Label Guide: Audio Fidelity

Audio Fidelity Records is an American record label, best known for jump-starting the stereophonic revolution in the recording industry. The label produced the first mass-produced American stereophonic LP record in November 1957, and within the next six months, stereo albums were intruduced from every major label in the country.

Audio Fidelity was founded by Sidney Frey in 1954 out of New York City. A British branch, A-F England, Ltd., was established in 1959. The label's releases were heavily marketed as a premium product of superior quality and sold at a higher price than most other albums at the time. The output of Audio Fidelity was enormous, with more than one thousand releases across all genres of music, from classical to Dixieland, pop and easy listening to jazz, sound effects and traditional folk music.

Sidney Frey sold the company to Herman Gimbel in 1965. The company's name was changed to Audio Fidelity Enterprises circa 1971. It purchased Chiaroscuro Records in 1976. The last known releases under the Audio Fidelity label were circa 1984. In 1985 the company became Milestone Records. In 1997, Audio Fidelity Records was purchased out of bankruptcy by Colliers Media Company. At this date much of the catalog is being re-mastered and re-released digitally by Reach Entertainment and The Copyright Group.