Hansa Records | |
---|---|
Parent company | Sony Music Entertainment |
Founded | 1965 |
Distributor(s) | Self-distributed (1972-1979) Ariola Records (1979-1987) Bertelsmann Music Group (1987-2002) Sony BMG (2002-2008) Sony Music Entertainment (2008-present) |
Genre | Various |
Country of origin | Germany |
Hansa Records (also known as Hansa, Hansa Musik Produktion or Hansa International) was a record label founded in the 1960s based in West Berlin, West Germany.
The label's most successful act commercially was the West German-based band Boney M. with million-selling hits like "Rivers of Babylon", "Brown Girl in the Ring" and "Mary's Boy Child - Oh My Lord". David Bowie mastered Low and recorded Heroes at their studio in West Berlin. After a decline in sales both domestically and internationally in the mid 80s, Hansa was eventually purchased by Bertelsmann Music Group, who merged them with several other labels like Ariola Records to form BMG Berlin Musik GmbH/BMG-Ariola, later to become part of international conglomerate Sony Music Entertainment.