Urgent Records (Austin, TX)

Urgent Records was founded in 1984 with one artist, Phillip Sandifer. The company was based in Los Angeles and Phillip's three albums ("Never Steal The Show", "On My Way" and "Keeping The Dream Alive") were distributed by Sparrow Records (Now EMI Christian Music). In 1988, with Phillip still the only artist on the label, the company moved to Austin, Texas. Since then Phillip has produced four more albums ("Constant", "The Other Side Of Salvation", "Arizona Highway" and "Sensible Enigmas").

The first artist added to the Urgent label was singer-songwriter Wendi Foy (now Wendi Foy Green of the trio “Sierra”). Bob Bennett joined the Urgent family in the spring of 1989 and produced two albums for Urgent - "Lord of the Past: A Compilation" and "Songs From Bright Avenue". "Lord of the Past: A Compilation" was named one of the top 100 Christian albums ever made by CCM magazine. "Lord Of The Past" and "Yours Alone" were Urgent's first #1 radio singles.

Billy Crockett and Rob Frazier joined Urgent Records in 1990. Billy produced two projects for Urgent - "The Basic Stuff" and "Any Starlight Night". Rob produced three projects for Urgent - "The Heartland", "Retrospect" and "The Long Run". "Christmas In Our Time" a very popular Christmas album featuring new songs by Phillip Sandifer, Bob Bennett, Billy Crockett and Wendi Foy was released in 1991. Michele Pillar released "Love Makes All The Difference" on Urgent Records in 1991. Fernando Ortega produced his "In A Welcome Field" project for Urgent in 1991 and Urgent released Tom McCain's "Closer To Home" in 1993. During this period Urgent was distributed by the Benson Music Group (now Provident-Integrity Distribution).

In 1992 Urgent signed Dawn Smith Jordan who ultimately produced four Urgent albums - "How Far", "Canopy", "A Moment Alone" and "Everyday Praise". Joseph Mills joined the label in 1994 and released "Between The Lines" in 1995. The duo Santa Fe released their first project "Moon Circles" on Urgent in 1997 distributed by Diamante Music Group (DMG). Between 1985 and 1997 Urgent charted 44 top 40 songs on the CCM Adult-Contemporary radio charts.

References