Irving Berman, was an American businessman, record company owner, and nightclub impresario from

Newark, New Jersey Newark ( , ) is the List of municipalities in New Jersey, most populous City (New Jersey), city in the U.S. state of New Jersey, the county seat of Essex County, New Jersey, Essex County, and a principal city of the New York metropolitan area. ...

. Berman founded the jazz imprint Regis Records (1943–1946), and then the more successful

Manor Records Manor Records was a jazz record label founded in the mid 1940s. Manor was run Irving Berman, who also owned Regis Records. Its catalogue included Dizzy Gillespie, Coleman Hawkins, Tiny Bradshaw, Paul Bascomb, Sid Catlett, Jimmie Lunceford, and th ...

(1945–1949). In 1949 The Four Tunes left Manor and signed with RCA causing Berman to sue for breach of contract. The Musicians Union believed the allegations of non-payment of royalties so Berman lost both the litigation and his artists and furthermore had his licence to record revoked by the union. He then turned up as A&R director for the newly-formed Arco Records (1949 onwards). Many of his artist stable turned up there too.

Savannah Churchill Savannah Churchill (born Savannah Valentine Roberts; August 21, 1920 – April 19, 1974) was an American rhythm and blues singer in the 1940s and 1950s. She is best known for her number-one R&B single "I Want To Be Loved (But Only By You)." Life ...

was his most successful artist on Manor,(he also fulfilled the role as her personal manager) with two hit singles.J. Jerome Zolten ''Great God A'mighty!, the Dixie Hummingbirds'' 2003 "Regis was owned by Irving Berman, a Newark businessman and nightclub impresario. Like most other independent label operators in the Northeast, Berman directed the bulk of his musical product to the African American market. His greatest success was with rhythm and blues balladeer Savannah Churchill ." Other Manor artists included

The Dixie Hummingbirds The Dixie Hummingbirds (formerly known as The Sterling High School Quartet) are an influential United States, American gospel music group, spanning more than 80 years from the Jubilee quartets, jubilee quartet style of the 1920s, through the "h ...

and Sister Ernestine Washington.

References

American music industry executives Year of birth missing Year of death missing Businesspeople from Newark, New Jersey {{US-business-bio-stub