Podcasts like The Vinyl Guide

Big Bear Recordsis a British record label set up in 1968 by Jim Simpson in Birmingham, England. It specialises in blues and jazz recordings.

Big Bear Records was founded by promoter and band manager Jim Simpson in 1968, taking its name from the nickname given to Simpson by Radio 1 DJ John Peel. At the time, Simpson was managing The Locomotive, who had just scored a top 40 hit with "Rudi's In Love". After Parlophone, the band's existing label, declined to release the planned follow-up recording "Rudi The Red Nosed Reindeer", Simpson decided to set up his own Big Bear Records label to release the single (with the band renamed Steam Shovel for contractual reasons), with initial distribution from Island Records.