Bell Records - 1960s

1960s

In 1960, Amy Records was formed as yet another subsidiary label, focusing on a lot of what would come to be known as northern 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, "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.

Later that year, after the three labels were merged into a single unit, retaining the Bell moniker, the combined company was then acquired by Colgems Records' parent company Columbia Pictures, expanding its roster of acts when Colgems, previously distributed by RCA, was folded into the newly purchased company. Retaining ownership of a portion of the new company and remaining as Bell's president, Larry Uttal was instrumental in signing many soon-to-be-famous acts such as The Partridge Family, Ricky Segall, The 5th Dimension and Tony Orlando & Dawn as well as adopting a new logo: