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, after the rights to the name were acquired from Benny Bell, 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' new label, Arista Records.
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, after the rights to the name were acquired from Benny Bell, 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' new label, Arista Records.
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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, after the rights to the name were acquired from Benny Bell, 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' new label, Arista Records.
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 78 rpm and 45 rpm records for 39 cents (US), this style of music went out of fashion as rock and roll became more prevalent. Sound-alike cover versions of hit records were also issued on 78 rpm as well as 45 rpm disks priced at 49 cents.
One of these records was by Tom & Jerry, who would later become known using their real surnames, Simon & Garfunkel.
Instead of being pressed into vinyl like a normal 7-inch disc, these records were injection molded by Bestway Products using polystyrene, 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 45 rpm 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.
1960s
In 1960, Amy Records was formed as another subsidiary label, focusing on soul and/or blue-eyed soul acts. The following year, Larry Uttal folded his Madison Records 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.
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" by James and Bobby Purify in 1966, "The Letter" by the Box Tops (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'" by Crazy Elephant 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-distributed Colgems Records were integrated into the label. Uttal was instrumental in signing many soon-to-be-famous acts such as the Partridge Family, David Cassidy, Ricky Segall, the 5th Dimension, , Melissa Manchester and Tony Orlando & Dawn, as well as adopting a new "thick-stripe" logo.
1970s
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. Uttal was replaced as president a week later by Clive Davis, 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, Colgems, SGC and Bell), Davis introduced Columbia Pictures' new record division, Arista Records, in November 1974 with Davis himself owning 20% of the new venture.
Bell Records UK
The British branch was established in 1967. Previous British releases of Bell recordings were issued on EMI's Stateside Records. 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 dist
Bell had its final No. 1 hit in January 1975 with Barry Manilow'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 (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".
