Philly Groove Records was a soul music label started by Stan Watson and Sam Bell in 1967, with noted producer Thom Bell

Thom Bell

Thomas Randolph "Thom" Bell is an American songwriter and producer, best known as one of the creators of the Philadelphia style of soul music in the 1970s. He moved to Philadelphia as a child.-Biography:...

 doing A&R. The label's best-known artists were male vocal group, the Delfonics and female group, First Choice

First Choice

First Choice may refer to:* First Choice * First Choice , owned by TUI Travel PLC** First Choice Airways, its in-house airline* First Choice Haircutters, a Canadian hairdressing company...

. Both acts enjoyed a run of hits during the late 60s and early 70s, especially on the R&B charts. The label also had other artists such as Nat Turner's Rebellion and David Lasley.

The label was distributed by Bell Records

Bell Records

Bell Records was an American record label founded in 1952 by Arthur Shimkin in New York, the owner of children's record label Golden Records, and initially a unit of Pocket Books, after the rights to the name were acquired from Benny Bell who used the Bell name to issue risque novelty records. A...

 from its inception in 1967 until 1974, when the label closed down shortly after Bell turned into Arista Records

Arista Records

Arista was an American record label. It was a wholly owned subsidiary of Sony Music Entertainment and operated under the RCA Music Group. The label was founded in 1974 by Clive Davis, who formerly worked for CBS Records...

. Arista has since held on to the rights of Philly Groove's masters ever since.