Decca was formed in England in 1929 by a former stockbroker named Edward Lewis. Lewis began acquiring competing record companies in 1932 with his purchase of Brunswick records and launched an American version of the Decca label in 1934. By 1939, Decca and EMI were the only record companies in the UK.
Decca's biggest successes include Bing Crosby's "White Christmas," still the second-best selling single of all time with 30 million copies sold, and Andreas Bocelli's "Romanza," which sold more than 20 million copies. Decca's biggest misstep came in 1962, when talent executive Dick Rowe passed on signing The Beatles, telling their manager that guitar groups were on the way out. Rowe later redeemed himself by signing The Rolling Stones.
Decca continues to specialize in jazz and classical recordings on its own label as well as through subsidiaries including the Concord and Verve jazz labels and Deutsche Grammophon, the prestigious classical label founded by Emil Berliner in 1897. Decca's Rounder Records label handles releases from folk and American roots music artists.