RECORDS
Independent label: Vocalion as a label that goes back to the 78rpm era. It first saw the light of day in 1916 as the record division of the Aeolian Piano Company, of New York. In 1925 it became part of Brunswick, moving on with that company to join the American Record Corporation in 1931. In 1938 it became a subsidiary of Columbia, but it was discontinued in 1940. The U.S. branch of Decca revived Vocalion in the '50s as a budget reissue label. Here in Britain, the Vocalion label was adopted by Vogue Records in 1961; it seems to have been used as a vehicle for licensed Soul records, etc, until Vogue closed its British operations, in 1968. Numbering was in the V-9000s. A few popular Vocalion LPs remained on the Decca catalogue until at least 1973. Vocalion resurfaced briefly during the 1970s as part of the Decca group, reissuing material from its glory days; only one 7" appeared. Distribution in the '60s and '70s was by Selecta, as it was for all Decca products.
Vogue Records was Established in 1951 as a subsidiary of the French parent company, acting primarily as an outlet for licensed American labels, but with some releases originating from France. In February 1956 the label was acquired by British Decca, and continued in its role as licensee of mostly American material (primarily from Aladdin). The Vogue trademark reverted to its French parent company at the end of 1962, with British releases of licensed American material continuing under the Vocalion trademark, but still bearing the company name "Vogue Records Ltd".
Distribution by Decca products.
Coral Records was a subsidiary of Decca launched in 1949. It recorded bandleaders like Bob Crosby in the beginning but it was under the A&R direction of Bob Thiele that Coral hit the bigtime with Teresa Brewer, the McGuire Sisters, Debbie Reynolds, Lawrence Welk mainstays Lennon Sisters, and early rock and rollers Buddy Holly and the Johnny Burnette Trio on its roster. The parent company (including Universal Studios, itself purchased by Decca four years earlier) was acquired in 1962 by MCA, Inc., whose talent agency had to be sold to complete the sale due to anti-trust concerns. Coral's artists during the Sixties included Bobbi Martin, Barbara McNair, a pre-stardom Patti Austin and Dixieland clarinetist Pete Fountain, who was the label's most consistant artist. As the decade wore on, the hits and album sales apart from Fountain, declined. In 1968, Lawrence Welk bought the masters to his own recordings and the contracts of his musical associates from both Coral and Dot and moved them all to his own Ranwood label. Parent company MCA moved Decca to California, bringing Coral with it in 1970. It was then decided to merge Decca, Coral, Vocalion (by then, Decca's budget reissue label), Kapp Records and UNI Records into the new MCA Records in April 1971 while the five labels maintained their identities for two more years. The last known Coral LP release was in 1971. After the Decca, Uni, Kapp and Vocalion labels were officially retired in 1973, Coral became MCA Coral, MCA's mid-line and budget reissue label until the late 1980s when those duties were reassigned to either MCA Special Products or the parent label. This version had a blue label similar to the 1973-78 MCA Records label (with MCA CORAL in the same lettering style as the 1972-91 MCA Records logo). International Releases: Coral-branded releases (under its own name and as Vogue Coral) were distributed by Vogue Records Limited (originally a UK subsidiary of the French company Disques Vogue, later acquired by The Decca Record Company Ltd.) from roughly 1956 until 1967 in the UK when the MCA label was established for UK releases of US Decca and Brunswick material, and distributed by either TELDEC »Telefunken-Decca« Schallplatten GmbH or Deutsche Grammophon in Germany. In Britain and most of Europe after 1967, Coral became the reissue imprint of MCA Records and its labels until at least 1978. Manufactured And Distributed By Decca Records Former Address Coral Records, Decca House,9 Albert Embankment,London S.E.1.
Thanks to Robert Lyons for the info.
A FULL DISCOGRAPHY OF VOCALION-VOGUE EP 1000 SERIES 1954-1965 CAN BE FOUND HERE
A FULL DISCOGRAPHY OF VOCALION-VOGUE- POP-9000 SERIES 1951-1968 CAN BE FOUND HERE
A FULL DISCOGRAPHY OF VOCALION-VOGUE-170000 SERIES 1956-1964 CAN BE FOUND HERE
A FULL DISCOGRAPHY OF CORAL-VOGUE 2000 TO 72000 SERIES 1954-1967 CAN BE FOUND HERE
