Apollo Records (1944) - Decline

Decline

In 1953, Hy Siegel left to form his own company, Timely Records, and this was the beginning of a domino effect that would prove the undoing of Bess Berman and Apollo. In 1954, Mahalia Jackson defected to Columbia Records, a major blow to Apollo from which it never truly recovered; likewise The "5" Royales went off to King Records. At this time, Bess Berman began to suffer from health issues as well, and a development in May 1955 would not serve to make her feel any better; that month, Hill & Range announced they were suing Berman, Apollo and Lloyd's for infringement. Hill & Range cited 20 records where copyrighted songs by Thomas A. Dorsey and others were issued on Berman's labels credited to Berman and Mahalia Jackson. Jackson swiftly responded with a letter denying all knowledge of such an arrangement, and Berman was left to contend with the consequences. As the music press did not follow up on the story, the matter was likely settled out of court.

The second edition of The Larks failed to chart, and in 1955, broke up. The following year Apollo ceased production of 78 rpm records, and with it, its entire gospel recording program, focusing on producing 45s for the pop market. They produced many singles in this period beloved of doo-wop and early rock 'n roll collectors by groups such as The Opals, The Romeos, The Gentlemen and The Casanovas, but very few of these efforts had an impact commercially. About the last Apollo Record to score in that sense was The Chesters' "The Fire Burns No More" (Apollo 521) in 1957. "Handy Man" was first recorded for Apollo in 1959 by The Sparks of Rhythm, but did not become a hit until lead singer Jimmy Jones recorded it for Cub Records in 1960. By that time, Apollo had stopped making recordings altogether and was concentrating heavily on reissues, even in the 45 market; after The Chesters' renamed themselves Little Anthony and the Imperials and became stars for another record company, their Apollo releases reappeared, billed as Little Anthony records. One important artist who appeared late in the Apollo game was Solomon Burke, who was featured on several singles and was the subject of a rare Apollo LP.