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Casablanca Records

Casablanca Records
Casablanca Records Logo.svg
Parent company Universal Music Group
Founded June 13, 1973
2000 (current label)
Founder Neil Bogart, Larry Harris, Cecil Holmes, Buck Reingold
Distributor(s) Republic Records
(In the US)
Virgin EMI Records
(In the UK)
Universal Music Group
(Worldwide)
Genre Various
Country of origin United States
Location New York City, NY
Official website www.casablanca-music.com

Casablanca Records is an American recording label owned by Universal Music Group and operated under Republic Records. The label became most successful as a disco label in the 1970s and currently operates as an Electronic dance music label under the direction of Tommy Mottola.

Casablanca was founded in 1973 by former Buddah Records executive Neil Bogart, who named the label in homage to the classic film, Casablanca. He partnered with Cecil Holmes, Larry Harris and Buck Reingold in 1973, and was based in Los Angeles. The label was formed after they left Buddah and secured financing by Warner Bros. Records to start the venture. Casablanca became one of the most successful labels of the 1970s, signing and releasing albums by such acts as Kiss, Donna Summer, Village People, Cher, Lipps Inc. (with lead vocalist Cynthia Johnson), and Parliament (featuring George Clinton). In 1976, the label merged with indie-film company Filmworks, Inc. headed by founder, Peter Guber to form Casablanca Record and Filmworks, Inc., which had hits with the movies The Deep and Midnight Express.

In 1977, PolyGram acquired a 50 percent stake of Casablanca for $15 million; in 1980, it purchased the remaining half. In 1980, one of the label's biggest acts, Donna Summer, departed for another record label as she and Casablanca failed to agree on her musical direction for the future. That same year, PolyGram pushed Bogart out of Casablanca due to what it viewed as the label's overspending and accounting irregularities. The film division was separated from the label and renamed PolyGram Pictures. In the early 1980s, with Bogart no longer heading the label, Casablanca had hits with acts Lipps Inc, Stephanie Mills, Cameo (on sister label Chocolate City Records), and Irene Cara, but it did not have the same level of success it had enjoyed in the '70s. The label was eventually shut down by PolyGram with some of the artist roster and catalogue absorbed into sister label, Mercury Records.


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