Music for the Millions: Gems from Bell Records USA 1956-1960

The Bell Records label began life in 1952 when it was formed by Arthur Shimkin. Born in Brooklyn in 1922, he had started Golden Records as a children’s label in 1948 to complement the new Little Golden Books line from Simon & Schuster. Shimkin’s intention in founding Bell was to offer versions of the hits of the day to the teenage audience that had grown up with (and now outgrown) Golden Records. Bell specialised in re-recording big hits of the day, so in most cases, the songs are more famous than the artists. You can think of these songs as enjoyable 'interpretations'.