Label Guide: Fillmore

Fillmore Records was started in 1969 in San Francisco. Founder of the label was promoter Bill Graham, who owned the famous Fillmore East in New York City, and Fillmore West in San Francisco, and who also had established the San Francisco Records label, in partnership with producer David Rubinson.

The new label was intended to promote local Bay Area groups, and some of those who signed with Graham included Rod Stewart, Elvin Bishop, and Cold Blood. But most of these artists never recorded an album for Fillmore Records, and the label put out only six albums in total before it folded in 1972. Fillmore was distributed by CBS Records, and for the European market the albums were released within the regular CBS series with a variation of the standard CBS label design.