Tops Records
Illustration — Tops 45rpm Extended-play record Tops Records was a Los Angeles–based record label owned by Tops Music Enterprises, both founded in 1947 by Carl L. Doshay and Sam Dickerman. After a prolific and profitable run, Tops merged with PRI Records in 1958, which in turn, sold to a group of investors in 1960, then went bankrupt in about 1962. Its assets—which included a huge library of recordings—were sold to Pickwick Records, a label that had been its main competitor throughout the 1950s.
Tops Records
label scan · Public domain
- Founded
- 1947
- Headquarters
- United States
VALÉORINE Encyclopedia
VALÉORINE documentary reading
Documentary summary
Illustration — Tops 45rpm Extended-play record Tops Records was a Los Angeles–based record label owned by Tops Music Enterprises, both founded in 1947 by Carl L. Doshay and Sam Dickerman. After a prolific and profitable run, Tops merged with PRI Records in 1958, which in turn, sold to a group of investors in 1960, then went bankrupt in about 1962. Its assets—which included a huge library of recordings—were sold to Pickwick Records, a label that had been its main competitor throughout the 1950s.
Admitted source layer · organised and presented by VALÉORINE
Reference Check
Propose documentary evidence for Tops Records. A contribution is never written directly as fact: identity, source, rights and evidence gates still decide.
Sign in to contribute
World of VALÉORINE
Documentary connections
Only confirmed graph relationships appear here. Images are shown only when their identity and reuse rights both pass the documentary gate.
Documentary evidence
Documentary basis
Authority files
wikidata · Q16977876 · wikipedia · Tops Records
In this article
Selected staff
Selected staff
Pickwick's assets were purchased by PolyGram Records in the late 1970s.
• Carl L. Doshay (1917–2010), founder and president • Sam Dickerman (1915–2000), founder and vice president • Corky Carpenter (pseudonym of Amos Randolph Carpenter; 1922–1986), A&R • Harold Spina, A&R • Dave Pell, producer
Give Me More More More (of Your Kisses) by Bob Sandy and the International Cowboys, Tops early 1950s. Original recorded by Lefty Frizzell.
label scan
Tammy by Nora Zimmer and Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin' On by Dave Burgess, Tops ca. 1957.
label scan
Institutional history
Dated record
Institutional history
The full dated record · 2 entries
1947
Tops Records established.
1947
Tops Records is recorded from 1947.
Places
Named by the record
Places
Only places the record itself states, plotted where the house gazetteer settles their coordinates. Nothing is inferred from a name or a nationality.
- United States
Named but not plotted · 1
Tops Records is associated with United States.
Country
Notes from the source article
Cited by Wikipedia
Notes from the source article
These works are cited by the source article, in its own numbering. They are recorded as its citations, not as sources VALÉORINE has verified.
References
Citations
References
Each reference names the institution holding it, so a reader may go to the document itself.
reference work
Secondary witnessreference work
Secondary witness
The Encyclopedia exists whether or not anything is for sale. Corrections are recorded rather than overwritten, and every version of this record is kept. Published 17 August 2026.
Elsewhere in Music memorabilia
42,108 published records in this field, each with its sources named.
- TopicPerson
- Topic RecordsOrganisation
- TopNotchOrganisation
- Topper HeadonPerson
- Topshelf RecordsOrganisation
- Topsy KüppersPerson
- TopTenOrganisation
- ToquinhoPerson
Best supported in this field
For owners
Own an object connected with Tops Records?
A specialist will read what you send and tell you what the house can establish, what it cannot, and whether the object is suited to sale. There is no charge and no obligation. The object stays with you throughout; nothing is shipped to us unless it is arranged in writing beforehand.