Coral Records

Coral Records was a subsidiary of Decca Records that was formed in 1949. Coral released music by Patsy Cline, Buddy Holly, the McGuire Sisters and Teresa Brewer.^[1]

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Coral Records
Parent company	Decca Records
Founded	1949 (1949)
Genre	Pop, rock, jazz
Country of origin	U.S.
Location	New York City

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Coral was started by Decca in 1949 as a subsidiary that initially focused on jazz and swing material but after Bob Thiele took over the label in 1954, he shifted to mainstream pop and rock acts such as Buddy Holly, the McGuire Sisters, Johnny Desmond, Eileen Barton, Jackie Wilson, Lawrence Welk, and Steve Lawrence that did not fit the main Decca label's more classy, upmarket image. He also produced hit songs by his future wife, Teresa Brewer.^[2]

Coral stopped issuing new material in 1971.^[3] In 1973, MCA amalgamated Decca, Kapp Records, and Uni Records under the single MCA Records banner, and Coral was repositioned as a mid-line and budget album reissue label in the U.S. and internationally.^[4] That version of Coral (MCA Coral) lasted into the 1980s. Some product from MCA's former Vocalion Records budget label was manufactured with MCA Coral labels that bore Vocalion catalog numbers and was shipped in sleeves still bearing the Vocalion trademark, presumably to cut costs.