My dream was always to make perfect record releases – great sound, complete musical content, informative notes, magnificent photos – and for over 40 years now I've been able to live that dream through my company, Bear Family Records. That's forty years of 16-hour working days, 7 days a week.

These are my brief reflections on how it happened during those forty years:
It all began when I started collecting rock 'n' roll music at the age of 10, and then country music in the late 1950s. Soon after that I started importing records from the USA and Canada because the music I loved wasn't available here, and also because of the impressive 'thick cardboard covers,' of course.

In the mid-'60s, I moved to England to work outside of music. Consequently I had less time to take care of my record collection – although in 1968 I did release two ill-fated albums. After returning to Germany in 1971, I started the Folk Variety label together with a partner; it was dissolved in 1974.

So I was looking for something new in 1975, and this was the start of Bear Family. I had decided to try earning money with my 'hobby' – this really interested me and I could well imagine spending the whole day with it. There couldn't possibly be a better basis for making good products; I knew exactly what the collectors wanted – after all, I was a collector myself.

The first LPs were country and bluegrass, soon followed by rock 'n' roll. When I go through my archive today, I find these first productions 'quite poor,' but back then I thought they were fantastic, and obviously so did my customers. My plan worked. I sold enough records to support me and my family. Throughout the years more genres were added: German Schlager, blues, r&b. And many historical projects – I had reached a point where I could allow myself to publish themed projects such as: 'Vorbei/Beyond Recall,' 'Next Stop Is Vietnam,' 'Atomic Platters,' 'Lili Marleen an allen Fronten,' 'Black Europe,' 'Songs For Political Action,' 'Spain In My Heart.' I still regard all these projects with pride, for they clearly reflect the development of the company through all those years.
(Those who want to know more should have a look at the Bear Family website: www.bear-family.de)

Of course, it's not only the productions that have evolved. The list of people who have worked with me has been continually expanding and changing too. Without this circle of experts and external contributors who are as devoted to the record business as I am, Bear Family Records wouldn't have risen to become the most acknowledged reissue and specialist label worldwide. They all helped to make my dream come true.

Making records is not only a part of my life – it is my life.

Here's a list of the most important people who helped me through those 40 years, in alphabetical order: John Beecher, Scott Bomar, Michael Brooks, Andy Brown, Jürgen Brückner, Kevin Coffey, John Cowley, Hank Davis, Colin Escott, Bill Geerhart, Mychael Gerstenberger, Martin Hawkins, Roland Heinrich, Bill Inglot, Bob Jones, Otto Kitsinger, Jürgen Koop, Volker Kühn, Rüdiger Ladwig, Rainer E. Lotz, Bill Millar, Bob Pinson, Dave Sax, Dick Spottswood, Phil Tricker, Al Turner, Sven T. Uhrmann, Russ Wapensky, Charles Wolfe, and many other friends whose names are mentioned in the credits to our products.

At Bear Family I'd like to name: Katrin Duckhorn, Nico Feuerbach, Detlev Hoegen, Stefan Kohne, Andy Merck, Birgit Niels, Michael Ohlhoff, Claudia Schulz, and Christel Stelljes.
People keep asking me about the secret of my success, and I can only repeat - I don't know. Maybe I was lucky that I never questioned the economic aspects of a production; I simply released the projects I considered important and necessary, or which I personally liked. And, not least, it was always important to produce everything in the highest possible quality. Today, I think it was precisely this 'uneconomical' approach that accounts for Bear Family’s success.
More than 40 years have passed, and I am now 73. I have (almost) always been proud to say:

"you can always buy a Bear Family product with confidence."