Hansa Records

Hansa Records
Parent company	Sony Music Entertainment
Founded	1965
Defunct	2009
Distributor(s)	Self-distributed (1972–1979) Ariola Records (1979–1987) Bertelsmann Music Group (1987–2002) Sony BMG (2002–2008) Sony Music Entertainment (2008–2009)
Genre	Various
Country of origin	Germany

Hansa Records (also known as Hansa, Hansa Musik Produktion or Hansa International) was a record label founded in the 1960s based in Berlin, Germany.

Profile

The original 7 inch label of one of the best selling Hansa Records singles, Boney M.'s "Rivers of Babylon".

The label's most successful act commercially was the German-based band Boney M. with million-selling hits like "Rivers of Babylon", "Brown Girl in the Ring" and "Mary's Boy Child - Oh My Lord". David Bowie mastered Low and recorded Heroes at their studio in Berlin. After a decline in sales both domestically and internationally in the mid 80s, Hansa was eventually purchased by Bertelsmann Music Group, who merged them with several other labels like Ariola Records to form BMG Berlin Musik GmbH/BMG-Ariola, later to become part of international conglomerate Sony Music Entertainment, under which it was phased-out in 2009. It is used today only for reissues of its previous releases.

Artists signed, recorded and/or released on Hansa

• Kent: Röd
• The Action
• Alphaville
• Aneka
• Angletrax
• Blue System
• Boney M.
• Bonnie Tyler: Bitterblue (1991), Angel Heart (1992), Silhouette in Red (1993)
• C. C. Catch
• Child 1978
• Chilly 1983
• Chris Norman
• David Bowie: Low (1977), Heroes (1977)
• Depeche Mode: Some Great Reward (1984)
• Elton John: West Germany, Switzerland, and Austria, 1969–76
• Eruption
• Falco
• Frank Farian
• Gilla
• Giorgio Moroder 1966-1972
• Iggy Pop: The Idiot and Lust for Life (both 1977)
• Japan
• John Parr: Westward Ho (1990)
• La Mama
• Les McKeown
• Liz Mitchell
• Milli Vanilli
• M.C. Sar & the Real McCoy
• Modern Talking
• Münchener Freiheit: "Wachgeküsst"
• New Celeste "On the Line" (1979)
• Nick Nicely ("DCT Dreams")
• Die Prinzen
• Siouxsie and the Banshees
• Amii Stewart
• The Catch
• The Cure: released by Hansa before they finished recording an album
• The Hollies 1967-1973
• The Sugarhill Gang
• The Troggs 1966-1969
• The Twins
• U2: Achtung Baby
• Viola Wills
• Xhol Caravan: "Electrip"

See also

• List of record labels
• Hanseatic League, a region comprising much of maritime Germany, after which Hansa Records was named
• Hansa discography at Discogs