Bell Records

Bell Records was an American record label founded in 1952 in New York 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 risque novelty records. A British branch was also active in the 1960s and 1970s. Bell Records was reorganized in November 1974, which was the birth of Arista Records.

1950s

Upon its inception in 1952, Bell specialized in budget generic pop music, with the slogan "music for the millions". Originally sold on seven-inch 78rpm and 45rpm 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 78rpm as well as 45rpm disks priced at 49 cents.

One of these records was by "Tom & Jerry" who would later be famous using their real names Simon & Garfunkel.

Instead of being pressed into vinyl like a normal 7-inch disc, these records were injection molded 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 45rpm records were similarly injection-molded all the way into the 1970s.

Barry Frank

Barry Frank (born September 1930) was a hit smooth-voiced 1950s and early 1960s pop and rock and roll vocalist who was professionally recorded on 78s, 45s, 33s, and many extended play long play albums for Bell, Columbia, Jubilee, Seeco and other record companies in the United States and Europe. In many cases, Frank covered recordings debuted by other artists, and Frank's talented vocals won acclaim as being far better than the original artists who performed them. These included songs like 'Party Doll', 'Earth Angel' and 'The Great Pretender'. Frank rose to fame as the lead singer of the Sammy Kaye Orchestra.

Although his hit recording career did not lead to permanent stardom, Frank continued performing. For many decades, he was Master of Ceremonies of the Raleigh Hotel, in South Fallsburg, New York, from the 1970s through the 2000s (when the hotel closed) and also performed as a singer at other Catskills resorts on off nights. He is now retired and lives in New York City. He has a son, Todd Frank.

The Monkees

The Monkees are an American rock band that released music in their original incarnation between 1965 and 1971, with subsequent reunion albums and tours in the decades that followed. They were formed in Los Angeles in 1965 by Bob Rafelson and Bert Schneider for the American television series The Monkees, which aired from 1966 to 1968. The musical acting quartet was composed of Americans Micky Dolenz, Michael Nesmith and Peter Tork and Englishman Davy Jones. The band's music was initially supervised by producer Don Kirshner.

Dolenz described the Monkees as initially being "a TV show about an imaginary band ... that wanted to be the Beatles, [but] that was never successful". The actor-musicians, however, soon became a real band.

For the first few months of their initial five-year career as the Monkees, the four actor-musicians were allowed only limited roles in the recording studio. This was due in part to the amount of time required to film the television series. Nonetheless, Nesmith did compose and produce some songs from the beginning, and Peter Tork contributed limited guitar work on the sessions produced by Nesmith. They eventually fought for and earned the right to collectively supervise all musical output under the band's name. The sitcom was canceled in 1968, but the band continued to record music through 1971.

Bell

A bell is a simple idiophone percussion instrument. Although bells come in many forms, most are made of metal cast in the shape of a hollow cup, whose sides form a resonator which vibrates in a single tone upon being struck. The strike may be made by a "clapper" or "uvula" suspended within the bell, by a separate mallet or hammer, or—in small bells—by a small loose sphere enclosed within the body of the bell.

Bells are usually made by casting metal, but small bells can also be made from ceramic or glass. Bells range in size from tiny dress accessories to church bells 5 metres tall, weighing many tons. Historically, bells were associated with religious rituals, and before mass communication were widely used to call communities together for both religious and secular events. Later, bells were made to commemorate important events or people and have been associated with the concepts of peace and freedom. The study of bells is called campanology.

A set of bells, hung in a circle for change ringing, is known as a ring or peal of bells.

Boyce and Hart

Sidney Thomas "Tommy" Boyce (September 29, 1939 – November 23, 1994) and Bobby Hart (born Robert Luke Harshman; February 18, 1939) were a prolific songwriting duo, best known for the songs they wrote for The Monkees.

Early years

Hart's father was a church minister and he himself served in the Army after leaving high school. Upon discharge, he travelled to Los Angeles seeking a career as a singer. Boyce was separately pursuing a career as a singer. After being rejected numerous times, Boyce took his father's suggestion to write a song called "Be My Guest" for rock and roll star Fats Domino. He waited six hours at Domino's hotel room to present him with the demo, and got Domino to promise to listen to the song. The song hit #8 in the US and #11 in the UK, becoming Domino's biggest hit there in several years, and sold over a million copies. Boyce met Hart in 1959, and the following year played guitar on Hart's single "Girl In The Window", which flopped, but marked the first time he used the name Bobby Hart, since his manager shortened it to fit the label.