Originally brought to life in 1989 in New York, Strictly Rhythm marks a milestone in the history of House music as the most influential and innovative label of the genre throughout the 1990s. Founded and established by Mark Finkelstein, who had before been working as an astronomer and engineer of the American moon landing programme Apollo 1, Strictly Rhythm quickly became the authority in the field of House music, with Top Ten Chart successes, several releases per week and heavy rotation on record decks throughout the world. It even defined the sub genres of the house sound by introducing styles like wild pitch, vocal house or garage. The label gave first home to artists like Reel 2 Real and Armand van Helden, but also Josh Wink, DJ Pierre and of course Masters At Work, a.k.a. Kenny Dope and Lil Louie Vega. In 1999 major label Warner Music became the majority owner of Strictly Rhythm and stopped business in 2002. Control over the label is now back in the hands of Finkelstein, who with the help of Simon Dunmore, owner of the British Defected label, has relaunched the label out of London, United Kingdom.