Äva Records was a short-lived American record company and

label A label (as distinct from signage) is a piece of paper, plastic film, cloth, metal, or other material affixed to a container or product. Labels are most often affixed to packaging and containers using an adhesive, or sewing when affix ...

founded in 1961 by

Fred Astaire Fred Astaire (born Frederick Austerlitz, May 10, 1899 – June 22, 1987) was an American dancer, actor, singer, musician, choreographer, and presenter, whose career in stage, film, and television spanned 76 years. He is widely regarded as the "g ...

Elmer Bernstein Elmer Bernstein ( '; April 4, 1922August 18, 2004) was an American composer and conductor. In a career that spanned over five decades, he composed "some of the most recognizable and memorable themes in Hollywood history", including over 150 orig ...

, Jackie Mills, and Tommy Wolf. The original name was Choreo Records, but it was changed in 1962 to Äva Records, after Astaire's daughter, to avoid a conflict with Choreo Records in

Dallas, Texas Dallas () is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the most populous city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of Texas metropolitan areas, most populous metropolitan area in Texas and the Metropolitan statistical area, fourth-most ...

. Astaire was president, Mills vice-president. Mills was the producer for jazz albums that included Victor Feldman, Muggsy Spanier, and Ben Tucker. In June 1964, Astaire sold his 62% stock interests. Hermes Pan, a shareholder, sold his stock to Glen Costin, a realtor in Texas, and Costin became the label's president. From September 1961 to August 1964, the labels were distributed by

MGM Records MGM Records was a record label founded by the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer film studio in 1946 for the purpose of releasing soundtrack recordings (later LP albums) of their musical films. It transitioned into a pop music label that continued into the ...

. Äva folded in March 1965, with Astaire owning the masters. Mills was president when it folded. The label's catalogue included

, Herbie Steward, Pete Jolly, John Neel, and The Charades. According to ''Billboard'', Costin sold Äva to Charles Jourdan, acting as a representative of a European syndicate.Ava Sold to European Group
", ''Billboard'', May 15, 1965, p. 4

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ava Records Record labels established in 1961 Defunct record labels of the United States American jazz record labels MGM Records Fred Astaire