US label.
Label Code: LC 0713 / LC 00713
Everest (also Everest Records (2)) is an American label, originally based in Bayside, Long Island, New York, and founded by Harry D. Belock and Bert Whyte of the Belock Instrument Corporation, in May 1958. Their recording equipment was made by Belock Instrument Cop and they used 35mm magnetic film. By October 1958, their first releases appeared on the market. In late November 1958, they released their first stereo recordings. They were distributed by label but took over their own distribution during the last week of November 1959. In June 1960, they also assumed sales and distribution for label. But the distribution wing didn't last long because in December 1960, Ideal Distributors in NY and Sunland Music in CA were appointed to handle all their releases. In Canada, they used The Compo Company Ltd. for their distribution. Former president of Columbia Records, artist was made VP over Belock Instruments which included the Everest label. He had big plans including a future pressing plant (once the pressing technology caught up to their advanced recording equipment. Of course, this never materialized and all of their records were pressed by Decca even after they stopped using Decca for distribution. In September 1960, Leroy Holmes left MGM and joined Everest as GM. Along with Charles Hasin, their goal was to push pop instead of classical as had been their previous model.
The label was sold to Bernard Solomon, former accountant for the Belock Instrument Corporation, on February 20, 1962. Solomon relocated the label to Los Angeles, California and formed a new corporation - Everest Enterprises, Inc.
Solomon was president and in May 1962, he appointed Harvey Goldstein as assistant to the President and A&R and Charles Hasin remained on as national sales manager (having come over to Everest from MGM Records in October 1960. In August 1962 artist was named Vice President and General Manager. In the same month, they launched label, a subsidiary label devoted to the R&B and Rock n Roll fields. The new company began using a handful of distributors among which were All-State Records Distributors in Chicago, label in Los Angeles, Pan-American in Miami and Melody Sales in San Francisco.
In September 1962, in addition to their own Everest Distribution, they changed distributors for LA (California Record Distributors), label for Miami and Mainland Distributing for San Francisco. Other companies they used were Clef Distributors, and their own Esoteric Distributing Company (at least by 1964).
In January 1963, Everest took over the distribution of label. In March 1965, Everest purchased label and secured distribution rights to label and artist records as well as Hi Fi's publishing wings - label and label. This purchase brought along with it Arthur Lyman and Solomon hoped this would boost pop sales in light of the recent departure of their best selling artist, Gloria Lynne.
Any label with the California address on it (8373 Melrose Ave, Los Angeles) is post buyout from the Belock years.
The label was originally dedicated mainly to high-quality classical recordings, but Solomon turned it into a budget label. In 1993, Seymour Solomon (no relation to Bernard) revived the label and released some of the old material with the focus on the quality. After his death in 2002, the label disappeared again. In 2008, Harkit Records licensed some material from the current owners of the label and released 15 titles the same year. Also, Classic Records has been issuing some of the original recordings.
For its sister profile, please see Everest Records (2).