Casablanca Records is an American record label owned by Universal Music Group and operated under Republic Records. Under its founder Neil Bogart, Casablanca was most successful during the disco era of the mid to late 1970s. The label currently focuses on dance and electronic music under the direction of Brett Alperowitz.
History
Neil Bogart (originally Bogatz until adopting the name of his favorite actor Humphrey Bogart) founded Casablanca Records after departing of Buddah Records due to clashes with its owners. In 1973 Bogart enticed Warner Bros. Records into financing Casablanca. Due to Warner's ownership of all rights to the film Casablanca, Bogart’s adoption of the movie’s name and title look for its records label logo went without legal objection. The label’s first signing was Kiss but its first single release was Bill Amesbury's "Virginia (Touch Me Like You Do)", a minor hit on the US Hot 100. "Butter Boy" by Fanny and The Hudson Brothers' "So You Are a Star" proved to be Casablanca's first Billboard Top 40 hits.
Warner Bros. developed doubts about Casablanca’s viability, in particular with the signing of Kiss. Bogart's brashness also did not help relations or gain much support for his acts and releases which had only modest success. Warner head Mo Ostin ceded Bogart full ownership of the label.
The now-independent Casablanca Records was suddenly put in a tenuous financial situation as it still had yet to score a major hit album and no longer had the backing of Warner Bros. Casablanca was banking on the success of an upcoming album it was planning: a two-record set of audio highlights from television's The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson. The album was entitled Here's Johnny: Magic Moments from The Tonight Show and was released in November 1974.[1] Although the album was certified gold by the RIAA for shipments to stores of over 500,000 copies, the album did not sell well, and returns from retailers of unsold copies were high. Even the promotional copies were returned, initiating the joke that it shipped Gold and went back to the label Platinum. Casablanca had realized that even though The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson was immensely popular, the show did not carry over well to recordings.[2]
By mid-1975, Casablanca was almost bankrupt, and desperately needed a commercial breakthrough if they were to survive.[3] That breakthrough came in an unlikely form: a double live album Alive! (1975). It became both Casablanca's and Kiss's first top ten album.[4]
Casablanca eventually became one of the most successful American labels of the 1970s, signing and releasing records by such acts as Kiss, Donna Summer, Village People, Cher, Lipps Inc. (with lead vocalist Cynthia Johnson), and George Clinton's Parliament. 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% stake in Casablanca for $15 million then it purchased the remaining half in 1980. Also that year, one of the label's biggest acts, Donna Summer, departed to Geffen Records 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), The Four Tops, Mac Davis and Irene Cara but it did not achieve the same level of success it had enjoyed in the 1970s. The label was eventually shut down by PolyGram with some of the artist roster and catalog absorbed into sister label, Mercury Records.
In 1999, PolyGram (including its subsidiaries) was purchased by Seagram and then merged with Seagram's MCA Music Entertainment Group to form the Universal Music Group. In 2000, the Casablanca Records 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 a homage to the original label but that there was no connection between the old and new labels. Casablanca is currently a dance and electronic label under Republic Records headed by GM, Brett Alperowitz, who on April 13, 2021, was also named EVP of A&R by Republic Records' president of West Coast creative, Wendy Goldstein.[5]
Notable artists
Kiss
Kiss was the first band to sign to Casablanca. The label had released three albums by Kiss: Kiss (1974), Hotter Than Hell (1974), and Dressed to Kill (1975), but all had failed to make a big impact on the charts. The label also did not experience heavy sales with albums by Angel, who was introduced to the label by Gene Simmons of Kiss, although that glam rock band did amass a cult following. The label was on the verge of bankruptcy when Bogart decided to release a live album by Kiss. Although the band's studio albums had not been strong sellers, the band had a reputation for performing exciting shows. Casablanca decided to try to capitalize on that reputation by releasing the double-live Alive! (1975) album. It became both Casablanca's and Kiss's first top ten album and was certified gold. Kiss's follow-up studio albums to Alive! were better sellers than its previous studio albums. Destroyer (1976), Rock and Roll Over (1976), and Love Gun (1977) were all certified platinum in the United States. Other successful late 1970s Kiss albums on Casablanca were Alive II, Double Platinum, the band's four solo albums and Dynasty. Their less successful early 1980s works here were Unmasked and Music from "The Elder". The band's last studio album on Casablanca was Creatures of the Night in 1982.
Cher
Cher had two records signed for Casablanca, Take Me Home and Prisoner. Both records were hit records, especially in Europe. The main single Take Me Home debuted at #25 on Billboard 200, although the albums were not critically acclaimed for running out of Cher's music style, it were well received by the public. The album Take Me Home received Gold certification in the USA and is considered one of Cher's best albums, as it was her first Disco record.
To promote the album, Cher recorded a music video for "Take Me Home" which was used as part of an exclusive TV special called Cher... and Other Fantasies. She also performed "Take Me Home" along with other two album tracks "Love & Pain" and "Happy Was the Day We Met" on The Mike Douglas Show. In 1979 Cher embarked on her first solo tour, the Take Me Home Tour, which was highly successful with two dates of the show recorded for broadcast, in Monte Carlo and at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas. For the latter performance, Cher was awarded "Best Actress in a Variety Program" at the 1983 CableACE Awards.
Parliament
Parliament was signed to Casablanca in 1973 due to Bogart's long-standing relationship with group leader George Clinton.[6] Their relationship dated to Bogart's period at Buddah Records. Their first release for the label was in 1974 with the album Up for the Down Stroke. The title song from the album gave Parliament its first top ten R&B hit. Their next album, Chocolate City, sold approximately 150,000 albums in the Washington, D.C. area alone. But it was their next release, Mothership Connection, that gave the group its first gold and platinum album. Parliament achieved either gold or platinum status with each album release from 1975 to 1979. The group's hit singles included "Give Up the Funk (Tear the Roof off the Sucker)", "Flash Light" (Casablanca's first R&B number one hit) and "Aqua Boogie (A Psychoalphadiscobetabioaquadoloop)". The success of Parliament allowed George Clinton to develop another P-Funk spin-off act known as Parlet. Casablanca bankrolled the extravagant P-Funk stage shows, including the "Mothership Connection/P-Funk Earth Tour" of 1976–77 and the Motor Booty Affair underwater tour of 1979. Parliament and its sister band Funkadelic was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
Donna Summer
In 1975, Casablanca signed Donna Summer and released her album Love to Love You Baby which was certified gold. Summer had several gold and platinum albums on Casablanca in 1975–1979 and was the label's most successful act on the singles chart. She recorded eight Top 5 singles in a 19-month period. Summer had 10 gold singles, 2 platinum singles and a gold maxi-single with Casablanca. Summer was called in the American press "The First Lady of Love", a name that she disliked but that Casablanca marketed with great success. She was also called "The Queen of Disco".[7] Her hits included the number ones "MacArthur Park", "No More Tears (Enough Is Enough)" duet with Barbra Streisand, the Grammy-winning "Bad Girls", the Oscar, Golden Globe and Grammy-winning "Last Dance", the Grammy-winning number one "Hot Stuff", and the hit single, "I Feel Love", co-written and produced by Giorgio Moroder. Her album Bad Girls achieved triple-platinum status. The label followed it with a greatest hits collection entitled On the Radio: Greatest Hits Volumes I & II, which was certified double platinum and was Summer's last album on Casablanca. She recorded three double-albums that reached the top of the charts in a 14-month period.
Village People
Village People is an American disco group best known for their on-stage costumes, catchy tunes and suggestive lyrics. The group was originally formed by French producers Jacques Morali, Henri Belolo and lead singer Victor Willis following the release of the 1977 debut album, Village People, which targeted disco's gay audience. The group's name refers to New York City's Greenwich Village, at the time known for its large gay population,[8] The characters were a symbolic group of gay and macho fantasy personas.[9] The group quickly became popular and moved into the mainstream, scoring several disco and dance hits internationally under the label, including the hit singles "Macho Man", "In the Navy", "Go West" and their biggest hit, "Y.M.C.A."
Lipps, Inc.
In 1979 Lipps Inc., with Steven Greenberg as writer, producer, and musician, and Cynthia Johnson on lead vocals, signed with Casablanca. The single "Rock It" was released, followed by the album Mouth to Mouth. The album included the No. 1 hit "Funkytown", which spent four weeks atop both the Billboard Hot 100 and the Hot Dance Music/Club Play charts in the United States. The 7" single sold over two million copies within a few months and was awarded a platinum record within the same year of its release.[10] It reached No. 2 in the United Kingdom[11] and was a hit throughout the world.
Tiësto's fifth studio album A Town Called Paradise was released on June 13, 2014. "Red Lights" was released as the lead single from the album on December 13, 2013. It was his first number one in Scotland, and peaked at number 6 on the UK Singles Chart. The song reached the top 10 in Australia, Denmark, Norway and Sweden. "Wasted" was released as the second single from the album on April 25, 2014. The song peaked at number 3 on the UK Singles Chart, and reached the top 10 in Sweden. "Light Years Away" was released as the album's third single on November 28, 2014.[20]
Kungs
Kungs released his first extended playThis Girl in 2016 following his remix of Cookin' on 3 Burners "This Girl", which reached number 1 in France, Germany and Switzerland and number 2 on the UK Singles Chart in 2016.[21] He has since released the single "Don't You Know" featuring Jamie N Commons and "I Feel So Bad" featuring Ephemerals. Kungs' three 2016 singles were released on his debut album Layers, which was released on 4 November.[22]
On March 23, 2018 Kungs played a live set at the Miami Ultra Music Festival. He followed acts from fellow artists Raiden and Ksuke to perform his individual set on the 2018 Ultra Main Stage.
Martin Solveig
Martin Picandet (French pronunciation:[maʁtɛ̃pikɑ̃dɛ]; born September 22, 1976),[23] better known by his stage nameMartin Solveig, is a French DJ, singer, songwriter and record producer. He hosts a weekly radio show called C'est La Vie on radio stations worldwide, including Radio FG in his homeland. His label is called Mixture Stereophonic. Solveig had been ranked number 29 in the 2011 DJ Mag.[24] He has collaborated with Dragonette, Kele of Bloc Party, and Madonna.
SG Lewis
Britain's SG Lewis is an in-demand producer, songwriter, and DJ with an emotive, atmospheric approach to dance-oriented, electronic-based music. Initially known for his remixes of artists like Jessie Ware, he released his debut EP, Shivers, in 2015. Collaborations with vocalists such as Gallant (singer), Ray BLK, and Bishop Nehru followed, and Lewis released Dusk, the first EP in a three-part series dedicated to club culture, in 2018.
Other events
Casablanca started a subsidiary label in 1975 called Chocolate City Records. It was mainly overseen by Bogart's partner Cecil Holmes. The label focused on R&B, funk, and disco releases. Chocolate City's signings included the then-new act Cameo and veteran act Brenda & the Tabulations.
From 1976 to 1979, Casablanca also had another subsidiary label called Parachute Records. The label was run by former Motown Records promoter and Uni Records CEO Russ Regan.[25][26] Artists signed to the label included singer Randy Brown, the heavily sampled disco group 7th Wonder, and songwriter-author-poet Shel Silverstein, who recorded one album for the label—1978's Songs and Stories.[27]
The offices of Casablanca moved into the former A&M Records offices on Sunset Boulevard in Los Angeles. Casablanca's new offices were soon remodeled after the movie set of the film of the same name. Later, the record company merged with an indie production company called Filmworks, Inc., which was founded by former Columbia Pictures executive Peter Guber. The new company became known as Casablanca Record and Filmworks, with Bogart still at its helm as president, while Guber became Chairman of the Board and head of its film division. Guber would remain with the company for two years. In 1977, PolyGram acquired a 50% stake in the independent Casablanca, which had been quite successful for several years.
Casablanca remained very successful throughout the rest of the 1970s. But the label's rise and fall would both be dramatic instances. The rise came with the success of several acts such as Donna Summer, Kiss, Parliament, and Village People, as well as some success from its subsidiary label and its film division. The fall began when the 1980s rolled in. The label was known to spend lavish amounts of money on parties, events, and promotion. Although this resulted in hit albums and singles, the profit margin suffered due to the carefree spending by the label. Casablanca spent lavish amounts of money on promoting its releases, which made its artists happy, but not necessarily PolyGram, which now owned a 50% stake in the label. When Casablanca's lavish spending habits were realized by PolyGram, it quickly made an offer to purchase the other 50% of Casablanca in 1980. Bogart accepted; however, he soon found out he would not be allowed to stay with Casablanca, and PolyGram released him from his post. He used the money he acquired from the sale to start Boardwalk Records and he signed then-new rocker Joan Jett, who had experienced some success in Japan as a member of the group The Runaways. Bogart died from cancer in 1982 and Boardwalk Records folded.
Post-Bogart years
Casablanca was not as successful without Bogart running the company. Its only notable releases from 1980 onward were the Robin Williams debut comedy LP Reality, What A Concept! (1981), the soundtrack to the movie Flashdance (1983), and the final three Kiss LP's on Casablanca: Unmasked, Music from "The Elder", and Creatures of the Night. Dusty Springfield's sole release on Casablanca, 1982's White Heat, came and went with little notice due to the label's mounting internal problems. The most successful act on the label during the 1980s was R&B singer Stephanie Mills, who came to the label after PolyGram bought the 20th Century Fox Records label and absorbed its artists and back catalog into Casablanca. The last album released by the label was Animotion's Strange Behavior in 1986, which was a modest seller. By that time, PolyGram had folded Casablanca Records, moving some of its acts to Mercury Records and dropping others.
Official book
In 2009, Casablanca co-founder Larry Harris released an insider's history, written with Curt Gooch, of the label with a book entitled And Party Every Day: The Inside Story of Casablanca Records.
In 2000, Universal and Tommy Mottola, who had served as CEO of Sony Music Entertainment and Columbia Records throughout the 1990s, partnered to launch a new record label that would be headed by Mottola and be part of the Universal Records Group. Mottola chose the name Casablanca, in homage to the Casablanca Records once run by Bogart. The label's first release was to be a girl-group first known as "iNK", but which later changed its name to "NSS (Not So Sweet) 16". The group, however, disbanded due to internal problems. NSS16's only single OopDeeWopDee was produced by hit music producer and Grammy award winner Greg Lawson and directed by Hakeem Khaaliq.[28]
Some of Casablanca's releases included albums by Lindsay Lohan in 2004, albums by Lohan and Brie Larson in 2005, and music by Mika in 2007, who scored a hit with the song "Relax, Take It Easy". Mottola's label once again become inactive when Lohan and Larson moved to other labels within the Universal family.
In the fall of 2009, Casablanca became active again (albeit in name only) with the releases of Mika's second album, The Boy Who Knew Too Much, and Ryan Leslie's second album, Transition.
In January 2012, Casablanca Records was relaunched as an electronic music imprint under Republic Records, as a reflection to the original label. Working with an international roster of both established and emerging artists, Casablanca has released music from Crystal Castles, C2C, Kavinsky, The Presets, Scissor Sisters, Chase & Status, Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs, Ladyhawke, Elton John vs. Pnau and Kindness, Sub Focus, The Aston Shuffle, Martin Garrix, Avicii, Seven Lions, and Dawin.
Current artists
Artists currently signed with Casablanca Records are as follows:[29]
^Harris, Larry Alan, 1947- (2009). And party every day : the inside story of Casablanca Records. Gooch, Curt., Suhs, Jeff. New York: Backbeat Books. ISBN9780879309824. OCLC310398789.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
