Songcraft: Spotlight On Songwriters

A legendary recording artist and songwriter for the Memphis–based Stax label, William Bell first found success with his own recording of “You Don’t Miss Your Water,” a song that would go on to be covered by Otis Redding, Jerry Lee Lewis, The Byrds, and others. He found chart success in the ‘60s and ‘70s with additional self-penned singles, such as the Top 20 hits “Everybody Loves a Winner,” “A Tribute to a King,” “Private Number,” and “Tryin’ to Love Two,” which hit #1 on the R&B chart and #10 on the pop chart. His Top 10 R&B hit “I Forgot to Be Your Lover” went on to be covered by Billy Idol as the Top 10 pop hit, “To Be a Lover,” and was reinvented once again when Jaheim sampled it in “Put That Woman First,” a Top 5 R&B hit and Top 20 pop hit in 2004. In 2016 Bell returned to the re-formed Stax label to release This Is Where I Live, an album of primarily original songs that featured William’s own interpretation of “Born Under a Bad Sign,” which was originally recorded by Albert King and went on