- This article is about Casablanca, the record label. For other uses please see Casablanca (disambiguation).
Casablanca Records is a record label which was started by Neil Bogart, who partnered with Cecil Holmes, Larry Harris and Buck Reingold, in 1973 after all of them left Buddah Records. The label released hits by Kiss, Donna Summer, Cher, The Village People, and Parliament featuring George Clinton. The label's film division, Casablanca Filmworks, had hits with The Deep and Midnight Express. PolyGram acquired a 50 percent stake of Casablanca in 1977 for $15 million; however, in 1980 Polygram pushed Bogart out due to accounting irregularities and poor label performance. Afterwards, the label had hits with Lipps Inc and Irene Cara. The label was shut down eventually with the artist roster and catalogue absorbed into Mercury Records.
In 2000, the name was revived for a joint venture between Universal Music Group and Tommy Mottola. In a Billboard article, Mottola said that he chose the name as an homage to the original label, but that there was no direct connection between the old and new labels. Casablanca is now a part of Universal Motown Records Group.
[edit] History
In 1973 Neil Bogart formed Casablanca Records with money Warner Brothers put up. Originally he wanted to call the label Emerald City after the city in The Wizard of Oz, but since Warner owned the rights to the title of the movie Casablanca (though, at the time, they did not own the film outright, United Artists did; it has since returned to WB), it was easier to get the rights to use that name, and much better for promotions (especially since he shared a surname with Humphrey Bogart, a star of the movie). The first single released by the label was Bill Amesbury's "Virginia (Touch Me Like You Do)." Neil Bogart's first big signing was the rock group KISS.
The independent label was put in a tenuous financial situation due to the release of a two-record set of audio highlights from The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson, Here's Johnny: Magic Moments from The Tonight Show, in November 1974. The album was overpressed, and returns from retailers were high. KISS's breakthrough live album, Alive!, although rumored to have been heavily overdubbed in the studio (and it was), was produced with a minimum amount of post-production due to lack of budget.
The label became very popular in the disco business, thanks to Donna Summer, who Bogart gambled with to save his record label. Warner Brothers and Bogart would have a tempestuous relationship as Bogart wanted more freedom to release records whenever he wanted and not according to a timetable, as was the case of the major labels. Bogart and Warner came to an agreement that Bogart on a monthly basis would pay back the money Warner had put into the company, which he did. After the split with Warner, the Casablanca office was moved to Sunset Boulevard in the former Gold Star Studios, where Herb Alpert recorded many of his early albums. Casablanca's office was soon modeled after the movie set of the same name.
In late 1976, PolyGram acquired a 50% stake in Casablanca while at the same time the record company merged with a upcoming film company called Filmworks, Inc. headed by former Columbia Pictures executive Peter Gruber to form Casablanca Record and Filmworks, Inc. Bogart remained President while Gruber would become Chairman of the combined company for the next two years.
The label was infamous for providing illegal drugs, prostitutes, and other questionable perquisites as incentives for some acts to sign up.[citation needed] Casablanca's rise and fall were both dramatic; the rise came after the success of three acts at one time Donna Summer, KISS and Parliament and the fall came after the release of the four KISS solo albums. With the popularity of disco and acts such as the Village People and Santa Esmeralda on his roster, Bogart was able to negotiate a lopsided acquisition deal with Polygram for his remaining share right before the label's cash-flow problems peaked in 1979. He used the money to start an independent label, Boardwalk Records, and sign Joan Jett, but that label vanished soon after his death from cancer in 1982.
Casablanca's only notable releases after 1979 were the Robin Williams debut comedy LP Reality, What A Concept! (1981) and the soundtrack to Flashdance (1983).[citation needed]
[edit] 2000 relaunch
Mottola's re-launch was intended to be started with a girl-group, first known as iNK, but later changing its name to NSS(Not So Sweet)16. Due to internal problems the group disbanded.
Mottola's label has once again become dormant due to main acts Brie Larson and Lindsay Lohan moving on to other labels within the Universal family. The current site is still active, but the site has not been updated since 2005.
[edit] Releases
[edit] Current artists
[edit] Past artists
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