Of The 70s  –  The Artists  –  The Songs

 The Golden 50sThe Golden  60s The Golden  70sArticles    Home  

 

WILLIAM BELL

“TRYIN’ TO LOVE TWO”

(WILLIAM BELL, Paul Mitchell)

Mercury 73839

No. 10   Apri/30, 1977

.

.

.

He was born William Yarborough on July 16, 1939, in Memphis, Tennessee, just a few blocks from where

Stax Studios would eventually set up shop. William attend­ed Booker T. Washington High and was a

member of the Central Baptist Choir.  While still in school, he formed the Del Rios with Harrison Austin

(tenor), David Brown (bass), and Melvin Jones (baritone).  They won second prize in a talent contest and

signed a recording contract with Les Bihari’s Meteor Records.  “Alone on a Rainy Night”was shipped, but

quickly sank from sight, so the Del Rios disbanded.  As a solo artist, Bell worked for two years at the

Plantation Inn before joining Phineas Newborn’s band in the late ’50s as a vocalist.

“I was studying to be a doctor, but during the sum­mer of 1961 I went to New York with Phineas on a job,

and I started writing a few songs,” Bell told Goldmine’s Almost Slim.  “When I got back to Memphis, Chips

Moman, who was a local producer/songwriter [creator of TROY SHONDELL’s “This Time”], asked me if l

wanted to do a session for a new label called Stax.  I had nothing to lose.”

Four songs were recorded that day; the country­ soul classic “You Don’t Miss Your Water” (#95, 1962)

became a heavy southern hit, and the largest chart­ mover in Stax’s brief history.  The response convinced

Bell to bury his medical ambitions.  Before Bell rocked the pop and R & B listings with his “Tryin’ to Love

Two,” he had a slew of gritty Stax singles grease the pop and R & B charts in the late ’60s:  “Share What

You Got” (R&B: #27, 1966), “Never Like This Before” (R&B:#29, 1966), “Everybody Loves a Winner” (#95;

R&B: #18, 1967), “A Tribute to a King” (#86; R&B: #16, 1968), “I Forgot to Be Your Lover” (#45; R&B:

#10, 1969), and “My Whole World Is Falling Down” (R&B: #39,1969).

William Bell has also had success singing duets with Janice Bullock, Mitty Collier, Mavis Staples, Carla

Thomas, and Judy Clay.  Bell wrote the bluesy “Born Under a Bad Sign,” Albert King’s signature tune, and

he was the one who introduced Booker T. Jones, his church’s organist, to Stax.

In 1986, Billy Idol reworked Bell’s “I Forgot to Be Your Lover” into his Top 10 hit, “To Be a Lover.”

Currently, Bell and his manager operate the Peachtree and Wilbe record labels, as well as the Bel­ Wyn

Management company. Recordings are sporadic.