Content deleted Content added
m Removing from Category:American singer-songwriters in subcat using Cat-a-lot |
m Reverted 1 edit by 94.255.152.53 (talk) to last revision by Egidio24 |
||
| (33 intermediate revisions by 17 users not shown) | |||
Line 1:
{{short description|American singer}}
{{More footnotes needed|date=December 2018}}
{{Infobox musical artist
|
|
|
|
|
|
| alt = Bell playing the guitar
| birth_date = {{birth date|1951|1|12}}▼
| caption = Bell in the studio
| birth_name = Christopher Branford Bell
|
|
| occupation = Musician, singer-songwriter▼
| death_place = Memphis, Tennessee, U.S.
| years_active = 1963–1978▼
| genre = {{hlist|[[Rock music|Rock]]|[[power pop]]|[[jangle pop]]}}
| label =▼
|
| discography =
▲| years_active = 1963–1978
| label = {{hlist|[[Car Records|Car]]|[[Rykodisc]]}}
| past_member_of = {{hlist|[[Big Star (band)|Big Star]]|Icewater|Rock City|The Jynx}}
}}
'''Christopher Branford Bell''' (January 12, 1951{{
[[AllMusic]] Guide praised Bell as "one of the unsung heroes of American pop music" and noted his lasting impression, saying: "Despite a life marked by tragedy and a career crippled by commercial indifference, the singer/songwriter's slim body of recorded work proved massively influential on the generations of indie rockers who emerged in his wake."<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.allmusic.com/artist/chris-bell-mn0000105845/biography|title=Chris Bell - Biography & History - AllMusic|website=AllMusic|access-date=7 July 2017}}</ref>
Line 28 ⟶ 33:
His life was documented in the acclaimed documentary ''[[Big Star: Nothing Can Hurt Me]]'', released in 2013 by [[Magnolia Pictures]].
Bell's life, and the career of Big Star, was documented in the 2018 book ''[[There Was a Light|There Was a Light: The Cosmic History of Chris Bell and the Rise of Big Star]]''. The 400-page oral-history style bio contains rare interviews with Bell, his bandmates, friends, family and notable fans.<ref>{{cite
==Early career==
Before his more famous work in the 1970s with Alex Chilton, Bell played in a number of Memphis garage bands beginning in the 1960s. He had started playing music at age 12, influenced heavily by [[The Beatles]] and other [[British Invasion]] groups like [[The Yardbirds]] and [[The Who]]. One of Bell's early groups included Memphis natives Richard Rosebrough and [[Terry Manning]], with whom he continued to work for the rest of his music career.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.commercialappeal.com/news/obituaries/drummer-engineer-richard-rosebrough-was-key-behind-the-scenes-figure-for-big-star-ardent-227cfda8-eb-334349911.html |title=Drummer, engineer Richard Rosebrough was key behind-the-scenes figure for Big Star, Ardent |date=19 October 2015 |access-date=21 October 2015 |publisher=The Commercial Appeal}}</ref>
In 1964 and 1965, Bell played lead guitar in a British Invasion-influenced group called the Jynx (the name
==Big Star==
The group later known as Big Star stemmed from two Bell band projects that began in the late 1960s while he recorded and performed live in groups named Icewater and Rock City. These groups featured a revolving set of musicians including [[Jody Stephens]], Terry Manning, Tom Eubanks, [[Andy Hummel]], Richard Rosebrough, Vance Alexander, and Steve Rhea. Recordings by these groups appear on the various artists collection ''Rockin' Memphis 1960's–1970's Vol. 1'', ''Rock City'' (2003), and ''Looking Forward: The Roots of Big Star'' (2017).
Bell asked Chilton to join several months after the group had started performing. Eventually, during a period of recording demos and tracks for their first album, the group settled on the name 'Big Star'. The lineup for Big Star's first album was composed of Bell (guitars
Along with [[Ardent Studios]] founder John Fry and engineer Terry Manning, Bell is credited with much of the mixing and engineering work done on the first Big Star album ''#1 Record''. After this album failed to achieve commercial success (partially due to confusion by its soul-oriented distributor [[Stax Records|Stax]] in marketing the album), Bell left the band in 1972. He struggled with depression for the rest of his life. He also had problems with alcohol and other drugs while also becoming immersed in Christianity.<ref>{{cite journal
Line 53 ⟶ 58:
==Solo work==
Bell concentrated on solo work after leaving Big Star, recording demos at [[Ardent Studios]] and Shoe Recording in Memphis with old friends including Rosebrough, Manning, Cunningham, Ken Woodley, and occasionally Chilton and [[Jim Dickinson]]. One of Bell's better known solo songs from this period is "[[You and Your Sister]]", featuring Bell's guitar work and vocals, Chilton's backing vocal, and Cunningham's string arrangements and bass work. From 1975 to 1976, Bell co-produced recording sessions for the power pop group [[Prix]], and contributed guitar and backing vocals. Bell also played in groups with local songwriter [[Keith Sykes (musician)|Keith Sykes]], as well as the Baker Street Regulars with Van Duren and Jody Stephens in 1976.
During the late 1970s, a few of Bell's pop song lyrics began to reflect the influence of his interest in Christian spirituality. Although he released "I Am the Cosmos" backed with "You and Your Sister" as a single in 1978 on [[Chris Stamey]]'s [[Car Records]] label, none of his solo material was released on a full-length album during his lifetime. At this time, Bell worked at his father's restaurant and continued to grapple with clinical depression.
Almost 14 years after his death, the songs from his Car Records single and several of his other 1970s recordings were released on 1992's ''[[I Am the Cosmos]]'' full-length CD on [[Rykodisc]]. As with his work with Big Star, the album received highly favorable critical reviews. Giving the album an "
In 2009, ''I Am the Cosmos'' was re-released in as a deluxe two-CD version by [[Rhino Handmade]] with lengthy liner notes, alternate versions, and additional tracks.<ref>{{Citation
Line 71 ⟶ 76:
| archive-date = November 27, 2009
}}</ref>
==Personal Life==
Bell was an amateur photographer in his earlier career, especially in the late 1960s. He has been described as 'quite accomplished', and made his own prints in the style of [[Jimi Hendrix]] album covers.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Jovanovic |first1=Rob |title=Big Star: the story of rock's forgotten band|date=2004 |publisher=Harper Collins |pages=64}}</ref>
According Rob Jovanovic, Bell struggled throughout his life with repressed [[Homosexuality|sexual attraction to other men]] and [[internalized homophobia]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Jovanovic |first1=Rob |title=Big Star: the story of rock's forgotten band|date=2004 |publisher=Harper Collins |pages=100-101}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Tupica |first1=Rich |title=There Was A Light: The Cosmic History of Chris Bell and the Rise of Big Star|date=2020 |publisher=Permuted Press |pages=188}}</ref> In later life he turned to born-again Christianity in an attempt to deal with his difficult relationship with his own sexuality, his friends reporting he was "determined not to be gay".<ref>{{cite book |last1=Jovanovic |first1=Rob |title=Big Star: the story of rock's forgotten band|date=2004 |publisher=Harper Collins |pages=140-142}}</ref>
Bell dealt with suicidal ideation and suicidal tendencies at times during his life, expressing in the song 'Better Save Yourself' that he had attempted suicide twice.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Jovanovic |first1=Rob |title=Big Star: the story of rock's forgotten band|date=2004 |publisher=Harper Collins |pages=142}}</ref>
==Death==
Bell died on December 27, 1978, when he lost control of his [[Triumph TR7]] sports car, sometime after 1:00{{nbsp}}a.m. He was on his way home from a band rehearsal. The car struck a wooden light pole on the side of the road. The pole fell and killed him instantly. He was [[27 club|
Chris Bell is buried at Memphis Funeral Home and Memorial Gardens in [[Bartlett, Tennessee]].<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Is-7woojs8 |title=The Graves of the 27 Club |author=Hollywood Graveyard |date=November 27, 2022 |via=YouTube |time=17:50}}</ref>
==Influence==
Line 80 ⟶ 94:
Big Star's pop song "[[In the Street (song)|In the Street]]", which had featured the tight harmonies of Bell and Chilton, was chosen as a representative song of the 1970s decade by the producers of the television show ''[[That '70s Show]]'' in 1998; though the Big Star recording of the song was never featured, two different covers of the song were used over the series' run as the theme song to the opening credits. The second, recorded by [[Cheap Trick]] in 1999, with revised lyrics, was also included on ''That '70s Show Presents That '70s Album: Rockin'.''
Later, Bell's song "Speed of Sound" appeared on the Flaming Lips album ''[[Late Night Tales: The Flaming Lips]]''. Bell's version of "Speed of Sound" is heard over the opening credits to the film ''[[Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist]]''. [[Beck]] covers "I Am the Cosmos" in concert. Bell's song "There Was a Light" was used in the soundtrack to the [[Patriot (TV series)]] 2018 episode "Loaded."<ref>https://www.imdb.com/title/tt8224628/soundtrack {{User-generated source|date=May 2022}}</ref>
==Discography==
Line 200 ⟶ 214:
[[Category:Road incident deaths in Tennessee]]
[[Category:People from Germantown, Tennessee]]
[[Category:20th-century American
[[Category:Power pop musicians]]
[[Category:Guitarists from Tennessee]]
| |||