Jewel Records was an American

independent record label An independent record label (or indie label) is a record label that operates without the funding or distribution of major record labels; they are a type of small- to medium-sized enterprise, or SME. The labels and artists are often represented ...

, founded in 1963 by Stan Lewis and based in

Shreveport Shreveport ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Louisiana. It is the third most populous city in Louisiana after New Orleans and Baton Rouge, Louisiana, Baton Rouge, respectively. The Shreveport–Bossier City metropolitan area, with a population o ...

, Louisiana. It had two subsidiary labels, Paula and Ronn. The first of many retail record stores, called Stan's Record Shop, was opened in 1948. Later, Stan Lewis purchased and reissued the catalogues of

Cobra Records Cobra Records (together with its Artistic subsidiary) was an independent record label that operated from 1956–1959. The label launched the careers of Chicago blues artists Otis Rush, Magic Sam, and Buddy Guy and "signaled the arrival of a new ...

Chief Records Chief Records, together with its Profile and Age subsidiaries, was an independent record label that operated from 1957 to 1964. Best known for its recordings of Chicago blues artists Elmore James, Junior Wells, Magic Sam, and Earl Hooker, the lab ...

USA Records USA Records was an American, Chicago based independent record label. Jim Golden started the USA label as part of Chicago's Allstate Distributors in 1960, which was owned by Paul Glass. USA Record Co., Inc. had its office at 1448 South Michigan A ...

and

JOB Records J.O.B. Records was an American, Chicago based independent record label, founded by businessman Joe Brown (record label owner), Joe Brown and bluesman St. Louis Jimmy Oden in 1949. It specialized in Southern blues and city based Rhythm and blues, ...

. Among the artists for Jewel/Paula/Ronn were

Buster Benton Arley "Buster" Benton (July 19, 1932 – January 20, 1996) was an American blues guitarist and singer. He played guitar in Willie Dixon's Blues All-Stars and is best known for his solo rendition of Dixon's song "Spider in My Stew." Benton was ...

Frank Frost Frank Otis Frost (April 15, 1936 or 1938 – October 12, 1999) was one of the foremost United States, American Delta blues harmonica players of his generation. Life and career Most sources state that Frost was born in 1936 in Auvergne, Jackson C ...

Lowell Fulson Lowell Fulson (March 31, 1921March 7, 1999) was an American blues guitarist and songwriter, in the West Coast blues tradition. He also recorded for contractual reasons as Lowell Fullsom and Lowell Fulsom. After T-Bone Walker, he was the most imp ...

John Lee Hooker John Lee Hooker (August 22, 1912 or 1917 – June 21, 2001) was an American blues singer, songwriter, and guitarist. The son of a sharecropper, he rose to prominence performing an electric guitar-style adaptation of Delta blues. Hooker often ...

Lightnin' Hopkins Samuel John "Lightnin" Hopkins (March 15, 1912 – January 30, 1982) was an American country blues singer, songwriter, guitarist and occasional pianist from Centerville, Texas. In 2010, ''Rolling Stone'' magazine ranked him No. 71 on its list o ...

, John Fred and his Playboy Band,

Toussaint McCall Toussaint McCall (born 1934 in Monroe, Louisiana) is an American R&B singer and organist. His one major success was with "Nothing Takes the Place of You", which reached #5 in the US R&B chart, issued on Ronn Records in 1967. Although furth ...

, The Uniques,

Jerry McCain Jerry McCain, often billed as Jerry "Boogie" McCain (June 18, 1930 – March 28, 2012), was an American electric blues musician, best known as a harmonica player. Biography Born near Gadsden, Alabama, United States, he was one of five childr ...

Memphis Slim John Len Chatman (September 3, 1915 – February 24, 1988), known professionally as Memphis Slim, was an American blues pianist, singer, and composer. He led a series of bands that, reflecting the popular appeal of jump blues, included saxopho ...

Little Johnny Taylor Little Johnny Taylor (born Johnny Lamont Merrett; February 11, 1943 – May 17, 2002) was an American blues and soul singer. He made recordings throughout the 1960s and 1970s, and continued public performances through the 1980s and 1990s. ...

, and Justin Wilson. For a short time, the Paula label was distributed by

Chess Records Chess Records was an American record company established in 1950 in Chicago, specializing in blues and rhythm and blues. It was the successor to Aristocrat Records, founded in 1947. It expanded into soul music, gospel music, early rock and roll ...

. Later owned by Sue Records (unrelated to the New York-based

Sue Records ''Sue Records was also the name of a Louisiana-based record company which owned Jewel Records (Shreveport record label).'' Sue Records ("The Sound of Soul") was an American record label founded by Henry 'Juggy' Murray and Bobby Robinson in 1957. ...

Fuel 2000 Fuel 2000 is an independent record label, formed in 1994 as part of the Fuel Label Group. One of the biggest independent record labels, it has amassed a catalog with over 20,000 master recordings. Since its inception, the company has released ove ...

owned and managed the Jewel/Paula/Ronn catalogues. The private IP holding company, 43 North Broadway, LLC., purchased the Jewel/Paula/Ronn catalogues through its acquisition of Fuel 2000 in 2015.

References

External links

The Jewel/Paula/Ronn story
Defunct record labels of the United States Pop record labels Record labels based in Louisiana {{US-record-label-stub