Jerry Bell is a well-known lead singer of top musical groups New Birth and the Dazz Band. Bell also started a group in Florida entitled the Miami Ocean Liners, later known as KC and the Sunshine Band. Today, Bell is a solo recording artist on Bungalo Records/Universal. He recorded his first solo LP, “Winter Love Affair,” in 1980 on MCA Records.

Jerry Bell’s passion for music emanates from early vocal training while growing up in Philadelphia in a musical family that has produced gold and platinum albums for two decades. One of his brothers is Archie Bell of Archie Bell & The Drells, which has the hits; “Tighten Up,” “Showdown,” “I Can’t Stop Dancing,” “Let’s Groove,” and many more.

Bell’s inherited his vocal skills from his mother, a church singer. In school, Bell performed with a group known as The Delusions. Bell also had a band out of Miami, Florida, named the Miami Ocean Liners, who later became KC & The Sunshine Band. As life would have it, he would go back to Philadelphia and join forces with his best friends McFadden & Whitehead, who were the top writers for Philadelphia International Records, recording such hits as “Ain’t No Stopping Us Now,” “Bad Luck,” “Back Stabbers,” “Cowboys to Girls,” “For The Love Of Money,” and many more.

Jerry would later move to California, where he became friends with Marvin Gaye, learned many vocal and stage techniques, and sang background vocals for Marvin Gaye. Later, he teamed up with more of his friends, such as James Baker and Tony Churchill, and began to sing lead and backup vocals for New Birth. After leaving The New Birth in 1979, Bell joined his friends, Philip Bailey, Ralph Johnson, and Marlon McClain, and became one of the lead vocalists for Motown recording artist Dazz Band.

Before signing with Motown, The Dazz Band was formerly known as Kinsman Dazz and included the merging of Bell. In 1981, Jerry Bell was invited into the group as one of the vocalists by Ralph Johnson of Earth Wind & Fire. J Bell recorded as a solo artist 1980 on MCA Records, releasing his solo LP “Winter Love Affair.”

New Birth, called initially the Nite-Liters, was formed by Tony Churchill and Harvey Fuqua. In 1975, Tony Churchill and James Baker asked Jerry Bell to join the group. Jerry sang for New Birth from 1979 until 1983.