Nashboro

Also appears as "Nashboro Records". Label founded in 1951 by Nashville-based record store owner Ernie Young. Its output was mainly gospel music (with rock, R&B, blues and soul appearing on subsidiary labels Nasco, Mankind (2), Excello and Abet; reissues appeared on the Ernie's label, named for the company's founder). Throughout the 1960s and 1970s, Nashboro was one of the dominant black gospel labels alongside Peacock and Jewel Records. The Nashboro Record Co. also distributed other labels, for example Kenwood Records, in the 70s. The label went into decline in the early 1980s and was sold to AVI Records in 1982. It managed to survive until 1985 with the few remaining LP releases going through MCA Records distribution. Also credited as a copyright holder (short form for Nashboro Records/Nashboro Record Co./Nashboro Record Co., Inc.). The label's masters are now owned by Universal Music Group's Hip-O Records.