Bellmark Records was a small American

independent record label An independent record label (or indie label) is a record label that operates without the funding or distribution of major record labels; they are a type of small and medium-sized enterprise, small- to medium-sized enterprise, or SME. The labels ...

, based in

Los Angeles, California Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

. It was formed in 1989 by

Al Bell Al Bell (born Alvertis Isbell; March 15, 1940) is an American record producer, songwriter, and record executive. He is best known as having been an executive and co-owner of Stax Records with Jim Stewart based in Memphis, Tennessee, during the ...

, who was one of the driving forces behind

Stax Records Stax Records is an American record company, originally based in Memphis, Tennessee. Founded in 1957 as Satellite Records, the label changed its name to Stax Records in September 1961. It also shared its operations with sister label Volt Records. ...

, having been its chairman and CEO, and who had also been president of

Motown Records Motown is an American record label owned by the Universal Music Group. Founded by Berry Gordy, Berry Gordy Jr. as Tamla Records on January 12, 1959, it was incorporated as Motown Record Corporation on April 14, 1960. Its name, a portmanteau ...

. The company's name was derived from the phrase "Al Bell Marketing". Initially, Bellmark's records were distributed by CEMA, but the company switched to independent distribution in 1991. The Bellmark Records organization included the Bellmark Records label itself, which was intended to be used for gospel and spiritual music, as well as the Life Records imprint, which was intended for other genres of African-American music; however, the overall manufacturing and marketing arm of the corporation went by the "Bellmark" name. Bellmark also had manufacturing, marketing, and distribution arrangements with a variety of labels, among them TMR Records. Bell said in a 1994 profile that he wanted to emphasize "positive, fun, entertaining party music". The biggest hit records distributed by Bellmark were " Dazzey Duks" by Duice, on the TMR label, which was certified

double platinum Music recording certification is a system of certifying that a music Sound recording and reproduction, recording has shipped, sold, or streamed a certain number of units. The threshold quantity varies by type (such as album, single, music video ...

; " Whoomp! (There It Is)" by

Tag Team Tag team wrestling is a type of professional wrestling in which matches are contested between teams of multiple wrestlers. Tag teams may be made up of wrestlers who normally wrestle in singles competition, but more commonly are made of establis ...

, on the Life label, which was certified

quadruple platinum Music recording certification is a system of certifying that a music recording has shipped, sold, or streamed a certain number of units. The threshold quantity varies by type (such as album, single, music video) and by nation or territory (see ...

; and " The Most Beautiful Girl in the World" by

Prince A prince is a male ruler (ranked below a king, grand prince, and grand duke) or a male member of a monarch's or former monarch's family. ''Prince'' is also a title of nobility (often highest), often hereditary, in some European states. The ...

, on the NPG label. When Prince secured permission from

Warner Bros. Records Warner Records Inc. (known as Warner Bros. Records Inc. until 2019) is an American record label. A subsidiary of Warner Music Group, it is headquartered in Los Angeles, California. It was founded on March 19, 1958, as the recorded music division ...

to release the latter song independently, Levi Seacer, president of Prince's

NPG Records NPG Records is a record label that was owned by Prince (musician), Prince and run by Trevor Guy. "NPG" is short for New Power Generation. It was founded to release his music after Paisley Park Records was shut down by Warner Bros. Records in 1994. ...

, arranged with Bellmark to distribute "The Most Beautiful Girl in the World" as a single, as well as '' The Beautiful Experience'', an EP of remixes of the song. "The Most Beautiful Girl in the World" was a #3 hit in the U.S. on the

Billboard Hot 100 The ''Billboard'' Hot 100, also known as simply the Hot 100, is the music industry standard record chart in the United States for songs, published weekly by '' Billboard'' magazine. Chart rankings are based on sales (physical and digital), ...

and was certified

gold Gold is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol Au (from Latin ) and atomic number 79. In its pure form, it is a brightness, bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile metal. Chemically, gold is a transition metal ...

. "The Most Beautiful Girl in the World" was Prince's last top 10 hit on the Billboard Hot 100 of his lifetime. Some of Bellmark's

gospel Gospel originally meant the Christianity, Christian message ("the gospel"), but in the second century Anno domino, AD the term (, from which the English word originated as a calque) came to be used also for the books in which the message w ...

artists received Grammy nominations: The Rance Allen Group was nominated for Best Contemporary Soul Gospel Album for ''Phenomenon'' (1991), Walter Hawkins and the Hawkins Family were nominated for

Best Traditional Soul Gospel Album The Grammy Award The Grammy Awards, stylized as GRAMMY, and often referred to as The Grammys, are awards presented by The Recording Academy of the United States to recognize outstanding achievements in music. They are regarded by many as the ...

for ''New Dawning'' (1996), and the Edwin Hawkins Music & Arts Seminar was nominated for Best Gospel Album by a Choir or Chorus for ''All Things Are Possible'' (1996). In 1994, Bellmark collaborated with

Walt Disney Records Walt Disney Records is an American record label owned by the Disney Music Group. The label releases soundtrack albums from the Walt Disney Company's Walt Disney Studios (division), motion picture studios, television shows, Disney Experiences, them ...

on an album titled ''Mickey Unrapped'', which featured parodies of rap songs, among them "Whoomp! (There It Went)", performed by Tag Team with Disney characters. This was the first time Walt Disney Records had collaborated with another record label on a non-soundtrack release. In 1997, Bellmark Records filed for bankruptcy. As a result, DM Records, Inc. purchased substantially all of Bellmark’s assets for $166,000 in 1999.In re Isbell Records, Inc.
No. 13–40878 (5th Cir. 2014).

References

See also