William Bell, best known for his pioneering work at Stax Records in Memphis, has kept that honored legacy alive during his long career as soulful singer, songwriter, producer and label owner. Bell’s music has also encompassed gospel, doo-wop, jazz, R&B, blues, reggae, funk, disco and collaborations with rappers, and in recent years he has been a perennial contender in the soul blues categories of the Blues Music Awards.
Born William Henry Yarbrough in Memphis on July 16, 1939, he took the name Bell in honor of his grandmother, whose name was Belle, He started singing in church and began writing songs and recording as a teenager with a vocal group, the Del-Rios. He also worked with Phineas Newborn Sr.’s jazz group and found a mentor in another older Memphis veteran, Rufus Thomas. In 1961 Chips Moman produced Bell’s first solo record at Stax, the plaintive “You Don’t Miss the Water,” which hit “Cash Box” magazine’s national charts in 1962 and set Bell on tour. But Uncle Sam interrupted his trajectory by calling him into the U.S. Army for two years. Bell stayed with Stax, recording several albums and scoring 14 more hits on either the “Billboard” or “Cash Box” R&B or pop singles charts through 1974, including two duets with Judy Clay. He wrote songs with Booker T. Jones and others recorded by various Stax artists, including “Born Under a Bad Sign,” which became a classic for Albert King. Bell and Jones also produced King’s “Crosscut Saw.”
Bell and his manager, Atlanta promoter Henry Wynn, started their own label, Peachtree, in 1968 and recorded Mitty Collier, Johnny Jones & the King Casuals and others. Bell moved to Atlanta and pursued an acting career while also establishing another label, Wilbe, to release records by himself, bluesman Joey Gilmore and others. A Wilbe production deal with Mercury Records garnered him his best selling LP, 1977’s “Coming Back for More,” and his only No. 1 R&B single, “Tryin’ to Love Two.” Further hits followed on Kat Family and Wilbe. He was featured in “Take Me to River’ both as a televised 2014 documentary on Memphis music and on tour. Stax, revived under new ownership, released his live album “This Is Where I Live,” which won the GRAMMY Award as Best Americana Album of 2016. Bell is still active with his Wilbe label and songwriting, with nearly 300 songs registered at the performance rights organization BMI. His songs have been recorded by Jerry Lee Lewis, Linda Ronstadt, Otis Redding, Robert Cray, Bruce Springsteen and a plethora of others in many genres. He has continued to bolster his resume with appearances at the Chicago Blues Festival, the White House, and other events, a 2020 National Endowment for the Arts National Heritage Fellowship, a 1997 Rhythm & Blues Foundation Pioneer Award, and induction into halls of fame in Georgia, North Carolina and Memphis.