Tryin' To Love Two

The History of "Tryin' To Love Two" by William Bell

William Bell, born William Yarbrough in Memphis, Tennessee on July 16, 1939, was one of the founding figures of the Stax Records sound and had a long career in soul and R&B that predated his commercial breakthrough with "Tryin' To Love Two" by more than fifteen years. Bell had been one of the original artists signed to Stax's Volt subsidiary label in the early 1960s, and his 1961 recording "You Don't Miss Your Water" is considered a landmark of early Southern soul, subsequently covered by numerous artists including Otis Redding. Despite his importance to the Stax catalog, mainstream commercial success on the scale his talent suggested had largely not materialized through the 1960s and early 1970s.

"Tryin' To Love Two" was released in 1977 on Mercury Records, after the original Stax label had ceased operations following its bankruptcy in 1975. The song was written by Bell himself in collaboration with Paul Mitchell (not the hairdressing brand founder). The production was handled by Allen Jones and Paul Mitchell, and the arrangement was crafted to fit within the contemporary soul and disco-adjacent production style that was dominating the R&B charts in the mid-to-late 1970s. The rhythmic feel of the track is distinctly of its period, incorporating the four-on-the-floor kick drum patterns and polished horn arrangements that characterized mainstream soul production during the disco era.

The single debuted on the Billboard Hot 100 on February 19, 1977, entering at number 84, and climbed through the spring. It reached its peak position of number 10 during the week of April 30, 1977, spending 15 weeks on the chart. More significantly, the single was a substantial hit on the Billboard R&B Chart, where it reached number 1 and spent several weeks at the top of the chart. The crossover from R&B dominance to a top-10 Hot 100 position gave Bell a commercial profile he had never previously achieved.

The timing of the single's success was particularly meaningful given the collapse of Stax. Bell had spent a significant portion of his career at that label, and its bankruptcy had left many of the original Stax artists in difficult contractual and financial situations. The Mercury Records deal represented a fresh commercial start, and the success of "Tryin' To Love Two" demonstrated that Bell's artistry remained fully viable in the changed marketplace of the late 1970s, even after the specific cultural moment of Southern soul that Stax had embodied had largely passed.

Bell's vocal performance on the track is notable for its maturity and control. By 1977 he was in his late thirties, and the smoother, more polished approach he brought to this recording differed from the raw emotional intensity of his early Stax work, reflecting both his development as an artist and the changed expectations of the contemporary market. The lyric's theme of divided romantic attention required a performance that conveyed both guilt and genuine conflict, and Bell's experience as a vocalist allowed him to navigate those emotional registers without overstatement.

The song won the Grammy Award for Best Rhythm and Blues Song at the 1978 Grammy Awards, which was a significant recognition of Bell's craftsmanship as a songwriter in addition to his performance. This Grammy was the most prominent industry recognition of his career up to that point and helped cement the status of the recording in the broader narrative of 1970s soul music.

Bell continued recording and performing in subsequent decades, maintaining a particularly loyal audience in the United Kingdom, where he toured regularly and where his Stax recordings were especially well regarded. He received renewed American recognition in his later career, including a Grammy Award for Best Americana Album in 2017 for This Is Where I Live, his late-career comeback album on Stax's relaunched imprint. The Grammy nearly four decades after "Tryin' To Love Two" illustrated the durability of his standing in American roots music.