Jewel Records was an 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 ...

, founded in 1963 by Stan Lewis (July 5, 1927 – July 15, 2018) and based in

Shreveport, Louisiana Shreveport ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Louisiana. It is the List of municipalities in Louisiana, third-most populous city in Louisiana after New Orleans and Baton Rouge, Louisiana, Baton Rouge. The bulk of Shreveport is in Caddo Parish, Lo ...

. It had two subsidiary labels, Paula (established in 1965 and named after Lewis's wife Pauline) and Ronn (established in 1967).

Overview

The first of many retail record stores, called Stan's Record Shop, was opened in 1948 in Shreveport. The store expanded, and Lewis built connections with record label owners who were dropping by at his store. By mid 1950s, Lewis began to record artists.

Leonard Chess Leonard Samuel Chess (born Lejzor Szmuel Czyż; March 12, 1917 – October 16, 1969) was a Polish-American record company executive and the founder of Chess Records alongside his brother Phil. He was influential in the development of the recor ...

Chess Records Chess Records was an American record company established in 1950 in Chicago, specializing in blues and rhythm and blues. It was the successor to Aristocrat Records, founded in 1947. It expanded into soul music, gospel music, early rock an ...

was a friend of Lewis's, and it was him who persuaded Lewis to start his own record label. In the early days of label, its LPs were manufactured by Chess Records. Lewis started the label in 1963, and named it Jewel after seeing a flourishing supermarket in Chicago named Jewel Tea Company. Later, Stan Lewis purchased and reissued the catalogues of Cobra Records,

Chief Records Chief Records, together with its Profile and Age subsidiaries, was an independent record label that operated from 1957 to 1964. Best known for its recordings of Chicago blues artists Elmore James, Junior Wells, Magic Sam, and Earl Hooker, the lab ...

, USA Records and JOB Records. At one time, Jewel (along with Ronn and Paula) was a division of Shreveport-based Sue Records (unrelated to the New York–based

Sue Records ''Sue Records was also the name of a Louisiana-based record company which owned Jewel Records (Shreveport record label).'' Sue Records ("The Sound of Soul") was an American record label founded by Juggy Murray, Henry 'Juggy' Murray and Bobby Robins ...

). In 1999, Lewis sold the rights for master recordings of Jewel and its subsidiary labels to EMusic.com.

Fuel 2000 Fuel 2000 is an independent record label, formed in 1994 as part of the Fuel Label Group, one of the biggest independent record labels. It has amassed a catalog with over 20,000 master recordings. Since its inception, the company has released ove ...

subsequently purchased the rights, and owned and managed the Jewel/Paula/Ronn catalogues. The private IP holding company, 43 North Broadway, LLC., purchased the Jewel/Paula/Ronn catalogues through its acquisition of Fuel 2000 in 2015.

Artists

The artists who recorded for and/or released records from Jewel (or Paula, Ronn) include Buster Benton,

Frank Frost Frank Otis Frost (April 15, 1936 or 1938 – October 12, 1999) was one of the foremost United States, American Delta blues harmonica players of his generation. Life and career Most sources state that Frost was born in 1936 in Auvergne, Jackson ...

Lowell Fulson Lowell Fulson (March 31, 1921March 7, 1999) was an American blues guitarist and songwriter, in the West Coast blues tradition. He also recorded for contractual reasons as Lowell Fullsom and Lowell Fulsom. After T-Bone Walker, he was the most i ...

John Lee Hooker John Lee Hooker (August 22, 1912 or 1917 – June 21, 2001) was an American blues singer, songwriter, and guitarist. The son of a sharecropper, he rose to prominence performing an electric guitar-style adaptation of Delta blues that he develo ...

Lightnin' Hopkins Samuel John "Lightnin'" Hopkins (March 15, 1912 – January 30, 1982) was an American country blues singer, songwriter, guitarist and occasional pianist from Centerville, Texas. In 2010, ''Rolling Stone'' magazine ranked him No. 71 on its li ...

, John Fred and his Playboy Band,

Toussaint McCall Toussaint McCall (1934 – August 7, 2023) was an American R&B singer and organist. Biography Toussaint McCall was born in Delhi, Louisiana, but was a long-time resident of nearby Monroe, Louisiana. His father, Rev. D. L. McCall, was a pastor ...

, The Uniques, Jerry McCain,

Memphis Slim John Len Chatman (September 3, 1915 – February 24, 1988), known professionally as Memphis Slim, was an American blues pianist, singer, and composer. He led a series of bands that, reflecting the popular appeal of jump blues, included saxopho ...

Little Johnny Taylor Little Johnny Taylor (born Johnny Lamont Merrett; February 11, 1943 – May 17, 2002) was an American blues and soul singer. He made recordings throughout the 1960s and 1970s, and continued public performances through the 1980s and 1990s. Bi ...

, and Justin Wilson.

References

External links

The Jewel/Paula/Ronn story
Defunct record labels of the United States Pop record labels Record labels based in Louisiana {{US-record-label-stub