Bell Records was an American record label founded in 1952 in New York City by Arthur Shimkin, the owner of the children's record label Golden Records, and initially a unit of

Pocket Books Pocket Books is a division of Simon & Schuster that primarily publishes paperback books. History Pocket Books produced the first Paperback#Mass market paperback, mass-market, pocket-sized paperback books in the United States in early 1939 and ...

, after the rights to the name were acquired from

Benny Bell Benny Bell (born Benjamin Samberg, March 21, 1906 – July 6, 1999) was an American singer-songwriter who reached popularity in the 1940s, with a comeback in the 1970s. He is remembered for his risqué but cheerfully optimistic songs. Career B ...

, who used the Bell name to issue risqué novelty records. A British branch was also active in the 1960s and 1970s. Bell Records was shut down in late 1974, and its assets were transferred to

Columbia Pictures Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc., Trade name, doing business as Columbia Pictures, is an American film Production company, production and Film distributor, distribution company that is the flagship unit of the Sony Pictures Motion Picture Group ...

' new label,

Arista Records Arista Records ( ) is an American record label owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America, the American division of the Japanese conglomerate Sony. The label was previously a division of Bertelsmann Music G ...

1950s

At its inception in 1952, Bell specialized in budget generic pop music, with the slogan "music for the millions". Originally sold on seven-inch 78rpm and 45rpm records for 39 cents (US), this style of music went out of fashion as

rock and roll Rock and roll (often written as rock & roll, rock-n-roll, and rock 'n' roll) is a Genre (music), genre of popular music that evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s. It Origins of rock and roll, originated from African ...

became more prevalent.

Sound-alike A sound-alike is a sound recording, recording intended to imitate the sound of a popular record, the style of a popular recording artist, or a current musical trend; the term also refers to the artists who perform on such recordings. In the voice ...

cover version In popular music, a cover version, cover song, remake, revival, or simply cover is a new performance or recording by a musician other than the original performer or composer of the song. Originally, it referred to a version of a song release ...

s of hit records were also issued on 78rpm as well as 45rpm disks priced at 49 cents. One of these records was by Tom & Jerry, who would later become known using their real surnames,

Simon & Garfunkel Simon & Garfunkel were an American folk rock duo comprising the singer-songwriter Paul Simon and the singer Art Garfunkel. They were one of the best-selling music acts of the 1960s. Their most famous recordings include three US number-one sing ...

. Instead of being pressed into vinyl like a normal 7-inch disc, these records were

injection molded Injection or injected may refer to: Science and technology * Injective function, a mathematical function mapping distinct arguments to distinct values * Injection (medicine), insertion of liquid into the body with a syringe * Injection, in broadca ...

by Bestway Products using

polystyrene Polystyrene (PS) is a synthetic polymer made from monomers of the aromatic hydrocarbon styrene. Polystyrene can be solid or foamed. General-purpose polystyrene is clear, hard, and brittle. It is an inexpensive resin per unit weight. It i ...

, which either had glued-on labels or the label information was printed directly on the polystyrene, rendering many copies almost unreadable years later. Most (but not all) Bell and associated label 45rpm records were similarly injection-molded all the way into the 1970s. As Al Massler, the head of record manufacturer Bestway Products, had become head of Bell Records in 1959, Mala Records was then formed as a Bell subsidiary label, specializing in rock and roll along with

rhythm and blues Rhythm and blues, frequently abbreviated as R&B or R'n'B, is a genre of popular music that originated within African American communities in the 1940s. The term was originally used by record companies to describe recordings marketed predomina ...

1960s

Merrilee-rush-and-the-turnabouts-angel-of-the-morning-1968

In 1960,

Amy Records DJ copy of Kinetic Energy 1969 Amy 45 Amy Records was a record label formed in 1960 as a subsidiary of Bell Records. Artists who had success on Amy included Al Brown's Tunetoppers with "The Madison" (Amy 804 charted #23), a dance tune in 1960, J ...

was formed as another subsidiary label, focusing on soul and/or

blue-eyed soul Blue-eyed soul (also called white soul) is rhythm and blues (R&B) and soul music performed by white artists. The term was coined in the mid-1960s, to describe white artists whose sound was similar to that of the predominantly black Motown and St ...

acts. The following year,

Larry Uttal Lawrence Uttal (December 2, 1921 – November 25, 1993) was an American music business executive who led the Madison Records, Bell and Private Stock record labels in the 1960s and 1970s. He was born in New York City. He joined Bill Buchanan ...

folded his

Madison Records Madison Records was an American record label. It was founded in 1958 by Larry Uttal. It lasted until 1961 when Uttal absorbed the label into his newly acquired Bell Records Bell Records was an American record label founded in 1952 in New Yor ...

label into Bell after purchasing the label, along with its Amy and Mala subsidiary labels. Concentrating his efforts on the Amy and Mala labels, Uttal rendered the Bell parent label dormant until 1964, when the label was revived, featuring a logo utilizing a stylized "BELL" word mark shaped like a

bell A bell /ˈbɛl/ () is a directly struck idiophone percussion instrument. Most bells have the shape of a hollow cup that when struck vibrates in a single strong strike tone, with its sides forming an efficient resonator. The strike may be m ...

. In 1966, the Bell label was expanded internationally and the company decided to issue all their albums, even for Amy and Mala acts, on the Bell label, and went on to issue several hit singles, including: "Little Girl" by Syndicate of Sound (#5 CB/#8 BB), "

I'm Your Puppet "I'm Your Puppet" is a song written by Dan Penn and Spooner Oldham; the best known version is the one recorded by James & Bobby Purify which reached #5 on the US R&B chart and #6 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 in 1966. The single was nominated ...

" by

James and Bobby Purify James & Bobby Purify were an R&B singing duo, whose biggest hits were "I'm Your Puppet" in 1966, which reached number six in the US ''Billboard'' Hot 100 chart and in a re-recorded version number 12 in the UK Singles Chart (in May 1976), and ...

in 1966, " The Letter" by

the Box Tops The Box Tops is an American rock band formed in Memphis, Tennessee in 1967. They are best known for the hits " The Letter", "Cry Like a Baby", and " Soul Deep" and are considered a major blue-eyed soul group of the period. They performed a mi ...

(the single on Mala, the album on Bell) in 1967, " Angel of the Morning" by Merrilee Rush & the Turnabouts in 1968, and "

Gimme Gimme Good Lovin' "Gimme Gimme Good Lovin is a song written by Joey Levine and Ritchie Cordell and performed by Crazy Elephant. It reached #12 on both the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 and the UK Singles Chart in 1969, and was featured on their 1969 album, ''Crazy Elepha ...

" by

Crazy Elephant Crazy Elephant was an American bubblegum pop band (music), band noted for their 1969 hit record, hit single (music), single, "Gimme Gimme Good Lovin'". History Crazy Elephant was a recording studio, studio concoction, the Marzano-Calvert Stud ...

in 1969. In March 1969, Columbia Pictures Industries (CPI) purchased Bell for $3.5 million (mainly in CPI stock), retaining Larry Uttal as label president. Later that year, the Mala, Amy, and Bell labels were merged into a single unit, keeping the Bell moniker. By mid-1971, the assets of the Columbia Pictures-owned but

RCA Records RCA Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Group Corporation. It is one of Sony Music's four flagship labels, alongside Columbia Records (its former longtime rival), Arista Records and Epic R ...

-distributed

Colgems Records Colgems Records was a record label that existed from 1966 to 1971. History Colgems was a joint venture between Screen Gems, the television division of Columbia Pictures, and RCA Victor to issue records by the Monkees and other artists affiliate ...

were integrated into the label. Uttal was instrumental in signing many soon-to-be-famous acts such as

the Partridge Family ''The Partridge Family'' is an American musical sitcom created by Bernard Slade, which was broadcast in the United States from September 1970 to March 1974 on American Broadcasting Company, ABC. After the final first-run telecast on ABC in March ...

David Cassidy David Bruce Cassidy (April 12, 1950 – November 21, 2017) was an American actor and musician. He was best known for his role as Keith Partridge in the 1970s musical-sitcom ''The Partridge Family''. After completing high school, Cassidy purs ...

Ricky Segall Richard Robert Segall III (born March 10, 1969) is an American film and television actor. He is best known for playing the singer Ricky Stevens in the American sitcom television series ''The Partridge Family''. Personal life, family and educat ...

the 5th Dimension The 5th Dimension is an American vocal group. Their music encompasses sunshine pop, pop soul, and psychedelic soul. They were an important crossover music act of the 1960s and 1970s, although both praised and derided for their particular music ...

Barry Manilow Barry Manilow ( ; born Barry Alan Pincus on June 17, 1943) is an American singer, songwriter and record producer with a career that spans over sixty years. His hit recordings include "Could It Be Magic", "Looks Like We Made It", "Brandy (Scott ...

Melissa Manchester Melissa Manchester (born February 15, 1951) is an American singer-songwriter and actress. Since the 1970s, her songs have been played by adult contemporary radio stations. She has also appeared on television, in films, and on stage. Early li ...

and

Tony Orlando & Dawn Tony Orlando and Dawn (also known simply as Dawn) is an American pop music group that was popular in the 1970s, composed of singer Tony Orlando and the backing vocal group Dawn (Telma Hopkins and Joyce Vincent Wilson). Their signature hits inclu ...

, as well as adopting a new "thick-stripe" logo.

1970s

I think i love you by partridge family US single variant A

By 1970, the Bell label was more successful with pop music singles, and less successful with more lucrative pop LPs. After a year of declining revenues, Uttal resigned from Bell at the end of May 1974 to begin his own label, Private Stock, financed and distributed outside North America by

EMI EMI Group Limited (formerly EMI Group plc until 2007; originally an initialism for Electric and Musical Industries, also referred to as EMI Records or simply EMI) was a British transnational conglomerate founded in March 1931 in London. At t ...

. Uttal was replaced as president a week later by

Clive Davis Clive Jay Davis (born April 4, 1932) is an American record producer, A&R executive, record executive, and lawyer. He has won five Grammy Awards and was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, as a non-performer, in 2000. From 1967 to 1 ...

, who had originally been hired as a record and music consultant by Columbia Pictures. Davis's real goal was to reorganize and revitalize Columbia Pictures's music division. With a $10 million investment by CPI, and a reorganization of the various Columbia Pictures legacy labels (

Colpix Colpix Records was the first recording company for Columbia Pictures–Screen Gems. Colpix got its name from combining Columbia (Col) and Pictures (Pix). CBS, which owned Columbia Records, then sued Columbia Pictures for trademark infringement o ...

Colgems Colgems Records was a record label that existed from 1966 to 1971. History Colgems was a joint venture between Screen Gems, the television division of Columbia Pictures, and RCA Victor to issue records by the Monkees and other artists affilia ...

, and Bell), Davis introduced Columbia Pictures's new record division,

, in November 1974 with Davis himself owning 20% of the new venture. Bell had its final No. 1 hit in January 1975 with

's " Mandy" (Bell 45,613), followed shortly by the label's final hit, as well as its final single, "Look in My Eyes Pretty Woman" by

Tony Orlando and Dawn Tony Orlando and Dawn (also known simply as Dawn) is an American pop music group that was popular in the 1970s, composed of singer Tony Orlando and the backing vocal group Dawn (Telma Hopkins and Joyce Vincent Wilson). Their signature hits inclu ...

(Bell 45,620—US #11) after which the more successful Bell albums were reissued on Arista. The last releases utilizing the Bell imprint have the designation "Bell Records, Distributed by Arista Records, 1776 Broadway, New York City 10019" around the rim of the label. Bell Records also had a division in Japan that was notable for reissuing Colgems original recordings, most notably the Monkees, who enjoyed considerable success in the country well into the 1970s. In 1974, while the US Bell label released ''Re-Focus'' (a greatest hits compilation that was subsequently re-released several times on the Arista label as '' The Monkees Greatest Hits''), the Japanese Bell label re-released the entire original Colgems LP catalog along with EPs, box sets and several greatest hits collections (including ''Re-Focus''). While Bell Japan ignored the original Colgems single releases, they did however release the last single recorded by Davy Jones and Micky Dolenz (" Do It in the Name of Love"/"Lady Jane") as "the Monkees" unlike Bell in the US and UK, who opted to use their individual names. In 1973, Bell Japan also utilized the "Gold Disc" subsidiary label to release the 45 single "(Theme from) The Monkees"/"Daydream Believer" (released in the US on the Arista label). The third and final Monkees 45 released in 1973 featured the songs "I Wanna Be Free"/"Take A Giant Step".

Bell Records UK

The British branch was established in 1967. Previous British releases of Bell recordings were issued on

Stateside Records Stateside Records, styled as $tateside Records, is a British record label, owned by Warner Music Group and operates through its Parlophone and Warner Records imprints. Upon creation, it initially released licensed American recordings and is n ...

. Bell/Amy/Mala's association with EMI dates back to 1964. Bell Records UK was opened as an independent label on January 1, 1972 in London, headed by Dick Leahy (general manager of the British branch in the previous year), continuing a three-year pressing and distribution agreement with EMI. (In other countries, apart from the United States,

Polydor Polydor Limited, also known as Polydor Records, is a British record label that operates as part of Universal Music Group. It has a close relationship with Universal's Interscope Geffen A&M Records label, which distributes Polydor's releases in ...

handled distribution which later picked up British distribution.) Artists signed to them included the

Bay City Rollers The Bay City Rollers are a Scottish pop rock band known for their worldwide teen idol popularity, as a band in the 1970s. One of many 70s acts heralded as the "biggest group since the Beatles", they were called the "tartan teen sensations fro ...

Showaddywaddy Showaddywaddy are a rock and roll group from Leicester, England. They specialise in revivals of hit songs from the 1950s and early 1960s, while also issuing original material. They have spent 209 weeks on the UK Singles Chart, and have had 10 ...

the Glitter Band The Glitter Band are a glam rock band from England, who initially worked as Gary Glitter's backing band under that name from 1973, when they then began releasing gramophone record, records of their own. They were unofficially known as the Glitte ...

, and American acts

Reparata and the Delrons Reparata and the Delrons were an American girl group. They are best known for their 1965 recordings "Whenever a Teenager Cries" and "Tommy", for the 1968 European hit " Captain of Your Ship" and for Reparata's 1975 solo hit "Shoes". History 19 ...

and

with

. Other artists on the label included

Gary Glitter Paul Francis Gadd (born 8 May 1944), better known by his stage name Gary Glitter, is an English former singer who achieved fame and success during the 1970s and 1980s. His career ended after he was convicted of downloading child pornography i ...

Edison Lighthouse Edison Lighthouse are an English pop band, formed in London in 1969. The band was best known for their 1970 hit single "Love Grows (Where My Rosemary Goes)" recorded in late 1969. Career Before the name Edison Lighthouse, they were known as ...

(who, along with Glitter, signed to Bell UK thanks to a deal with Laurence Myers's Gem Records,)

Barry Blue Barry Blue (born Barry Ian Green; 4 December 1950) is an English singer, producer, and songwriter. As an artist, he is best known for his hit songs "Dancin' (on a Saturday Night)" and "Do You Wanna Dance" (both 1973). Blue has also been a pr ...

Terry Jacks Terrence Ross Jacks (born March 29, 1944) is a Canadian singer, songwriter, guitarist and record producer known for his 1974 hit song "Seasons in the Sun", an English adaptation of a song written by Belgian composer and singer Jacques Brel in 1 ...

Hello Hello is a salutation or greeting in the English language. It is first attested in writing from 1826. Early uses ''Hello'', with that spelling, was used in publications in the U.S. as early as the 18 October 1826 edition of the '' Norwich Cou ...

the Piglets The Piglets were a United Kingdom, British female outfit, and one of the pseudonyms Jonathan King used in the 1970s to release some of his songs. Their lead singer on Johnny Reggae was Barbara Kay. The Piglets are best remembered for "Johnny Regga ...

the Pearls The Pearls were an English 1970s girl group, girl human voice, vocal duet (music), duo from Liverpool, England, featuring Lyn Cornell and Ann Simmons (née O'Brien). They released a total of 12 single (music), singles, the most successful being ...

and Harley Quinne,

the Drifters The Drifters are an American pop and R&B/soul vocal group. They were originally formed as a backing group for Clyde McPhatter, formerly the lead tenor of Billy Ward and his Dominoes in 1953. The second group of Drifters, formed in 1959 and ...

, and the UK releases of

. Bell UK initially kept its identity when the American label was reorganized into Arista in 1974, but a year later the UK label adopted the Arista name, although releases continued on the UK Bell label until 1976. Showaddywaddy released the last Bell single, "Under the Moon of Love", which reached No.1 in December 1976, before Arista UK briefly revived the label in 1981. The Bell logo has made occasional appearances on the jackets and labels of Arista UK releases.

Current ownership

The former catalog of Bell Records and its related labels is now owned by

Sony Music Entertainment Sony Music Entertainment (SME), commonly known as Sony Music, is an American multinational music company owned by Japanese conglomerate Sony Group Corporation. It is the recording division of Sony Music Group, with the other half being the ...

(now a sister company of Columbia Pictures) and managed by

Legacy Recordings Legacy Recordings is an American record label that is a division of Sony Music. Formed in 1990 after Sony's acquisition of CBS Records, Legacy originally handled the archives of Sony Music-owned labels Columbia Records and Epic Records. In 2 ...

Subsidiary and associated labels

In addition to releasing its own records, Bell Records distributed at least five dozen custom labels throughout its existence. Among the most familiar labels are as follows: *

Big Tree Records Big Tree Records was a record label founded by Doug Morris in 1970. It was best known for releases by Lobo, England Dan & John Ford Coley, Brownsville Station, Johnny Rivers, Dave and Ansel Collins, Canadian band April Wine, pop/R&B vocal t ...

Philly Groove Records Philly Groove Records was a soul music label started by Stan Watson and Sam Bell in 1967, with noted producer Thom Bell doing A&R. The label's best-known artists were male vocal group the Delfonics and female group First Choice. Both acts enjoye ...

* Mala Records (Bell-owned) *

(Bell-owned) *

Bigtop Records Bigtop Records was an American record label started by music executive Johnny Bienstock (brother of Freddy Bienstock) and the major music publisher Hill & Range Music and was co-owned along with Big Top Record Distributors (sic). Hit artists inc ...

(Brief reactivation under Bell in the mid 60s) *Carousel Records *Crewe Records * Direction Records *

DynoVoice Records DynoVoice Records was an American record label, founded in 1965 by songwriter/producer Bob Crewe. The label started as Dyno-Vox, but was changed when the 5th single was issued. DynoVoice, along with its NewVoice Records subsidiary, was originally ...

* NewVoice Records *

Page One Records Page One Records, established in 1966, was the UK independent record label, owned by the producer/manager, Larry Page. They were involved in a court case in July 1967 with The Troggs. 9681 WLR 157; 9673 All ER 822; (1967) 111 SJ 944 The label ...

Penny Farthing Records Penny Farthing Records was a British independent record label, established in 1969 by the British record producer Larry Page as a progression from his mildly successful 1960s record label, Page One Records. The label signed some artists of note. ...

Pye Records PYE or Pye Records is an independent British record label. It was first established in 1955 and played a major role in shaping rock 'n' roll and pop music history. The Pye name was dropped in 1980 due to trademark issues, after which it produced ...

The above three labels were U.S. distribution arms of the major U.K. companies *Rocky Road Records * TA Records (Talent Associates) *

Windfall Records Windfall Records was a record label founded in 1969 by Bud Prager and Felix Pappalardi to distribute records of acts they managed and/or produced. Singer-guitarist Leslie West recorded for Windfall throughout the label's existence, initially as a ...

Other affiliated labels (in which many released no more than two to 10 singles) included: Academy, Admiral, AGP,

Amos Amos or AMOS may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Amos'' (album), an album by Michael Ray * Amos (band), an American Christian rock band * ''Amos'' (film), a 1985 American made-for-television drama film * Amos (guitar), a 1958 Gibson Fl ...

, Aquarian, Audio Arts!, Aurora, Bell Country Series, Big Hill, Brookmont, Canusa, Carnation, Chariot, Creative Funk, Cyclone, D.C. Sound, December, DJM, E Records, Elf, Eskee, Gemini Star, General International, Gold Records Incorporated, Goldwax, Hilltop, Hot Line Music Journal, Ivanhoe, JED, Jet Set, Kayman, Kas-Mo, Kingston, Lake, LHI (

Lee Hazlewood Barton Lee Hazlewood (July 9, 1929 – August 4, 2007) was an American country and pop singer, songwriter, and record producer, most widely known for his work with guitarist Duane Eddy during the late 1950s and singer Nancy Sinatra in the 1960s ...

Industries), Luv, Mona-Lee, Musicland U.S.A., Maxx, New World, Nite Life, Norman, Pacemaker, Pala, Philly Soulville, Philtown, Rain, Roc-Ker, Rotate, Round, Sansu, Show Biz, Simco, Sport, Stere-O-Craft, Sunburst, Taurus, Timmy, Tou-Sea, Twin Stacks, Vando, Village Gate, York, and Zorro.

Reissue labels

Bell also had three oldies reissue labels in its history: *Flashback Records: Started in 1964 and continued after the Bell/Arista transformation *Sphere Sound Records (1965–1970): Released reissue singles as well as albums with previously issued and unreleased tracks *Bell Gold Records (1972): Short-lived label consisting of hits from artists

and Al Wilson, both of whom were on

Soul City The soul is the purported immaterial aspect or essence of a living being. It is typically believed to be immortal and to exist apart from the material world. The three main theories that describe the relationship between the soul and the body ...

which was sold to Bell

Bell Records artists (1960s)

The following artists have had at least one

recording A record, recording or records may refer to: An item or collection of data Computing * Record (computer science), a data structure ** Record, or row (database), a set of fields in a database related to one entity ** Boot sector or boot record, re ...

released on the Bell Records label or one of its subsidiaries. ''(In alphabetical order)'' *

Cilla Black Priscilla Maria Veronica White (27 May 1943 – 1 August 2015), better known as Cilla Black, was an English singer and television presenter. Championed by her friends the Beatles, Black began her career as a singer in 1963. Her singles "A ...

The Box Tops The Box Tops is an American rock band formed in Memphis, Tennessee in 1967. They are best known for the hits " The Letter", "Cry Like a Baby", and " Soul Deep" and are considered a major blue-eyed soul group of the period. They performed a mi ...

(Mala, Bell) *

Solomon Burke Solomon Vincent McDonald Burke (born James Solomon McDonald, March 21, 1940 – October 10, 2010) was an American singer who shaped the sound of rhythm and blues as one of the founding fathers of soul music in the 1960s. He has been called ...

Bette Davis Ruth Elizabeth "Bette" Davis (; April 5, 1908 – October 6, 1989) was an American actress of film, television, and theater. Regarded as one of the greatest actresses in Hollywood history, she was noted for her willingness to play unsympatheti ...

The Delfonics The Delfonics were an American R&B/soul vocal group from Philadelphia. The Delfonics were most popular in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Their most notable hits include " La-La (Means I Love You)", " Didn't I (Blow Your Mind This Time)", "Bre ...

(Philly Groove) *

Lee Dorsey Irving Lee Dorsey (December 24, 1924 – December 1, 1986) was an American pop and R&B singer during the 1960s. His biggest hits were " Ya Ya" (1961) and " Working in the Coal Mine" (1966). Much of his work was produced by Allen Toussaint, wit ...

(Amy) *

Georgia Gibbs Georgia Gibbs (born Frieda Lipschitz; August 17, 1918December 9, 2006) was an American popular singer and vocal entertainer rooted in jazz. Already singing publicly in her early teens, Gibbs achieved acclaim and notoriety in the mid-1950s copyin ...

Al Green Albert Leornes Greene (born April 13, 1946), known professionally as Al Green, is an American singer, songwriter, pastor and record producer. He is best known for recording a series of soul hit singles in the early 1970s, including " Tired of ...

Margo Guryan Margo Guryan (September 20, 1937 – November 8, 2021) was an American singer-songwriter. As a songwriter, her work was first recorded in 1958, although it was for her 1960s song " Sunday Mornin', a hit for both Spanky and Our Gang and Oliver, ...

O'Jays The O'Jays are an American R&B group from Canton, Ohio, formed in summer 1958 and originally consisting of Eddie Levert, Walter Lee Williams, William Powell, Bobby Massey, and Bill Isles. The O'Jays made their first chart appearance with the m ...

James & Bobby Purify James & Bobby Purify were an R&B singing duo, whose biggest hits were " I'm Your Puppet" in 1966, which reached number six in the US ''Billboard'' Hot 100 chart and in a re-recorded version number 12 in the UK Singles Chart (in May 1976), an ...

Ronny & the Daytonas Ronny & the Daytonas were an American surf rock group, whose members included John "Bucky" Wilkin (aka Ronny Dayton) (songwriting, guitar, vocals), Paul Jensen (vocals, guitar), Thomas Ramey (bass, guitar), Lynn Williams (drums), and Lee Kraft ...

(Mala) *

Merrilee Rush Merrilee Rush ( Gunst; January 26, 1944) is an American singer, best known for her recording of the song " Angel of the Morning", a top-10 hit which earned her a Grammy nomination for female vocalist of the year in 1968. Early life and caree ...

(Bell, AGP) *

Del Shannon Charles Weedon Westover (December 30, 1934 – February 8, 1990), better known by his stage name Del Shannon, was an American musician, singer and songwriter, best known for his 1961 number-one ''Billboard'' hit " Runaway", which was covered la ...

(Amy) *

Smokestack Lightning "Smokestack Lightning" (also "Smoke Stack Lightning" or "Smokestack Lightnin'") is a blues song recorded by Howlin' Wolf in 1956. It became one of his most popular and influential songs. It is based on earlier blues songs, and numerous artists l ...

Spooky Tooth Spooky Tooth was a rock band originally formed in Carlisle, England, in 1967. The band was principally active between 1967 and 1974, and re-formed several times in later years. History Prior to Spooky Tooth, four of the band's five founding ...

(US only) * Syndicate of Sound * Jimmy Velvit (as James Bell)

Bell Records artists (1970s)

April Wine April Wine is a Canadian rock band formed in 1969 and based in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Halifax, Nova Scotia, led by singer-guitarist-songwriter Myles Goodwyn until his death in 2023. April Wine first experienced success with their second album, ' ...

(Big Tree) * Miki Antony *

Baja Marimba Band The Baja Marimba Band was an American musical group led by marimba player Julius Wechter. Formed by producer Herb Alpert after his own Tijuana Brass, the Baja Marimba Band outlasted the Tijuana Brass by several years in part due to TV producer Ch ...

Brownsville Station Brownsville station is a Metrorail station in Brownsville, Florida. It is located at the intersection of Northwest 27th Avenue ( SR 9) and 52nd Street, opening to service May 19, 1985. Places of interest *Brownsville *Joseph Caleb Community C ...

(Big Tree) *

Burl Ives Burl Icle Ivanhoe Ives (June 14, 1909 – April 14, 1995) was an American Folk music, folk singer and actor with a career that spanned more than six decades. Ives began his career as an itinerant singer and guitarist, eventually launching his o ...

Climax Climax may refer to: Language arts * Climax (narrative), the point of highest tension in a narrative work * Climax (rhetoric), a figure of speech that lists items in order of importance Biology * Climax community, a biological community th ...

(Carousel, Rocky Road) *

The Drifters The Drifters are an American pop and R&B/soul vocal group. They were originally formed as a backing group for Clyde McPhatter, formerly the lead tenor of Billy Ward and his Dominoes in 1953. The second group of Drifters, formed in 1959 and ...

The Fantastics The Fantastics were a professional wrestling tag team composed of Bobby Fulton and Tommy Rogers who worked together extensively between 1984 and 2007. At times, Bobby Fulton would team up with his brother Jackie Fulton under the same name. ...

The 5th Dimension The 5th Dimension is an American vocal group. Their music encompasses sunshine pop, pop soul, and psychedelic soul. They were an important crossover music act of the 1960s and 1970s, although both praised and derided for their particular music ...

* First Choice (Philly Groove) *

Micky Dolenz George Michael Dolenz Jr. ( ; born March 8, 1945) is an American musician and actor. He was the drummer and one of two primary vocalists for the pop rock band the Monkees (1966–1970, and reunions until 2021), and a co-star of the TV series ''T ...

* David Geddes (Big Tree) *

The Glitter Band The Glitter Band are a glam rock band from England, who initially worked as Gary Glitter's backing band under that name from 1973, when they then began releasing gramophone record, records of their own. They were unofficially known as the Glitte ...

* Godspell (1971 Off-Broadway Cast) * Godspell movie soundtrack * Let the Good Times Roll soundtrack *

Gryphon The griffin, griffon, or gryphon (; Classical Latin: ''gryps'' or ''grypus''; Late and Medieval Latin: ''gryphes'', ''grypho'' etc.; Old French: ''griffon'') is a -4; we might wonder whether there's a point at which it's appropriate to talk o ...

(US and Canada only) *

* Lost Horizon (1973) movie soundtrack *

* Davy Jones *

Shirley Jones Shirley Mae Jones (born March 31, 1934) is an American actress and singer. In her six decades in show business, she has starred as wholesome characters in a number of musical films, such as ''Oklahoma! (film), Oklahoma!'' (1955), ''Carousel (fi ...

Vicki Lawrence Vicki Lawrence (born Vicki Ann Axelrad, March 26, 1949), sometimes credited as Vicki Lawrence Schultz, is an American actress, comedian, and singer. She is best known for her character Thelma Harper, Mama (Thelma Harper). Lawrence also originate ...

Leapy Lee Lee Graham (born Graham Pulleyblank, 2 July 1939), better known by his stage name Leapy Lee, is an English singer, best known for his 1968 single " Little Arrows," which reached No. 2 in the UK Singles Chart, and was a Top 20 country and pop hi ...

* Lobo (Big Tree) *

* Michael McDonald"New Radio Action and Billboard Pick Singles: Pop"
''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...

''. May 20, 1972. p. 58. Retrieved January 5, 2022. *

Sylvia McNeill Sylvia McNeill (born 5 August 1947, Harrogate, North Yorkshire, England) is a British pop and rock singer and songwriter. She began her career singing and playing bass guitar with various groups and bands. She went abroad for several years, tour ...

Peter Noone Peter Blair Denis Bernard Noone (born 5 November 1947) is an English singer-songwriter, musician and actor. He was the lead singer "Herman" in the 1960s pop group Herman's Hermits. Early life Noone was born in Davyhulme, Lancashire, England ...

The Partridge Family ''The Partridge Family'' is an American musical sitcom created by Bernard Slade, which was broadcast in the United States from September 1970 to March 1974 on American Broadcasting Company, ABC. After the final first-run telecast on ABC in March ...

Dan Penn Dan Penn (born Wallace Daniel Pennington, November 16, 1941) is an American songwriter, singer, musician, and record producer, who co-wrote many soul hits of the 1960s, including " The Dark End of the Street" and " Do Right Woman, Do Right Man" ...

Sergio Mendes Sergio may refer to: * Sergio (name), for people with the given name Sergio * Sergio (carbonado), the largest rough diamond ever found * Sergio, the mascot for the Old Orchard Beach Surge Old or OLD may refer to: Places *Old, Baranya, Hungar ...

& Brasil '77 *

Suzi Quatro Susan Kay Quatro (born June 3, 1950) is an American singer, bass guitarist, songwriter, and actress. In the 1970s, she scored a string of singles that found success in Europe and Australia, with both "Can the Can" (1973) and "Devil Gate Drive" ...

* Rodney Allen Rippy * Rick Segall *

Labi Siffre Claudius Afolabi "Labi" Siffre ( , born 25 June 1945) is a British singer, songwriter and poet. Siffre released six albums from 1970 to 1975 and four from 1988 to 1998. His compositions include " It Must Be Love", which reached number 14 on the ...

The Monkees The Monkees were an American pop rock band formed in Los Angeles in the mid-1960s. The band consisted of Micky Dolenz, Davy Jones (musician), Davy Jones, Michael Nesmith, and Peter Tork. Spurred by the success of ''The Monkees (TV series), Th ...

(Re-Focus LP in USA, Colgems re-releases and compilations in Japan) *

The Stampeders The Stampeders (sometimes shortened to Stampeders) are a Canadian rock trio consisting of lead guitarist and vocalist Rich Dodson, bassist Ronnie King and drummer Kim Berly. History Formed in Calgary, Alberta, in 1964 as the Rebounds, the ...

* Mary Stuart *

The Sweet Sweet (known as the Sweet until the early 1970s) are a British glam rock band who rose to prominence in the 1970s. Their best-known line-up consisted of lead vocalist Brian Connolly, bassist Steve Priest, guitarist Andy Scott and drummer ...

Marlo Thomas Margaret Julia "Marlo" Thomas (born November 21, 1937) is an American actress, producer, author, and social activist. She is best known for starring on the sitcom ''That Girl'' (1966–1971) and her Children's television series, children's franc ...

* Al Wilson (Rocky Road) *

Lenny Zakatek Lenny Zakatek (born Lenny du Platel, 29 July 1947) is a British singer and musician. Born in Karachi just prior to it becoming a part of Pakistan, he has lived in London since the age of thirteen. Zakatek is best known for his work with the Bri ...

References

External links

*
The Bell/Amy/Mala story from Both Sides Now Publications
{{Authority control American record labels Arista Records Columbia Pictures British record labels Record labels established in 1952 Record labels disestablished in 1974