ABSTRACT
Rock label formed in 1969 by singer/performer/producer Leon Russell and producer Denny Cordell. The two had enjoyed great success in 1968 producing albums by Joe Cocker and Delaney and Bonnie. They formed the label in Tulsa, Oklahoma, Russell’s hometown, and initially it featured Russell himself and his friends, notably singer/songwriter J.J. Cale and blues guitarist Freddy King. However, Russell split from the label in 1975. Cordell continued on his own, buoyed in 1976 by the success of a new act, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers. Shelter was by then owned by ABC Records, which in turn was sold to MCA. Petty declared bankruptcy in 1979 because MCA refused to renegotiate his Shelter deal. The label did not survive beyond 1980.
