Apollo Records, Inc.

U.S. record producer from 1943 - 1962. This company produced several labels, including Apollo Records (2) and Hill And Country. Apollo was an important independent producer of jazz, rhythm-and-blues and gospel recordings. It was founded in New York in 1944 by Bess and Ike Berman, Hy Siegel and Sam Schneider. Siegel & Schneider sold their holdings in the company to the Bermans in May 1948, and the company foundered under Bess Berman's management, who had difficulty retaining Apollo's most popular stars and became entangled in numerous legal fights over such issues as copyright infringement and failure to pay artists royalties. Apollo discontinued production of 78s in 1957 and increasingly concentrated on 45-rpm doo-wop and rock-and-roll singles, many of which reissued material from the 78-rpm catalog. Apollo closed in 1962 and sold its catalog to Kenwood Records.