At least five

record label "Big Three" music labels A record label or record company is a brand or trademark of Sound recording and reproduction, music recordings and music videos, or the company that owns it. Sometimes, a record label is also a Music publisher, ...

s with the name Bullet Records have existed.

Bullet Records, Nashville, 1946-1952

The earliest Bullet Records was a

based in

Nashville Nashville, often known as Music City, is the capital and List of municipalities in Tennessee, most populous city in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is the county seat, seat of Davidson County, Tennessee, Davidson County in Middle Tennessee, locat ...

, United States, which was started in 1946 by Jim Bulleit and C.V. Hitchcock. Bulleit was an early partner in

Sun Records Sun Records is an American independent record label founded by producer Sam Phillips in Memphis, Tennessee on February 1, 1952. Sun was the first label to record Elvis Presley, Charlie Rich, Roy Orbison, Jerry Lee Lewis, Carl Perkins, and Jo ...

. Its only national hits were by orchestra leader Francis Craig. The pop hit " Near You" made in early 1947 was a monster, topping the charts for seventeen weeks and having a chart run of twenty-five weeks. Craig also made the charts at #3 with "Beg Your Pardon", but no further hits were forthcoming.Pop Memories 1890-1954. Joel Whitburn. 1986. Record Research Inc. p. 232. Despite these hits, the label was known for country music artists such as Boots Woodall's Radio Wranglers, who also recorded for

Capitol Records Capitol Records, LLC (known legally as Capitol Records, Inc. until 2007), and simply known as Capitol, is an American record label owned by Universal Music Group through its Capitol Music Group imprint. It was founded as the first West Coast-base ...

, and Southern Gospel artists such as the Rangers Quartet and Speer Family. The label also recorded blues singer and pianist Cecil Gant. In 1949 they released B. B. King's first commercial single, "Miss Martha King". Too much money was spent in hope of repeating the success of Francis Craig's "Near You" and the label was in trouble by 1949. Jim Bulleit sold out to his share to Hitchcock in February of that year. The label limped on for a few years but was out of business by 1952. The Bullet, Sur-Speed and Delta catalogs were purchased by Bluesland Productions in the mid-1990s.

Other Bullet record labels

Another label with the same name released ''In A Moment'' by the Intrigues, a

Philadelphia Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...

R&B quartet, in 1969. The song was re-released by Yew Records and became a top-40 hit. Another Bullet label was a short-lived subsidiary of American Bang Records. Only one album by

Peabo Bryson Robert Peapo "Peabo" Bryson ( ; born April 13, 1951) is an American singer and songwriter. He is known for singing soul ballads (often as a duet with female singers) including the hit singles " Tonight, I Celebrate My Love", "You're Looking Like ...

in 1976 was ever released. Bryson's next label

now owns the rights to the album '' Peabo'' and Bryson's unreleased Bullet material. The fourth known

label A label (as distinct from signage) is a piece of paper, plastic film, cloth, metal, or other material affixed to a container or product. Labels are most often affixed to packaging and containers using an adhesive, or sewing when affix ...

with this name was based in

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

in the early 1980s and released

NWOBHM The new wave of British heavy metal (often abbreviated as NWOBHM) was a nationwide musical movement that began in England in the mid-1970s and achieved international attention by the early 1980s. Editor Alan Lewis coined the term for an arti ...

artists. Among known releases is the self-titled 1983 debut EP from Danish Pretty Maids. Bullet Records UK was an offshoot of Bullet Mail Order. Because of its close ties with the British heavy metal scene at that time, it seemed a logical progression to form a label to promote little-known unsigned bands. Amongst the bands on the label were Wrathchild, Pretty Maids, Black Rose rom N.E.England Le Griffe, Crisis (from Salt Lake City, US), Silverwing, Chrome Molly and Taipan rom Australia Whilst many of the releases were critically acclaimed, the company suffered from a lack of experience and through various reasons, cash-flow being one, was forced to cease trading in 1984. Bullet Records is currently a Registered Trademark owned by Clark Enslin.

References

External links

Bullet Records (Nashville)
on the Internet Archive'
Great 78 Project
* http://www.trademarkia.com/bullet-records-85305508.html {{Authority control American record labels British record labels

Bullet Records, Nashville, 1946-1952

Other Bullet record labels

See also

References

External links