William Bell

William Bell stands out as a central force behind the signature Stax/Volt aesthetic, though his enduring fame rests chiefly on the timeless single "You Don't Miss Your Water," widely regarded as one of the defining soul releases to surface from the Memphis scene. Born William Yarbrough on July 16, 1939, he honed his skills providing backup for Rufus Thomas and, in 1957, laid down his earliest recordings while performing with the Del Rios. After joining the Stax writing team, he stepped forward as a solo artist in 1961 with the self-written "You Don't Miss Your Water," an archetypal specimen of country-soul and among the imprint's initial major successes.

A two-year enlistment in the Armed Forces substantially stalled his progress, so his first complete album, The Soul of a Bell, did not surface until 1967, when it produced the Top 20 single "Everybody Loves a Winner." That same year, Albert King registered a hit with another signature Bell song, the frequently interpreted "Born Under a Bad Sign."

Bell returned to the charts in 1968 with "A Tribute to a King," a heartfelt tribute to the late Otis Redding; the R&B Top Ten entry "I Forgot to Be Your Lover" followed soon after, and his pairings with Judy Clay, above all "Private Number," also garnered airplay. In 1969 he moved to Atlanta and launched his own imprint, Peachtree. Commercial fortunes declined as the 1970s began, yet Bell staged a notable resurgence in 1977 when "Trying to Love Two" ascended to the top of the R&B listings. He started a fresh label, Wilbe, in 1985 and released Passion, which found its strongest reception in the U.K., although the duet "I Don't Want to Wake Up Feeling Guilty" with Janice Bullock registered a minor U.S. hit.

Bell entered the Georgia Music Hall of Fame in 1987, the same year he received the Rhythm & Blues Foundation's R&B Pioneer Award. He kept issuing albums, among them On a Roll in 1989 and Bedtime Stories in 1992. From 1992 onward he took an extended break from the studio while continuing to perform live. In 2000 he returned with the all-new Wilbe collection A Portrait Is Forever, then issued New Lease on Life six years later. In the interval between those projects he was presented with the 2003 W.C. Handy Heritage Award. In 2016 Bell reunited with the reactivated Stax Records for the album This Is Where I Live. John Leventhal produced the set, which mixed newly composed material with a fresh take on "Born Under a Bad Sign."