Astor Records
Astor Records was an Australian recording company and recorded music distributor that operated from the 1960s to the early 1980s. Astor was the trade name of the consumer electronics manufacturer Radio Corporation Pty. Ltd, a division of Electronic Industries Ltd., and made Astor radios, radiograms and television sets.
The company expanded into record production ca. 1960, and its inaugural release was the single "Speak Low" by Philippines-born vocalist Pilita Corrales. She recorded three albums on the Astor label: I'll Take Romance, This is Pilita and Pilita Tells the Story of Love. She sang mostly English, but also had some Spanish hits, and recorded a Tagalog song "Dahil sa Iyo". Astor operated its own vinyl record pressing plant in Melbourne, and during the 1970s was considered to be one of the 'Big Seven' recorded music distributors in Australia, along with CBS Records, EMI Records, Festival Records, PolyGram, RCA Records and Warner Music Group.
In the late 1970s Astor enjoyed considerable chart and sales success with Kiss and Donna Summer, who were both on the Casablanca label at the time. The label also enjoyed local success with releases by pop groups The Masters Apprentices and The Loved Ones, the latter recording for Astor's subsidiary label In Records.
Astor also held the Australian distribution rights to a number of important overseas labels including Motown, Vanguard, Pye, Elektra, MGM/Verve, Kama Sutra, Casablanca, Buddha, Mercury and MCA.
Astor was taken over by PolyGram in October 1981, and its manufacturing facility in Melbourne closed on 31 December 1981.
