UofM begins celebration of Black History Month by honoring music legend

University of Memphis students and administrators, members of the Memphis State Eight, and David Porter, a Songwriting Hall of Fame inductee, gathered in the University Theatre to honor music visionary Al Bell.

Bell was this year’s recipient of the Arthur S. Holmon Lifetime Achievement Award, which honors Memphians whose life exemplifies dedication to the Memphis community. 

Alvertis Isbell was born on March 15, 1940, in Brinkley, Arkansas, where he was a high school disc jockey and served as president of the audio-visual club. After high school, Bell attended Philander Smith College in Little Rock, Arkansas, and served as a student teacher at Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s Southern Christian Leadership Conference.

Bell said he still lives by the inspiring words from Zig Ziglar that King once told him, “It’s your attitude, not your aptitude, that gets you altitude.â€

Bell moved to Memphis to work at WLOK, where he met Stax Records founder Jim Stewart. Deanie Parker, Stax’s first publicist and former president and CEO of Soulsville Foundation, noted Bell’s importance.

“Al Bell’s vision was the same vision that brought Martin Luther King Jr. to Memphis in 1968,†Parker said. “His (Bell’s) vision in pursuit of economic equality, however, led to the assassination of Stax Records.â€

Bell joined Stax in 1965 as its first national radio promotions executive. He helped mold some of soul music’s legendary artists like Otis Redding, Booker T. & the M.G.’s, Johnnie Taylor, the Staple Singers and Isaac Hayes. In 1967, Stax lost its catalog to Atlantic Records, and Otis Redding and his bandmates’ plane crashed while on tour, resulting in his death.

Bell cited Redding’s death as detrimental.

“I didn’t listen to Otis’ recording for at least 10 to 15 years afterward,†Bell said.  

Although Stax was on the brink of closing, Bell never surrendered. Within a few months, he administered the recordings of 30 singles and 27 albums, which led to commercial and financial success and ushered Stax Records into a new era with a new groove.

Bell cites his resilience by alluding to “The Courage to Be Yourself†by E.E. Cummings. 

“I stand before you all as a living example that it can be done. You can be yourself,†Bell said. “I stand in gratitude to the student body of Memphis for honoring me with the Arthur S. Holmon lifetime achievement award. I’m humbled, honored and grateful, and I thank you.â€

During the ceremony, Bell reflected on the city and his diligence to work among racial barriers.

“Memphis, Tennessee, is the city where I was blessed to work with rare human beings — rare people like Jim Stewart, Estelle Axton and the diverse Stax family of blacks and whites,†Bell said. “We worked together during a time of blatant and overt unconcealed racism.â€

“We, as human beings, must come and work together if we plan to evolve. It was working together that allowed me to market, launch and build black and white Stax high-professional staff to a level incomparable in the segregated business environment that existed at that time.â€

Grammy award-winning artist Lawrence Mitchell, the owner of Royal Studios, recognized Bell for his achievements.

“The reason Memphis even has a music industry is because of Al Bell,†Mitchell said. “Anytime I ever mentioned Al to my father (American trumpeter Willie Mitchell, he) would stop and would say, ‘You know Al Bell is one of the biggest champions in Memphis music.’â€

Bell has previously received awards such as the Grammy Trustees Award, which is one of the highest honors in music, placing him in the category with Clive Davis and Quincy Jones, to name a few. Bell has also been honored with awards such as the Arkansas Business and Entertainers awards and recently was honored as the 2018-19 Mcllroy Family Visiting Professor in the Visual and Performing Arts by the University of Arkansas.

Bell continues to have an impact on music by mentoring a new generation of aspiring artists and musicians.

At the end of the event, Bell challenged the youth and audience members by quoting and challenging them to live through Edgar Albert Guest’s poem “It Couldn’t Be Done.â€