William Bell was one of the architects of Stax/Volt soul. His debut single in 1961 helped define the classic country-soul sound of Memphis when he struck gold with his debut single.

He is also the composer of the blues classic Born Under A Bad Sign, popularised by Albert King and Cream… and he also wrote Billy Idol’s 1986 hit To Be A Lover.

Released in 1961, Bell’s debut solo single You Don’t Miss Your Water is one of the quintessential records to emerge from the country-soul scene of Memphis.

William Yarbrough (Bell was a shortened version of his mother’s name Belle) was born in 1939 and grew up loving Sam Cooke’s gospel group The Soul Stirrers, as well as the sentimental ballads of Sinatra and Nat King Cole.

He supposedly wrote his first song at the age of ten, winning a talent contest at 14 and starting to sing in Memphis clubs before cutting his teeth backing Rufus Thomas and recording with a doo wop vocal group, The Del Rios, in 1957.

Bell joined Stax Records, initially as a songwriter, but after this came out in 1961 he was called up to the Armed Forces, delaying his first album until 1967, when he released Everybody Loves A Winner and the unplanned Christmas hit Everyday Will Be Like A Holiday.

That was followed by A Tribute To A King, a poignant elegy for his close friend and fellow Stax man Otis Redding, Bell was supposed to be on the same tragic 1967 flight that led to Redding’s death until his own show was cancelled because of a snowstorm in Chicago.

It became a hit, carried on a wave of sentiment, and was followed by another hit single called I Forgot To Be Your Lover (opening line: “Have I told you lately that I love you?”) and a series of duets with Judy Clay, including Private Number.

In 1969 Bell relocated to Atlanta where he set up his own label, Peachtree, but the hits dried up until his comeback single Trying To Love Two, released on Mercury in 1977, reached the Top Ten and sold a million copies.

In 1985 he founded another label, Wilbe, and had a minor hit with I Don’t Want To Wake Up Feeling Guilty, a duet with Janice Bullock. And in 2016 he reactivated the Stax label to go into the studio and record his first batch of new songs in 30 years, along with a new version of Born Under A Bad Sign.

The resulting album – This Is Where I Live – earned him a Grammy for Best Americana Album. And he’s still with us at the time of writing, at the age of 85.