S.A. Fonior N.V.

Belgian record company from Brussels, founded by Eugene Willy Pelgrims de Bigard in 1929, one year after he opened his gramophone shop La Maison Bleue. In 1934 Fonior obtained an exclusive license for the distribution of The Decca Record Company Limited products. A year later Fonior opened its own recording studio (Studios Fonior-Decca), followed in 1940 by its own own pressing plant S.A. Fabeldis. In later years they took over main competitors Discopress (ca. 1955) and Sobedi (1969], consolidating all three plants in the company Sobelpress S.A. In 1973, E.W. Pelgrims started the "International Pelgrims Group" (IPG), a holding for which Fonior formed the core. By means of the Belgian holding "Cidomega" it also controlled the Dutch label Dureco at that time. By 1980 the company went bankrupt due to various problems. Some parts of the repertoire were first sold to MFP Belgium, an EMI company. Marcel Heymans bought it in 1982 and started his own record company Tauro Records. Tauro was sold to BMG in 1992. Other parts of the repertoire, notably the African catalogue, were sold to Sonodisc in October 1981. Studios Fonior-Decca was taken over by Salvatore Adamo in 1981. Since 1986 until the end of 1997 the studio was owned by Erwin Vervaecke. Now the studio still continues as Jet Studio claiming to be the oldest recording studio in Belgium. Labels owned: Fiesta (7), GIP, Omega (2), Omega International, Stella (6), Weekend. International labels represented at various times: Ace of Clubs, Ace of Hearts, Ad-Rhythm, Alhambra (2), Argo (6), CTI Records, Barclay, Blue Beat, Brunswick, Carissima, Capri, Carrere, Cetra, Chapter 1, Charles Talar Records, CID (2), Coral, Decca, Deram, ECM Records, Elf Provinciën, Emerald, Fania Records, Gypsy Production, Hispavox, JAD, Judokadanse, Keystone, Kudu, London Records, Lyrique Pour Tous, Maestro, Major Minor, Milestone (4), Mirliton, Morgan (2), Musique Pour Tous, Olala (2), Penny Farthing, Pink Elephant, Red Fly, Saga (5), Salvation (4), Sonopresse, Storyville, Te Deum, Temporel, Threshold (5), Toast (3), Top, United Artists Records, Variétés Pour Tous, Vee Jay Records, Vega, Vocalion (3). Local labels distributed: Elver. President: E.W. Pelgrims de Bigard. General manager: Eddie Palmans. Sales manager: R. Dauw.