Chris Bell

Chris Bell (January 25, 1951–December 27, 1978) was a singer, songwriter, and guitarist born in Memphis, Tennessee. Along with Alex Chilton, he led the power pop band Big

Chris Bell (January 25, 1951–December 27, 1978) was a singer, songwriter, and guitarist born in Memphis, Tennessee. Along with Alex Chilton, he led the power pop band Big Star, which recorded albums during the early 1970s. Chris Bell left the group after their first album, #1 Record, but contributed some music and lyrics to their second LP, 1974's Radio City. He recorded as a solo artist for the remainder of the 1970s; two of these influential solo recordings, "I am the Cosmos" and "You and Your Sister," were released on a 1978 single on Car Records. These two songs became popular among collectors of Big Star-related items, and they were later covered on the 1991 Blood album by This Mortal Coil.

Bell had played in a number of Memphis bands beginning in the 1960s, prior to his later famous work in the 1970s with Chilton. 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 his early groups included Memphians Richard Rosebrough and Terry Manning, with whom he continued to work for the rest of his music career. In 1964 and 1965, Bell played lead guitar in a British Invasion-influenced group called the Jynx with local musicians, including lead vocalist Mike Harris, rhythm guitarist David Hoback, drummer DeWitt Shy, and bassist Bill Cunningham. Other lead vocalists at some of the group's shows and rehearsals, though not present on their recordings, included local teens Ames Yates, Vance Alexander, and Chilton. Chilton, who attended nearly every Jynx show and sang lead vocals for a couple of weeks, soon joined the Box Tops with Cunningham, as the Jynx split up in 1966. Bell continued to perform and record in Memphis throughout the rest of the decade, turning his focus more toward writing original songs by the late 1960s.