William Bell- The Soul of A Bell

Born William Yarbrough in Memphis on July 16, 1939, William Bell won a talent contest led to his debut solo release "Alone On A Rainy Night" for the local Meteor label. William gave up a interest in a medical career at he won the local talent show with his band "The Del Rios". After cutting a single with the local Meteor label with backing from Rufus Thomas bearcat band, William toured with Memphis Jazz Great Pheneas Newborn as a vocalist.He briefly formed a vocal group The Del Rios before resuming his solo career with Stax Records. Here he became one of the label's prominent artists during the 60s. William signed with Stax in 1962.After creating an initial impression in 1962 with "You Don't Miss Your Water (Till The Well Runs Dry)", he scored American r&b chart success with songs including "I Forgot To Be Your Lover", "Everybody Loves A Winner", "Happy", "Ever Day Will Be Like A Holiday" and "Private Number" a duet with Judy Clay. His Stax albums including "Relating" and "Bound To Happen". Returning to Stax in 1965 after a two year Army Draft Order. When he came back, he noticed that Otis Redding took his place, he wasn't the Top Hit Maker at Stax anymore. He continued to record with Booker T. and The MG's. He cut the classic "Born Under A Bad Sign" with Albert King and that song was song by many artists. William Bell recorded "A Tribute to A King" in 1968 dedicated to the recent death of Otis Redding, which charted #31 in the UK.In 1969 he formed his own Peachtree Label, but as an artist switched to Mercury for two albums including "Coming Back For More", After Stax closed his doors in 1976, Bell toured under his own production company Peachtree despite the lack of chart success.with and an American r&b hit single and his greatest chart success "Trying To Love Two" (which was also recoded by Barbara Lynn who hit song was "You'll lose a good thing") and "If Sex Was All We Had" in 1977. He later recorded "Survivor" for the Kat Family Label before forming his new label Wilbe Recording Corporation in 1985 and recoding "Passion" and "On A Roll". Other artist he signed to Wilbe inclduded Eddie Floyd and Janice Bullock. As a songwriter he wrote a number of titles with Booker T. Jones, and had a million-seller with "Born Under A Bad Sign" which was recorded by Eric Clapton. He didn't have much success with his labels. William Bell is known best for his "Country Soul" Style.

A little Info on William Bell.

As a native of Memphis, William was the dominant in the city's rise to prominence as an international city of music in the 60s. He was one of the pioneers of the Stax-Volt empire. The biggest hit of his career was "Tryin To Love Two", it spent more than six months on the R&B Charts in 1977 and sold well over two million copies. Wilbe Records-William Bell's own record label released "Passion" in 1987 that produced three chart singles in the US and was a major hit in England. "I Don't Want To Wake Up Feeling Guilty" a duet with Janice Bullock stayed on the American charts for close to nine months. Headline News- was voted one of the top records in 1987 by readers of the Blues & Soul Magazine in the UK. A new William Bell with brand new self-penned songs was just released. Every year William finds time to tour the Europe. On May 17, 1996 the Governor of Georgia "Zell Miller" honored William Bell by appointing him to the Georgia Music Hall of Fame Authority Board. On Febuary 27, 1997 the Rhythm & Blues Foundation honored William Bell their prestigious R&B Pioneer Award. On October 27, 1997 he was inducted into the "Georgia Music Hall of Fame"