Bell Records
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Image:BellRecord1.jpg Bell Records was the name of at least four different record companies in the 20th century.
The United States based Bell Records record label started issuing records in about 1920. The label's parent company was the Standard Music Roll Company of Orange, New Jersey, which was also the parent of Arto Records. After Stanard Music Roll got out of the disc record business in 1923, the label was continued by the Bell Record Corporation of Newark, New Jersey, using masters recorded by Emerson Records. In 1927 the source of Bell masters shifted to Gennett Records. The label went out of business in 1928.
The second US "Bell Records" was based in Honolulu, Hawaii in the 1940s and 1950s. The label specialized in Hawaiian music. Recordings were made by Bill Fredlund.
The third US Bell Records existed in the 1970s, owned largely by Columbia Pictures Television, and was the successor to the 1960s label Colgems Records. They issued recordings by popular groups in the era, including The Fifth Dimension and The Partridge Family. This company later became Arista Records, headed by music mogul Clive Davis.
There was also a British label of the same name, related to the third American company, and sharing several artists. Bell Records in London was headed by Dick Leahy. Artists signed to them included The Bay City Rollers, Gary Glitter , The Piglets, and The Partridge Family with David Cassidy. Other artists on the label included Barry Blue, Hello, The Pearls and Harley Quinne, and the UK releases of The Box Tops.