of label co-founderJon Horvath in 2015.And sadly two of the most distinctive voices to touch the mic have also passed on: Mustafa Akbar in 2018 and Zee Steele in 2022.These legends are alive and well in our hearts, and their legacy is strong. Amidst the twists and turns, the tides of destiny brought another shift. The entire back catalog of Thunderball, the creative force that laid the groundwork for FK5, returned home to the label. Fort Knox Recordings thrives as a melting pot of genres, where Reggae,Funk, Breaks, Latin, House, Downtempo, Trip-Hop, and more find their rightful place.