Hansa Records

Hansa Records (also known as Hansa, Hansa Musik Produktion or Hansa International) was a record label founded in the 1960s based in Berlin, Germany.Hansa reached a high point in the late 1970s, when they released records for many top acts like David Bowie who mastered "Low" and recorded "Heroes" at their studio in West Berlin. The label's most successful act commercially was 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". After a decline in sales both domestically and internationally in the mid 80s, Hansa was eventually purchased by BMG, 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 BMG Music Entertainment.

Artists signed, recorded and/or released on Hansa

* The Action
* Angletrax
* Blue System
* Boney M.
* Bonnie Tyler: "Bitterblue" (1991), "Angel Heart" (1992), "Silhouette In Red" (1993)
* C.C.Catch
* Child 1978
* David Bowie: "Low" (1977), "Heroes" (1978)
* Depeche Mode: "Some Great Reward" (1984)
* Elton John: West Germany, Switzerland, and Austria, 1969-76
* Eruption
* Falco
* Frank Farian
* Giorgio (Moroder) 1966-1972
* Iggy Pop: "The Idiot" and "Lust for Life" (both 1977)
* Japan
* La Mama
* Milli Vanilli
* Modern Talking
* Münchener Freiheit: "Wachgeküsst"
* Die Prinzen
* Siouxsie and the Banshees
* Amii Stewart
* The Cure: released by Hansa after one album
* The Hollies 1967-1973
* The Sugarhill Gang
* The Troggs 1966-1969
* U2: "Achtung Baby"

See also

* List of record labels
* Hanseatic League, a region comprising much of maritime Germany, after which Hansa Records was named