What’s critical to understand about Berry Gordy, however, is that he was operating from a vantage point that very few entrepreneurs had back then. As an American ofAfrican ancestry, he was building a recorded-music company in a business environment where the entire deck was stacked against him. We must remember several factors: the extreme racism that permeated America at that time, how it affected what was happening with music in general, how black music was being perceived by both the radio industry and the recorded-music retail industry, and the fact that many songs recorded by black artists did not receive any airplay until they were covered by white artists.

As African-American entrepreneurs, we could record our music, but there were few black radio stations across America where we could get it played. Generally speaking, retailers like Woolworth’s were not amenable to carrying the product in their stores, and, if they did, it was not up front — it was literally in a back room.

Berry Gordy is at the piano, surrounded by artists including Little Stevie Wonder, Brenda Holloway, the Marvelettes, the Supremes, Bobby Rogers of the Miracles, and Iris Gordy.

What was groundbreaking was that Berry Gordy created a style of music with black artists that was acceptable to the white pop stations of that era. He presented and positioned his talented artists differently in the marketplace. This made it easier for others in the business — like us at Stax Records — to get our records played on more stations. Because of what Berry did, there came a time when an artist like Otis Redding could be played on white stations in Atlanta, Milwaukee, and Los Angeles — something almost unheard of at that time.

As strange as it might sound today, having just elected our first American of African ancestry aspresident of the United States, it would not have been possible at that time for black artists to be accepted in mainstream radio had it not been for what Berry Gordy did. He developed these great artists to look and sound like they did on stage, on the radio, in television interviews. Berry Gordy broke those racial chains that bound us.

It is critical to remember during this 50th anniversary of Motown to not only celebrate the music of that great company, but to honor the genius of this American businessman. Berry Gordy was able to take what was considered a “penny business” and create master tapes that back then were valued in the millions, and a musical publishing company also valued in the millions.

Clive Davis, chief creative officer of Sony Music; Rev. Jesse Jackson; Berry Gordy, Motown founder; Al Bell, chairman/CEO of Al Bell Presents; and Kerry Gordy, CEO of Kerry Gordy Enterprises.

Berry also set out to break through in the motion picture world and present actors in a different light. He did this by financing and presenting Lady Sings the Blues, and presenting Diana Ross as Billie Holiday. This was quite a feat in itself, something that is to be applauded, given the excellence of the film, the historical importance of the project, and the music that was featured throughout.

I find it interesting and even humorous that many people in the recording industry have cast Berry Gordyand myself as competitors, as it generally is with the heads of corporations who work in the same business. But this was not that case with Berry and me. Berry Gordy and I were, and still are, great friends, and whenever he and I have an opportunity to get together we kind of laugh about it. In fact, I never considered him a competitor; I considered him an inspiration. When he branded Motown as “Hitsville U.S.A.” up there in Detroit, I branded Stax Records down in Memphis as “Soulsville U.S.A.”

Everything Berry Gordy did during those years inspired me. And he was doing it with such unique talent, creativity, and excellence that he not only made it possible for others in the music industry to do what we loved, but he changed the face of music for all time.

Berry Gordy Truly Paved The Way For Airplay

During the 1960s Berry Gordy had begun to change the way black music was being accepted by the mainstream radio stations and retail stores. Generallyspeaking, there were 10 key markets where I placed priority attention on getting Stax records played. Back then, the radio stations would call around to see what was selling at retail, and if it was selling, they would play it on the air.

Because of what Berry Gordy was achieving at Motown, I knew that when he would release a Temptations record, people would go into the stores and ask for that record, and it would get airplay. I had some friends at Motown, so I knew in advance when Berry was going to release a Temptations record. When he did, I would go into these 10 markets and induce the clerks in these retail stores to play Stax records. I’d give them free records, so when someone came in and asked for the Temptations, they first would play my Sam and Dave record.

They would start singing and dancing to the record and get the customers to buy it — and then they’d play the Temptations. Then, when the radio stations called the store to find out what was selling, the clerks would say “Sam and Dave and the Temptations.”

Written By: Al Bell
Radio Ink Magazine
March 23, 2009

Recently, Bell was notified he has been awarded the Grammy Trustee Award, an honor Bell considers the highlight of his career.

Before Bell was busy creating the “Memphis Sound,” he was the president of his high school student council with what a local radio station general manager called, “A profound gift to gab.”

The general manager discovered this when Bell called him in, along with KOKY disc jockey Leo Jocko Carter, and the head of his Jones High School music program, to act as judges for a talent competition. Bell named the contest “Radio Station T.O.U.G.H.” and after the contest was over, Bell was asked to catch a bus to Little Rock; a bus ride that marked the beginning of his professional music career.

The year was 1957 and Bell had been assigned the Sunday morning show from 6 a.m. to 10 a.m. It was there that Bell discovered just how crucial music was in impacting people’s lives; at times, Bell would listen to a certain record 40 or 50 times, writing down the lyrics and studying the notes played by specific instruments.

“I enjoyed being in a position where I could play music, you know, that made them feel good – uplifted them,” Bell said. “I began to appreciate (music) more and more and more.”

Bell’s appreciation for music never wavered, even when he took a disc jockey gig at WUST in Washington. Bell realized his listeners had never heard the “funky” Stax records he was enjoying. When he played a Stax record for the first time, he was threatened with losing his job.

According to his station manager, people in Washington were more civilized than people in Memphis. Bell said he didn’t waver, choosing to play a Memphis hit, “Sweet Sixteen,” by B.B. King, which turned Bell into a celebrity overnight.

“What happened was, I just got into people and it’s been that way throughout my career and to present day,” Bell said. “My whole life was about making music that makes people feel good – that gives them a sense of hope in the midst of hopelessness – that when they’re sad, to make them happy … music has the power to do that.”

Although Bell owned his own, “Safice Records,” he still traveled to cities like Philadelphia and Baltimore to promote Stax music. And when Jim Stewart asked Bell to come to Stax in 1965, Bell didn’t hesitate.

“When David Porter brought me by Stax one day and I walked into Studio A and looked and saw two white guys and two black guys playing this music that I’d been hearing – I was in awe,” Bell said.

Bell said he came to Stax because he knew what it was and he believed he could – from a marketing and promotions standpoint – turn it into a major company.

“Stax was like my oasis,” Bell said. “And it became that for all of us because we could leave the outside world and come inside of Stax and, as human beings, live in absolute and complete harmony because of the music and the spirit that existed amongst us inside those walls.”

Recently, Bell launched albellpresents.com. His hope in running the website is to build and promote the careers of rare artists who perform unique songs and emotionally interact with and entertain their audiences.

Slowing down has never been considered. In fact, when asked about retirement, Bell laughed and said, “Oh, it’s not even in my mind. As my dear friends Ed Townsend and Marvin Gaye sang, I’m ready to ‘get it on.’

“I am just now ready to go and do the things that I know should be done and want to do that deserve recognition. We have to get back to rare performing artists. And when I hear people say, ‘old school,’ I say, ‘Are you kidding me – old school? Would you call the Mona Lisa old school?’ This is art, this is art, this is art.”

Saturday, Bell will step on stage to accept his Grammy Trustee Award. It is at that pivotal moment, he said, he will rediscover just how influential his career has been to others and how extraordinary the relationships in his life are because of his career.

The Grammy Trustee award is presented by vote of the Recording Academy’s National Trustees to individuals who have made significant contributions to the recording industry. When longtime friend of Bell and president of the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences, Neil Portnow, personally called Bell to inform him of this honor, Bell said, “At that moment, all of the energy literally left my body. I became lifeless and before I knew it, tears were just rolling down my face.”

By Allison Buckley
Courtesy of: The Memphis Daily News

Twenty years ago, he would drive into South Memphis, park his car on McLemore Avenue and sit and stare at the empty lot that had once been his dream factory, Stax Records. The old building that had produced so much glorious music, so many brilliant memories, had been reduced to rubble and quietly swept away.

In those moments, Bell would shed tears for what had been, and what had been lost.
At its peak under Bell’s stewardship in the early 1970s, Stax was a musical and cultural juggernaut, producing massive hits, selling millions of units, and serving as the apotheosis of Southern soul, civil rights and black economic liberation.

Twenty years ago, he would drive into South Memphis, park his car on McLemore Avenue and sit and stare at the empty lot that had once been his dream factory, Stax Records. The old building that had produced so much glorious music, so many brilliant memories, had been reduced to rubble and quietly swept away.

In those moments, Bell would shed tears for what had been, and what had been lost.

At its peak under Bell’s stewardship in the early 1970s, Stax was a musical and cultural juggernaut, producing massive hits, selling millions of units , and serving as the apotheosis of Southern soul, civil rights and black economic liberation.

“And Al was the guy who was making that happen,” said Memphis music author and Stax documentarian Robert Gordon.

“Al was the fuel and the generator. That’s how big a force he was. Someone once described him as the Otis Redding of (Stax’s) business. I think that’s really accurate.”

“In the context of the times, Stax Records was a catalyst for American music,” said legendary Stax songwriter/producer David Porter. “Al was the leader of that. Because he had the vision to not only bring the talent in but to market it in a way that had not been done.”

The words of music historians like Gordon and friends like Porter have sustained Bell for years. But now, the world at large is finally being reminded of his contributions.

In ceremonies today in Los Angeles, the 70-year-old Bell will receive a Trustees Award from the Grammys, the highest honor the organization can bestow.

In the wake of Stax’s fall in 1975 it seemed unlikely – perhaps, even impossible – that such acknowledgment would ever come from the music industry. But Bell was never one to be deterred.

“You see, back in the day, I marched with Dr. (Martin Luther) King singing ‘I Ain’t Gonna Let Nobody Turn Me Around’” said Bell. “It wasn’t ‘We Shall Overcome.’ It wasn’t that. It was ‘I Ain’t Gonna Let Nobody Turn Me Around.’”

For the man born Alvertis Isbell in tiny Brinkley, Ark., that unwavering sense of purpose has been the guiding impulse behind a career that has seen so many spectacular peaks and valleys.

His passion for music began in the halls of Scipio A. Jones High School in North Little Rock in the late ’50s, where Bell served as the head of the audio/visual club.

Charged with finding records to play for the school sock hops, Bell would conduct his own form of crude marketing research: He would talk to the girls in class, asking what songs they liked and why, and what numbers they wanted their boyfriends to hear.

“Seeing and understanding the effect that music had on people just got into my blood,” said Bell. “I lived for that.”

During his senior year, Bell began his career as a deejay, working first in Little Rock, then in Memphis and later Washington . He would sit and analyze and deconstruct the records of the day: the lyrics, the sound, what made them work, why people connected to certain songs.

Of all those vinyl 45s, there was something about those sides coming from South Memphis’ tiny Stax Records – the label founded by Jim Stewart and his sister, Estelle Axton, in the late ’50s – that moved him most. “It was the bottom of the records that captured my undivided attention,” said Bell. “That sound locked me in.”

Bell eventually peered behind the curtain at Stax and saw something remarkable in the form of the label’s house band, Booker T. & the MGs.

“One day David Porter took me by the studio, and I opened that door and it was the highlight of my life and the shock of my life. I looked in Studio A and I saw two white guys and two black guys standing in that studio making that music that I had been hearing. I was blown away, in sheer awe,” said Bell, who had been on the frontlines of the civil rights movement, working as a student- teacher for Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s Southern Christian Leadership Conference.

“At a time like that – we had just gone though ’57 in Little Rock and segregation permeated the land – I couldn’t imagine two white guys and two black guys playing that funky music,” said Bell. “At that moment, I knew the importance of Stax; I knew the potential of it.”

Coming on board at Stax in 1965 as the company’s first national promotion director, Bell infused the label with a wider vision, expanding Stax’s reach in the North, starting with cities like Chicago.

“Which was like suburban Mississippi, anyway,” said Bell, who would earn first a stake in the label and then a partnership after Axton was bought out. “When you go to the South Side of Chicago, you’re just going to the suburbs of Mississippi. So I knew how to sell this music to those people.”

Despite Stax’s growing success, a crossroads for the company came in late 1967 with the death of its flagship star, Otis Redding. A split with major-label partner Atlantic soon followed, and with it the loss of top-selling duo Sam & Dave. But the most staggering revelation was a contractual loophole that meant Atlantic would also walk away with all of Stax’s catalog as well.

“We woke up one day, and Otis was gone, Sam and Dave was gone, and we did not have a catalog. We had nothing,” said Bell. “It was being written that Stax is dead, Stax is over. The industry was saying we were dead. But I didn’t accept that.”

The second phase – the rebirth of Stax, as it were – began with a business plan Bell wrote out on a brown paper bag. He soon managed to strike a deal with corporate entertainment giant Gulf & Western, and began planning an audacious relaunch campaign.

“We got enough cash to announce we’re gonna release 28 albums (simultaneously),” said Bell. “We had to step out strong.”

Bell had everyone working overtime to meet the rollout, hiring multiple studios in Memphis, Muscle Shoals and Detroit to complete the projects, which were unveiled during a sales meeting in Memphis in 1969. “That was to say to these wholesalers, ‘Dead? We’re not dead. We are the most powerful thing out here,’” said Bell.

For the next five years, Stax would permeate black America. “Stax was the soundtrack of black diners, black beer halls,” said Robert Gordon. “There was a whole range of artists: Isaac Hayes, Johnnie Taylor, the Emotions, the Temprees, the Bar-Kays. They were selling big numbers to every (level) of the black community . But Stax also had crossover success; it was a whole big machine supplying both black audiences and white audiences with music in America.”

With the aid of a new major-label distribution partner in CBS, Bell would buy out Stewart’s remaining interests in 1972, and his vision for the company would culminate in the production of a “Black Woodstock”: WattStax, a concert that drew some 112,000 African- Americans to the Los Angeles Coliseum, and also yielded a landmark film documentary and a pair of double LPs.

“Al was turning Stax into not only product, but messages,” said Gordon. “He grasped the importance of the media, and understood how to manipulate it to suit his needs, which was uplifting (social) messages and strong economic incentive.”

But such massive success by an independent, black-run company from the South was not greeted warmly in all quarters.

Bell said he had once been warned by an agent of the recording industry from New York that he was, in so many words, too young, too black, too ambitious, too intimidating. “It took a few years for me to get what he was saying,” Bell said .

He would find out as he and Stax were soon beset by legal and financial woes. There was a welter of lawsuits with CBS and its bank Union Planters, while an IRS investigation also swirled around the label. Stax was forced into bankruptcy in 1975; Bell was also indicted on 14 counts of bank fraud.

To Bell it seemed the dark hand of conspiracy was behind all these troubles, that the industry wanted what Stax had: a conduit into the black community and the accompanying stream of revenues.

“But in the process they had to destroy Stax,” said Bell. “There were numerous conspiracies involved. Some literal conspiracies and others that were simply products of institutionalized (racism).”

Undaunted, Bell persisted in court. In 1976, he won his case, and was acquitted on all the fraud charges.

For Bell, the 35 years since have brought both financial rewards and professional rehabilitation. He would serve for a time as president of the Motown Records Group and form his own Bellmark label, scoring chart success with artists including Tag Team and Prince.

But for many, particularly those in Memphis, the memory of Stax’s fall lingered.

“It took years before people began to understand that Stax was the keystone to the Memphis music community,” said Gordon.

Over the past decade, that legacy has seen a reappraisal, with the launch of the Stax Museum of American Soul Music and the Stax Music Academy and Charter School.

Bell, too, has slowly been welcomed back. In 2009, he returned to the city, becoming chairman of the board of the Memphis Music Foundation. And finally, a few months ago came the announcement that he would be getting the Grammy honor.

When he steps to the podium today to accept the award, Bell won’t have any scores to settle, won’t feel any special sense of vindication, only a deep appreciation for both the good and the bad he has experienced.

“I have had to live through some painful moments. But I don’t harbor any ill will or any ill feelings towards anybody.”

“I’ve existed, and I’ve continued to exist,” Bell said firmly and finally. “My spirit is high, sir. My spirit is high.”

——————–

Grammy Trustees Award for Al Bell

Al Bell will be honored – along with Dolly Parton, Julie Andrews and the Ramones, among others – as part of the Grammy Special Merit Awards ceremony today at the Wilshire Ebell Theatre in Los Angeles.

Bell also will be highlighted as part of Sunday’s 53rd annual Grammy Awards telecast, which will air at 7 p.m. on WREG-TV Channel 3.

By Bob Mehr
Courtesy of: California Chronicle

Bell was honored on Saturday afternoon during the Recording Academy’s Special Merit Awards ceremony at the Wilshire Ebell Theatre.

Bell, the former Stax Records head, was given a 2011 Trustees Award Grammy — the equivalent of a Lifetime Achievement award for non-performers. Bell is the third such Memphis recipient in recent years, with the Stax co-founder the late Estelle Axton and Hi Records producer Willie Mitchell having been recognized in 2007 and 2008.

In a class of Grammy merit award winners filled with stars and legends like Dolly Parton and Julie Andrews, Bell may not have been the best-known name or the most familiar face, but by the time he left the stage his importance and contributions to the music business were more than evident.

Introduced by recording academy president and CEO Neil Portnow as “the Mayor of Soulsville,” the man born Alvertis Isbell was the subject of a 10-minute video tribute that noted his rise from the tiny town of Brinkley, Ark., to his career as a gospel and R&B deejay to his visionary leadership of Stax.

The film hailed him as “one of the most influential behind-the-scenes forces in music history,” specifically for helping in the “popularization of modern African-American music.”

Bell offered an emotional and forceful acceptance speech, thanking God, famed attorney James Neal — who defended him during the 1970s Stax court case in which he was acquitted on bank fraud charges — and his family, including his wife, Libby Isbell, and sons Gregory and Jonathan Isbell.

He also thanked the Memphis Music Foundation, for which he serves as chairman of the board, and even the New York Times and the The Commercial Appeal for their recent coverage of his career. But he reserved his greatest appreciation for the Recording Academy for “giving meaning to my contributions.”

Trailblazing female producer Wilma Cozart Fine and longtime Blue Note label head Bruce Lundvall joined Bell in receiving Trustees Awards.

In addition to country great Parton and actress/singer Andrews, folk group The Kingston Trio, punk pioneers the Ramones, jazz drummer Roy Haynes, gospel singer George Beverly Shea and The Julliard String Quartet were also given lifetime awards.

By Bob Mehr

Courtesy of Memphis Commercial Appeal

In addition to the GRAMMY Awards, The Recording Academy presents Special Merit Awards recognizing contributions of significance to the recording field, including the Lifetime Achievement Award, Trustees Award and Technical GRAMMY Award. Each year, The Academy invites friends and colleagues of Special Merit Awards recipients to pay tribute to the honorees’ career accomplishments, while also adding colorful anecdotes and personal accounts. In the days leading up to the 53rd Annual GRAMMY Awards, GRAMMY.com will present the tributes to the 12 Special Merit Awards recipients for 2011.

Al Bell might be the person most responsible for my musical taste.

Growing up in the San Francisco Bay Area in the ’60s, with folk music and early psychedelic music as a backdrop, my constant radio companion was soul station KDIA in Oakland. Not the obvious choice for a suburban white kid, but then, my dad was a jazz drummer and my mom loved psychedelic stuff, and I needed something of my own. KDIA was the sister station of the famous WDIA in Memphis. Needless to say, both stations played a healthy dose of Stax records, which were either promoted, commissioned, produced, or written by Al Bell.

Alvertis Isbell was old school before the term. Soul music came from the church, and Al knew the church. As a young man he worked for Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. at the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, and when he speaks the similarity is striking. He came to Stax from radio where he was a DJ, both in Little Rock, Ark. and Washington, D.C. He started as a promotion man. Incredibly hardworking and dynamic, he became a co-owner of Stax and grew the company into the second-largest black-owned business of the ’70s. He was incredibly ambitious, famously releasing 27 albums and 30 singles in one month. He was “hands-on,” producing and even writing hits for the label including “I’ll Take You There” for the Staple Singers. In 1972 he produced Wattstax, the all-Stax concert at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, and the Golden Globe-nominated film about the event. It’s been said he “put Memphis on the map,” an incredible statement when you consider the vast musical history of the town.

The demise of Stax Records in the mid-’70s was complicated and messy and resulted in Al retreating from the business for several years. But Al Bell is a fighter and he did not give up. With the help of Berry Gordy Jr. he rebuilt his career, first as president of Motown Records and then with his own label, Bellmark Records. And now as chairman of the Memphis Music Foundation, Al Bell is back in Memphis, doing what he’s always been doing…promoting Memphis music.

At 70 years old, he seems newly invigorated. He’s still a workaholic (his friends say he works 24 hours a day, breaking only at midnight to eat his wife’s fried chicken), and still as passionate as ever. When I last saw him in late 2010, it was at the Stax Museum of American Soul Music in Memphis at a playback party for our new record, Soulsville, which is a tribute to Memphis soul music. He was dressed immaculately, as usual, in a suit, monogrammed shirt, his tie perfectly matching his pocket square, and his cuff links shining. He was complimentary of the album, and especially the song selection, but then I knew we’d have the same taste.

By Huey Lewis
Courtesy of Grammy.com

Today, the Memphis Music Foundation and the Stax Museum of American Soul Music, located at the original site of Stax Records, are proud to congratulate Bell on receiving the highest honor the music industry offers, the 2011 GRAMMY® Trustees Award, given by the Board of Trustees of the Recording Academy. Bell now joins a pantheon of musical icons who have received the prestigious honor, including The Beatles, Walt Disney, George and Ira Gershwin, Berry Gordy, Duke Ellington and Stax Records’ co-founder Estelle Axton.

From 1965 until the company was forced into involuntary bankruptcy in 1975, Bell helped build Stax Records into one of the most influential labels in the world, working with artists such as Otis Redding, Isaac Hayes, the Staple Singers, Johnnie Taylor, Sam & Dave, Booker T. & the MGs, the Bar Kays, Richard Pryor, and a host of others. Bell also worked producing and writing such hits as The Staple Singers’ “I’ll Take You There.” When he owned the company in the 1970s, it was the second-largest African-American owned business in the United States. After the demise of Stax, he went on to serve as president of Motown Records Group, and later started his own Bellmark Records label, releasing Prince’s top-selling song ever, “The Most Beautiful Girl in the World,” and Tag Team’s Platinum hit “Whoomp (There It is).” He now operates his own web-based music channel, AlBellPresents.com.

Former chairman and owner of Stax Records and former president of Motown, Bell has a proven, unique ear in the world of soul music. Bell is largely responsible for shaping the careers of such artists as Booker T and the MGs, Otis Redding, William Bell, The Staple Singers, Sam and Dave, Little Milton, Albert King, Johnnie Taylor, Rufus Thomas, Carla Thomas, The Bar-Kays, The Dramatics and Richard Pryor. He was instrumental in establishing the career of Isaac Hayes, and he worked closely with Hayes on his first hit album, Hot Buttered Soul and the follow-up Black Moses. Bell arranged for the production of the soundtrack for the film “Shaft,” which earned Isaac Hayes an Academy Award, and subsequently staged the famous Wattstax concert in Los Angeles and produced the award-winning film “Wattstax: The Living Word.”

Courtesy of: Memphis Music Foundation

Some of the new acts signed to Stax were The Staple Singers (Repect Yourself), The Emotions (So I can Love You) and The Soul Children (The Sweeter He is, Hearsay and I’ll be the other woman).

Those acts along with current labelmates Johnnie Taylor (Who’s Making Love), William Bell(I forgot to be Your Lover) and Eddie Floyd (I’ve never found a girl) helped rebuild Stax recording catalog. Al became co-owner of Stax Records in 1969. Through Al’s leadership, Stax flourished: Landmark Album by Issac Hayes (Hot Buttered Soul), I’ll Take you There (written by Al Bell) becomes The Staple Singers biggest Hit, Platinum Single for Jean Knight (Mr. Big Stuff), two soundtracks for feature films, “Sweetback’s Baadasssss Song” and “Shaft, The Dramatics (What You See Is What You Get and In The Rain). In 1972, Al supervised The WattStax Festival, a day long concert featuring Stax recording artists which was held in Los Angeles. The Film version of the concert was released in 1973. Stax signed a distribution deal with CBS Records in 1972 but unfortunately Stax went into bankruptcy in 1975. Later Al became head of Motown Records Group and worked closely with Berry Gordy in the sale of Motown to the MCA/Boston Ventures Group. Al later became owner of Bellmark Records. His Company’s release of “Whoomp! (there it is) for the group Tag Team became one of the biggest selling records in 1993. Al then turned to hosting a sucessful on-line (web based) radio program called “Al Bell Presents: American Soul Music”. Al’s Achievements/ Awards are endless:

Arthur A. Fletcher Lifetime Achievement Award from the National Black Chamber of Commerce
Alex Haley “Roots Award,” Greater Washington, DC Business Center
National Award of Achievement, U.S. Department of Commerce
Dare To Soar Award, Mosaic Templars Cultural Center
Achievement Award, Boy Scouts of America
1000 Most Successful Blacks, Ebony Magazine
100 Most Influential Black Men, Ebony Magazine
Entered in “Who’s Who in the World
Inductee, America’s Music and Entertainment of Fame
Inducted – Arkansas Black Hall of Fame
Member of the Board of Directors, Memphis Chamber of Commerce
Member of the Board of Directors, Central Arkansas Chapter of the March of Dimes
Member of the Board of Trustees, Philander Smith College
Memphis’ Legendary Record Producers Award, 2005
W. C Handy Lifetime Achievement Award, 2002
Record Executive of the Year, Impact Magazine, 1994
Record Executive of the Year, BRE, 1994
Chairman’s Award, Southeast Music, 1994
NARM Indie Best Seller Award (“Whoomp! There It Is” – Tag Team), 1994
Independent Label of the Year Award, The Urban Network, 1994
The Spirit of Freedom Award, Freedom Magazine, 1994
Russell Simmons Award for Executive Excellence, Young Black Programmers’ Coalition, 1993
Black Music Chief Executive of the Year, Impact, 1993
Living Legend Award, Warner Bros., Reprise Records & Urban Network, 1972 Heroes and Legends Leadership Award, 1991
Voted Number Five in the 30 All-Time Greatest Executives in Black Music, Impact Magazine Poll, 1985
Best Documentary (Wattstax), nomination Golden Globe (1973)
Executive of the Year, Bill Gavin Radio Program Conference, 1971.

He is a member of The National R&b Society Inc. His biggest acheivement will come this Friday as he will receive The Trustee’s Award in a special ceremony at THE GRAMMY AWARDS in Los Angeles. That award will be recognized during the Grammy telecast on February 13, 2011. So we honor You: AL BELL. You are truly a LEGEND!

Regards Gregory Moore

Read more about Black American History Month – Al Bell Presents by sandbox3.albellpresents.com

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XrC8K_D1XO4

For Bell, the honor represents a milestone in his lifetime love of music and work in the industry and will be presented at an invitation-only ceremony during GRAMMY® Week on Saturday, Feb. 12, 2011, and a formal acknowledgment will be made during the 53rd Annual GRAMMY Awards telecast.

“The phone call I received from Neil Portnow, president of NARAS’ Grammy Foundation, letting me know that I was going to be a recipient of the Trustees Lifetime Achievement Award,” says Bell, “was both humbling and honoring. This is the most meaningful recognition I could have ever hoped to achieve from my industry. I sincerely thank NARAS and the Grammy Foundation for honoring me with their highest award.”

In 1965, a young radio disc jockey from Brinkley, Arkansas named Alvertis Isbell joined a fledging record company in Memphis, Tennessee to help promote the music it was churning out in an old converted movie theater. That small label was Stax Records and Al Bell became known to be one of the driving forces who helped change music history. Decades later, in 2009, he became the chairman of the board of directors of the Memphis Music Foundation (MMF), the main organization charged with promoting the city’s musical legacy, current artists, and future plans.

“This is great news for Al Bell and Memphis Music,” said Dean Deyo, president of the Memphis Music Foundation. “Al started developing young artists during his Stax days over 40 years ago and continues to nurture artist development as chairman of the Memphis Music Foundation. Memphis music is something very special and one of the main reasons for its success has been Al Bell. It just may be a bit early to give him a Lifetime Achievement Award, because he is not done yet. Al Bell is just getting started.”

Kirk Whalum, internationally renowned musician and 12-time GRAMMY nominee, now CEO for the Soulsville Foundation in Memphis, which includes the Stax Museum, Stax Music Academy and The Soulsville Charter School, explains, “There’s a very good reason that the name Al Bell is mentioned, the voice of Al Bell is heard, and the handsome and distinguished face of Al Bell is seen more than any other name, voice, and face in the Stax Museum of American Soul Music. It’s because of his body of work. Yes he remains a creative, viable, and avant-garde force in the industry. But who wouldn’t give a limb to have all his ‘firsts’ and accomplishments in one’s rearview mirror?”

From 1965 until the company was forced into involuntary bankruptcy in 1975, Bell helped build Stax Records into one of the most influential labels in the world, working with artists such as Otis Redding, Isaac Hayes, the Staple Singers, Johnnie Taylor, Sam & Dave, Booker T. & the MGs, the Bar Kays, Richard Pryor, and a host of others. He also produced and wrote such hits as the Staple Singers’ “I’ll Take You There.” When Bell owned Stax in the 1970s, it was the second-largest African-American owned business in the United States. After the company’s demise, he went on to serve as president of Motown Records Group, and later started his own Bellmark Records label, releasing Prince’s top-selling song ever, “The Most Beautiful Girl in the World,” and Tag Team’s multi-platinum hit “Whoomp! (There It is),” one of the best-selling rap singles in history. Bell now operates his own web-based music channel, AlBellPresents.com.

For Isbell, given the name Al Bell in 1957 as radio announcer in Little Rock, Arkansas, whose famous radio sign-on was “This is your 6-feet-4 bundle of joy, 212 pounds of Mrs. Bell’s baby boy, soft as medicated cotton, rich as double-X cream, the women’s pet, the men’s threat, the play boys pride and joy, the baby boy Al Bell,” — the Grammy Award not only marks his lifetime of work in the music industry, but also gives more fuel to what he plans to do now and in the future.

“When Mr. Portnow said ‘Lifetime Achievement Award,” Bell continues, “I didn’t think about my past. It sounded prophetic. Because what has happened to me is that I’ve begun to pursue that which I have learned in life and I’m about the business of achieving it. It’s a beginning for me. With this award and through my role with the Memphis Music Foundation, I am beginning my lifetime evolvement and development in the recorded music industry.”

Courtesy of: American Blues News