Al Bell is best known as having been an executive and co-owner of Stax Records with Jim Stewart based in Memphis, Tennessee, during the latter half of the label's 19-year existence.
13 Facts About Al Bell
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Al Bell joined Stax in 1965 as director of promotions and was essential in aiding the growth of the company's revenue.
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Al Bell launched an initiative designed to put out enough albums and singles in an effort to rebuild a catalog for Stax.
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Al Bell notably scheduled twenty-seven albums for near-simultaneous release in mid-1969 and produced much of the material himself.
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Al Bell was directly involved in shaping the careers of the Staple Singers, creating for them a new sound which resulted in hits such as "Respect Yourself" and "I'll Take You There," the latter of which he wrote.
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Al Bell became co-owner of Stax in 1969 when co-founder Estelle Axton, unhappy with Al Bell's visions for the company, sold her shares and departed from the label.
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Al Bell therefore became the first African-American to have equity in the label; although Stax specialized in African-American music, both of its founders, Stewart and Axton, were white.
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Estelle Axton 8.
In 1972, Al Bell supervised the Wattstax festival, a day-long concert featuring Stax artists which was held in Los Angeles in response to the Watts riots.
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Al Bell was indicted for, and later acquitted of, bank fraud during the Stax bankruptcy proceedings.
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Al Bell voluntarily stayed away from the music industry for a decade, save for periodic participation in local recordings.
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Al Bell released Prince's hit single "The Most Beautiful Girl in the World", after Prince's label Warner Bros.
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In 2009, Al Bell was profiled in The New York Times and on the BBC as he returned to Memphis to help develop the city's independent music scene.
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Al Bell gave interviews for the HBO documentary Stax: Soulsville USA.