Everest Records

Everest Records is a Canadian-American record label that is the main flagship label of the Everest Music Group. The label was founded in 1989 by Christopher Sharp, Jan Burkett, and Martin Sasaki in,. By 1993, the label's headquarters were moved to,.

During its first few years of success, the label was the haven of many pop, synth-pop, dance music, hip hop and new jack swing acts at a time when all the majors were investing all their financial efforts on grunge, alternative rock, gangsta rap and adult contemporary acts. By the mid-1990s, Everest Records began seeing major chart success with hip hop, teen pop and alternative rock acts. In 1995 it established a country music division, Everest Nashville (headquartered in ), and in 1998 it established a Latin music division, Everest Latina (headquartered in, ).

Everest Records and the other labels of the Everest Music Group are among the largest and most influential independent record labels in history.

Early years
In early 1988, Christopher Sharp, a successful businessman within the Canadian music industry, met Jan Burkett, a talent scout, agent, and manager who was then employed by Sjoerd Broekhuizen Presents and served as the manager for the It's the Paul Taylor Program! cast, as well as a North American manager for several English comedians.

Sharp and Burkett, along with radio personality Martin Sasaki as a business partner, formed Everest Records in, in 1989 with a start-up investment of $16,000 provided by Burkett's employer. Everest's debut release was Make Your Own, an album by -based political hardcore punk band Freedom Seed.