Ep. 80 - WILLIAM BELL ("Born Under a Bad Sign")
A legendary recording artist and songwriter for the Memphis\u2013based Stax label, William Bell first found success with his own recording of \u201cYou Don\u2019t Miss Your Water,\u201d 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 \u201860s and \u201870s with additional self-penned singles, such as the Top 20 hits \u201cEverybody Loves a Winner,\u201d \u201cA Tribute to a King,\u201d \u201cPrivate Number,\u201d and \u201cTryin\u2019 to Love Two,\u201d which hit #1 on the R&B chart and #10 on the pop chart. His Top 10 R&B hit \u201cI Forgot to Be Your Lover\u201d went on to be covered by Billy Idol as the Top 10 pop hit, \u201cTo Be a Lover,\u201d and was reinvented once again when Jaheim sampled it in \u201cPut That Woman First,\u201d 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\u2019s own interpretation of \u201cBorn Under a Bad Sign,\u201d which was originally recorded by Albert King and went on to become a blues standard that was named one of the \u201c500 Songs that Shaped Rock & Roll\u201d by the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. A partial list of artists who\u2019ve recorded titles from the William Bell songbook includes Lou Rawls, Percy Sledge, Big Mama Thornton, Cream, Jimi Hendrix, Rod Stewart, Etta James, LaVern Baker, Dusty Springfield, Carole King, Linda Ronstadt, Melissa Etheridge, Robert Cray, and Sturgill Simpson. Additionally, his songs have been sampled by Ludacris, Kanye West, and others.\xa0 Bell was inducted into the Georgia Music Hall of Fame and the Memphis Music Hall of Fame. He was honored with the R&B Pioneer Award by The Rhythm and Blues Foundation, and the W.C. Handy Heritage Award from the Memphis Music Foundation. In 2016 the Americana Music Association honored him with its Lifetime Achievement Award. The following year he earned his first Grammy award for This Is Where I Live, which was named Americana Album of the Year.