Manor Record Company

U.S. record company (1944 - 1949). Founded in 1944 by Irving Berman, who also owned Regis Record Company, Inc. and was a manager of Clark Phonograph Record Company. Both labels, Regis and Manor, concentrated largely on the race market. The company's gospel and jazz rosters were particularly strong, and included Kings Of Harmony Of Alabama, Ernestine Washington, and the first recordings of Dizzy Gillespie as bandleader. Following a merger of Regis with Manor in 1947 and a strong marketing push, the company saw a jump in sales and records by artists, such as Savannah Churchill and The Four Tunes, began appearing on [I]Billboard[/I] race charts regularly. Berman briefly lost his AFM recording license in 1949, following a dispute of alleged contract violations with The Four Tunes and Manor suspended operations a short time later.