Lew Bedell

Born March 21, 1919 in El Paso, Texas - dead July 6, 2000 in Los Angeles, California, Lou (or Lew) Bedell was the co-founder of ERA Records and founder of Dore Records in the 1950's, Lou attended Santa Barbara State College, worked as a comedian in nightclubs and later on TV, settling into the Lew Bedell moniker on WOR-TV in New York, where he fronted the "Lew Bedell Show". In 1955, he was on the West Coast working first for a publisher, Meadowlark Music, and then with his cousin Herb Newman, with whom he formed the first of his L.A.-based labels, Era. One of the most interesting hits on Dore Records was the instrumental “Percolator Twist” with writers being listed as Lou Bedell and Ernie Freeman. When publicity photos were sent out Lou posed as Billy Joe Hunter of Billy Joe & The Checkmates (in reality there was no Billy Joe). In the 1970s, tiring of the changing rock world, Lou turned to recording successful comedy albums by Hudson & Landry.